Garmin Map Search

Overview

This dialog can be found in ‘Menu-Tools-Geo Search’, tab ‘Garmin Map Search’.

It allows to search for Garmin map elements like points of interest, streets or areas, buildings, cities, addresses, house numbers, etc.

For a very basic search leave the text field empty and select the wanted categories using the two drop-down list boxes below. Select the major category using the left list box. Refine the search by choosing a sub-category in the right drop-down list box. Press the search button. The items related to the selected categories will be listed.

Simple Text Search

Type the wanted name or partial name into the text field.
Set the categories to ‘All Items’/‘All subcategories’.
Press the search button.
The items containing the wanted text will be listed, independently of the related category.

Simple Type-Filter

Insert the wanted type-id as hexadecimal number into the text field (e.g. 0x01).
Set the categories to ‘All Items’/‘All subcategories’.
Press the search button.

The items matching the wanted type-id will be listed. In the example above (0x01) the result would list the major roads. The same type-id value can apply to different shapes, so aside from roads the results might contain areas and points as well - all of the same type-id.

High Sophisticated Type-Filter

For special type-id queries a filter syntax can be applied to the text field.

General syntax

<rule> [,<rule>] [,<rule>]
<rule>  -> <class>: [NOT] <typeidfrom>[-<typeidto>]
<class> -> PGN (polygon)
           PLN (polyline)
           POI (point of interest)
NOT     -> The optional keyword excludes the symbol,
           otherwise the symbol will be included explicitly.

C- and C++ comments (/\*...\*/ and //) are allowed at any position.

Examples

POI:     0x2f08       //includes all ground transportation symbols
POI: NOT 0x2f08       //show all points of interest but excludes all ground transportation symbols
PGN:     0x4a,0x4b    //includes definition area and background polygons
PLN: NOT 0x1c-0x1e    //excludes state-, country- and international borders
PGN:     0x4a,0x4b, PLN: 0x1c-0x1e, POI: 0x1600-0x1700, 0x2f08,0x2f0b //complex query

The address search is only available for Garmin maps containing index information (e.g. compiled with mkgmap –index option).

Insert the wanted address into the text field. Use one of the following formats:

<country>, <city>,
<country>, <city>, <street< <number>
<country>, <city>, <number> <street>
<country>, <city>, <street>
<country>, <city>, <street>, <number>

Partial or empty names can be inserted. For exact matches wrap the names in quotes. The search expression will be recognized as address if it contains 3 or 4 comma separated sections. In case commas shall be treated as literals (part of the name) prefix an escape character, e.g. , Type filters have no impact on the results of the address search. Active tile filters can limit the search results. See also chapter Tips.

Examples

Deu, München, Bahn 4
    //Finds full addresses containing the wanted fragments:
    Deutschland, 85551 Kirchheim Bei München, Bahnhofstrasse 4
    Deutschland, 80335 München, Bahnhofplatz 5
    Deutschland, 80807 München, Freimanner Bahnhofstrasse 4
    Deutschland, 81539 München, Giesinger Bahnhofplatz 4
    Deutschland, 07589 Münchenbernsdorf, Bahnhofstrasse 4
    Deutschland, 86830 Schwabmünchen, Bahnhofstrasse 2
    ...

Deu, 'München', Bahn 4
    //Same as above but limited to München, no hits for other cities:
    Deutschland, 80335 München, Bahnhofplatz 5
    Deutschland, 80807 München, Freimanner Bahnhofstrasse 4
    Deutschland, 81539 München, Giesinger Bahnhofplatz 4
    ...
    
Deu, , Jacque
    //Finds every German city with street name containing Jacque:
    Deutschland, 52062 Aachen (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Jacques-Königstein-Promenade
    Deutschland, 63619 Bad Orb (Hessen), Jacques-Lubbers-Strasse
    Deutschland, 61118 Bad Vilbel (Hessen), Jacques-Offenbach-Weg
    ...
    
Deu, Lichten,
    //Finds every German city containing 'Lichten' in the name, without streets:
    Deutschland, Hessisch Lichtenau (Hessen)
    Deutschland, Lichtenau (Baden-Württemberg)
    Deutschland, Lichtenau (Bayern)
    Deutschland, Lichtenau (Brandenburg)
    ...
    
