Thread: Garmin China City Navigator NT 2012.20 CH (Official shifted+Venus non shifted)

hmmm...this shifting. Is it possible to make these adjustments to my own maps manually?

There's an area that i've been going to for a while and since at least 2008, garmin's maps have been off. The accuracy with street map images is waaaaaay off. I've contacted garmin and all they told me to do was reset my gps. no help of course. It was only recently that i also noticed google maps and other live online gps mapping services are also way off for the same areas. drawn streets do no align with satellite images, and in some cases, street labels are also incorrect. In another spot going down a road near water, it shows me driving out on the water. It draws a track that is the correct shape, but it is shifted over by hundreds of yards.

Originally Posted by jpooh

hmmm...this shifting. Is it possible to make these adjustments to my own maps manually?

What kind of map do you have?

What you described is the case of using shift-added maps on regular GPS devices bought outside of China. Those devices sold in China will not have this problem due to additonal software. You have 4 options.

1. buy a GPS device designed for shift-added maps in China.
2. add the same software if available and supported by your device.
3. replace the firmware of your device with a Chinese equivalent if availalbe and compatible.
4. replace the shift-added map with a shift-corrected map such as Venus version of the same map.

Since the map is in Alaska, you can use Garmin's "report map error" page to report the map error. They may (or may not) fix it for the next release. Just for curiosity, how much are the maps shifted. In North America, I have occasionally seen shifts up to tens of meters. In China, the shifts are in terms of several hundred meters.

Originally Posted by jpooh

this is for garmin topo mostly but also city navigator up to at least 2012.2 on a garmin gps bought in
north america and the spot i'm talking about is up in Alaska. The gps gets a very strong fix and does not track on the roads and online google maps also shows the labels and roadways out of sync with the satellite image in the "hybrid" mode. The road drawings are the right shape, but you can clearly see the roads in the satellite photo and they do not align. it's annoying more than anything but not a big deal. I havne't seen what the new maps are like yet since i'm not back there yet but will be in a few months. Like i said though, my gps maps have been like this as long as i've had garmin so i have little expectation that the new maps will be fixed. If i could re-align the maps manually, it would be great, but it doesn't seem to be the same situation as this china mapping deal.

I see. I first thought you were in China. Just checked the Google road and satellite maps in Alaska and you are right. While both maps match in Anchorage, they don't match in Fairbanks (located about 360 miles north of Anchorage).

If the map you have is in OF format, you can open it with GPSMapEdit to edit it to your heart's content (may need to unlock it first). But if the map is in NT format then your are out of luck. There is no tool to open and edit an NT map today. You can only report the errors to Garmin/Navteq and wait until they are fixed.

Lastly, if you have the time and skills you can create and compile your own custom made map. There are tutorials available on the Internet.

Originally Posted by cwhlam

Since the map is in Alaska, you can use Garmin's "report map error" page to report the map error. They may (or may not) fix it for the next release. Just for curiosity, how much are the maps shifted. In North America, I have occasionally seen shifts up to tens of meters. In China, the shifts are in terms of several hundred meters.

Maybe i will try the error report. The only contact i had with them was through support and all they told me to do was to do a master reset my gps which i know isn't the problem since 2 of my friends had other garmins and their tracks were off too. 2 of us have older sirfstar units and one has 1 yr old garmin H receiver unit.. The problem is in the maps which can be off from 50feet to 100+ meters. it's nuts. setting it to lock on roads will show it properly on the display but that's gotta be an artificial view where it forces you to track on the image's road lines even though that's not where it wants to put you. It shouldn't be that far off with the road lock disabled.

Originally Posted by syzygy

Just checked the Google road and satellite maps in Alaska and you are right. While both maps match in Anchorage, they don't match in Fairbanks (located about 360 miles north of Anchorage).

If the map you have is in OF format, you can open it with GPSMapEdit to edit it to your heart's content (may need to unlock it first). But if the map is in NT format then your are out of luck. There is no tool to open and edit an NT map today. You can only report the errors to Garmin/Navteq and wait until they are fixed.

Now that i know about the error thing, i will try it. It's been 2, maybe 3 yrs since i emailed them where they assumed it was my gps. You're right about Anchorage being okay, you're also okay if you stay on the 1 or 2 main highways that run through the state, once you stray from them even a little, the maps are wonky. My maps are NT so i guess i'm out of luck there. What's OF format? It might be good to pick spots and fix them just to have some proper maps.

The problem with the maps is they are off and that puts the whole gps into question if i'm wandering through the forest or out on the water or where ever with no visual landmarks...am i really where it shows I am?

Originally Posted by jpooh

What's OF format? It might be good to pick spots and fix them just to have some proper maps.

OF stands for Old Format or Original Format. It is the Garmin map image file format preceding NT format. I have only seen OF used by Garmin China and Garmin Taiwan to distinguish maps in old format from the new NT format. See an example below. Here in Noeman, it is otherwise referred as Non-NT.

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If there are not many changes in your area, you may want to find an old map of your area in OF format so that you can open and edit it, add new roads and POIs if necessary. By that you can have a corrected and updated map of your area.