The Explorer replied:

Hello - There is no doubt you can load it onto a big enough CF card - whether it will work properly is the actual issue. I have tried the "normal" mosaic without converting it (~800MB ecw) - it was a bit slow but not too bad just panning around - never bothered with trying it in moving map as I have far better scale maps and airphotos for the area I generally knock around in and rarely use 250k scale maps..so didnt bother pursuing.

Call me a fool but if the OziExplorer website says it wont work/convert I would tend to believe them (I figure they would have tried). However you could try chopping the mosaic up into smaller bits using OziExplorer Mapmerge (which I assume will handle the original big file?) - this program, apart from merging maps (as the name suggests) lets you select smaller areas and then creates ozf3 images with calibration ready to go.

Cheers
Greg

geocacher (djcache) replied:

I can't see why you'd want to do it myself.

I use a HX4700 myself and I'm usually trying to get hold of 1:25k & 1:50k maps.

I did use the 1:250k maps for outback SA as it was all I had and they aren't bad if that's all you've got but greater detail is so much better.

Even if I was doing a trip around the country I'd convert the intended route 250k sheets and save the rest of the space on the cf card for MP3 files. If I ended up off my intended route I would spend half an hour and have a beer while converting the maps I've a need for. (I take my laptop with me and there's about 10Gig of maps on it.)

Then you plug in the Belken FM modulator and hit shuffle on MediaPlayer and you can have your own music (I've got 240 tracks on mine) and OziExplorer running simultaneously. (The FM modulator allows you to tune your car radio on fm in to your MP3 player).

Why waste so much space on areas you aren't interested in. The space saving is huge.

Dave

Member - Alan H (QLD) replied:

DrewT

If you have the 2005 natmap version ( and it seems like you have), all you have to do is callup the area you want on the Natmap raster left at the start up up scale and then use the "Export current view" function listed on the centre left of screen to export a ECW map.

This map is just imported into OziExplorer to create a ".map file" nad you are in business. The resultant map is about 10meg.

As mentioned abaove, I have a 1GB SD card and on it I fit the "maps" for the trip I'm doing and have lots of room for MP3s. The PDA plays the music and OziExplorer at the same time. (I have extra speakers rather than just the PDA one - use an "Arkon" mount which has a built in amplifierand speakers)

To shift the map files to the SD card I just use a cheap card reader as I feel this is a lot easier than using the PDA synchronisation software. As mentioned above, I also keep these "maps" on a laptop and can quickly swap over any maps needed for the PDA if I don't have the right map loaded.

Hopes this helps.