, Lichtenb, 
    //Finds cities containing 'Lichtenb' in all countries
    België / Belgique / Belgien, Lichtenbusch (Liège)
    Deutschland, Auf Dem Lichtenberg (Nordrhein-Westfalen)
    France, Lichtenberg (Bas-Rhin)
    ...

The post/zip code search is only available for Garmin maps containing index information (e.g. compiled with mkgmap –index option).

In order to search for a postal or zip code use one of the following formats:

zip: <zip>
zip: <country>, <zip>

Examples

zip: 80331             //Finds Deutschland ,80331 München (Bayern)
zip: nederl, 56 11 CA  //Finds Nederland ,5611CA Eindhoven (Noord-Brabant)

Even partial zip codes can be found. For an exact match enclose the zip or the country in quotation marks. Bear in mind that the quality of the zip code search strongly depends on the quality of the map. It is not ensured that all areas have been tagged with a zip code.

Corridor Search (experimental)

With corridor search it is possible to find map items along a route or track. Instead of specifying a position in the ‘Reference’ field it is possible to just insert an integral number. The number serves as search radius (in meter) for the corridor search. After pressing the ‘Search’ button a dialog appears where the user can select a route or track as basis for the corridor. Once the route/track selection has been confirmed the algorithm searches for the wanted items along the specified route/track using the radius of the ‘Reference’ field.

Terminology

A Garmin map basically consists of a combination of the three major geometric shapes polygon, polyline and point. Polygons depict lakes, buildings, places and other areas. Polylines depict streets, rivers, border lines and other ways. Points depict all points of interest like cities, islands, shops, gas stations. Polygon, polyline and point will be called type-classes. Each polygon, polyline or point can be identified by a number. The Garmin terminology calls this number type-id. So in a Garmin map the geometric shape can be identified by it’s type-class and it’s type-id.

Examples

Polylines:
    0x02: Roads - Principal Highway-thick
    0x05: Roads - Arterial Road-thick
    0x09: Roads - Ramp
    0x0a: Roads - Unpaved Road-thin
    0x0c: Roads - Roundabout
    0x14: Roads - Railroad
    0x15: Water - Shoreline
    0x16: Roads - Track/Trail
    0x18: Water - Stream-thin
    0x19: Boundaries - Time-Zone
    0x1a: Roads - Ferry

Polygons:
    0x01: Large City (>200K)
    0x04: Military base
    0x05: Parking lot
    0x07: Airport
    0x08: Shopping center 
    0x09: Marina
    0x0a: University/College
    0x0b: Hospital
    0x0c: Industrial
    0x0d: Reservation
    0x0e: Airport runway
    0x13: Building/Man-made area

Points:
    0x0100: Cities - Large city (over 10M)
    0x0500: Cities - Medium city (0.5-1M)
    0x0800: Cities - Small city (50-100K)
    0x0c00: Cities - Settlement (2-5K)
    0x1200: Marine - Marina with facilities
    0x1801: Marine - Fog horn
    0x2700: Auto - HW Exit
    0x2a00: Food - Dining
    0x2b01: Lodging - Hotel/Motel
    0x2d03: Entertainment - Cinema
    0x2e05: Shopping - Pharmacy
    0x3001: Emerg./Gov. - Police station
    0x4800: Recreation - Camping
    0x6616: Land - Summit

Remarks

Use the ‘Reference’ field to start the search from a particular position or leave it empty for using the current map center position.

The same type-id can apply to different type-classes. For an optimal search result methods described above can be combined with filters.

The meaning of a type-identifier can vary from map to map. There’s only a small set of commonly used types. The former mentioned drop-down listboxes cover this set of commonly used types and meanings. But this doesn’t guarantee that all maps stick to it.

Depending on the current zoom level and on the map definition some symbols might be invisible despite of its presence in the result list. Nevertheless, if the symbol is listed in the results the related position can be determined.

Tips

City or street names might contain special characters, like (ö, ä, ü, à, æ, ø, etc.). In order to find this names using an English keyboard just use normal (non-marked) characters (o, a, u, a, ae, o, …).

Click at a column header in order to sort the results in ascending order. Click a second time at the same header in order to reverse the sort order.

Single click onto a search result item in order to updates the ‘Position’ field at the bottom. Then use the ‘Show’-button in order to mark the map with the position or create a waypoint out of the position by using the ‘Waypoint’-button.

Double click onto a result in order to directly show the position of the result item in the map.

Active tile filters can limit the address search results because excluded tiles may contain important index data. In case of empty search results try to leave the country field empty.