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Command line

The command line is of the format:

java.exe [java-options] -jar mkgmap.jar [mkgmap-options]

Java options

Details of the Java options are available at docs.oracle.com. The most likely options you may need to use are:

-Xmx<size>[g|G|m|M|k|K]
Use this option to set the maximum Java heap size in GB, MB, KB or bytes. Mkgmap allows the use of multiple CPU cores, and the amount of heap memory required increases proportionally with the number of CPU cores being used. The default value may not be sufficient to allow mkgmap to use all the available CPU cores, which will cause the run time to be longer than necessary or can cause mkgmap to crash if it runs out of memory. To allow mkgmap to run optimally, you may need to use this option to allow more memory to be allocated to the Java heap. Note there is no space or equals sign in the option.
-enableassertions
-ea
Causes an error to be thrown if an assertion written in the mkgmap code is evaluated as not true. This is useful in detecting bugs in the mkgmap code.
-Dlog.config=filename
Specifies a logging configuration file that allows you to enable and disable specific logging messages. This is useful if you want to see certain types of message that are not logged by default or choose where the messages should be written.

Mkgmap options

The order of the options is significant in that options only apply to subsequent input files. If you are using splitter, you probably will need to put most of your options before '-c template.args' (this file is generated by splitter).

Information options

These options provide information and do not require any input files.

--help[=help|options|links|copyright|logging]
Display help on the given topic. If the topic is omitted then general help information is displayed, the same as in help=help.
--version
Write program version to stderr.

File options

filename
--input-file=filename
Read input data from the given file. This option (or just a filename) may be specified more than once. Make sure you set all wanted options before this.
--gmapsupp
Create a gmapsupp.img file that can be uploaded to a Garmin or placed in the /Garmin folder of a microSD card (such as by mounting the device in USB mass storage mode). It can be used on already compiled img files, or if the input files are not already compiled then they are compiled first and then the gmapsupp is created.
--gmapi
Create a directory in the "gmapi" format required by Mac applications. It can also be used for Windows programs; copy the complete directory tree into {user}\AppData\Roaming\Garmin\Maps or \ProgramData\Garmin\Maps and the map will be available to Garmin PC programs. The directory name is --family-name with extension .gmap.
--gmapi-minimal[=<include-pattern>]
Special option for map providers to reduce disk writes when updating. Works like --gmapi but does not write Product data for input files which are provided as *.img. It is assumed that the content of those files wasn't changed and thus doesn't need a rewrite. The optional include-pattern is a regular expression which can be used to specify *.img files for which a write should be forced. The pattern is used on the full path to the input file. The global index files and the *.tdb file will still contain all needed references.
Example usage with pattern:
--gmapi-minimal=.*4711[0-9]{4}\.img
This pattern matches file names between 47110000.img and 47119999.img
and ignores the path.
-c filename
--read-config=filename
Each line of the named file contains a command option in the form option=value or option:value. The options are included as arguments of the executed command as if they had been specified on the command line with one exception: a relative path given with option input-file is assumed to be relative to the location of the file.

Lines beginning with a # character are ignored and can be used as comments. Any command line option can be specified, however the leading '--' must be omitted. The short option names with a single '-' cannot be used, simply use the long name instead.

--output-dir=directory
Specify the directory in which all output files are written. It defaults to the current working directory, i.e. the directory the command is executed from.
-n name
--mapname=name
Set the name of the map. Garmin maps are identified by an 8 digit number. The default is 63240001. It is best to use a different name if you are going to be making a map for others to use so that it is unique and does not clash with others.
--description=text
Set the descriptive text for individual tiles and gmapsupp.img. Map tiles take the most recent --description before the --input-file option that defines the tile. Because gmapsupp.img is created after all the other tiles have been processed, gmapsupp.img takes the last --description found in the command line, regardless of where the --gmapsupp option is placed in the command line.

Note that if you use splitter with its --geonames-file option or its own --description option, the generated template.args file includes --description values that will apply to individual tiles. In this case it is not possible to override splitter's description for individual tiles from the mkgmap command line. Placing the mkgmap --description option after -c template.args ensures that the value is applied to gmapsupp.img.

Different GPS devices and PC programs handle descriptions inconsistently. Some display the description when selecting maps or tiles, others use the family name.

--country-name=name
Set the map's country name. The default is "COUNTRY".
--country-abbr=abbreviation
Set the map's abbreviated country name. The default is "ABC".
--region-name=name
Set the map's region name. By default, the map has no region name.
--region-abbr=abbreviation
Set the map's abbreviated region name. By default, the map has no abbreviated region name.

Label options

--code-page=number
Specify which international character set is to be used. Only 8 bit character sets are supported so you have to specify which code page you want to use. It is entirely dependent on the device firmware which code pages are supported.
--latin1
This is equivalent to --code-page=1252.
--unicode
This is equivalent to --code-page=65001. Note that some devices don't support Unicode maps produced by mkgmap.
--lower-case
Allow labels to contain lower case letters. Note that many Garmin devices are not able to display lower case letters at an angle.

Address search options

--index
Generate an address index to allow searches by address. The default is to not create an address index.
The address fields are assigned by special mkgmap address tags using the style file:
  mkgmap:country
  mkgmap:region
  mkgmap:city
  mkgmap:postal_code
  mkgmap:street
  mkgmap:housenumber
  mkgmap:phone
  (mkgmap:is_in - used by --location-autofill=is_in)
If the index is created from previously compiled .img files, then the same code page and sorting options (e.g. --code-page, --latin1) must be used as were used to compile the individual map tiles.
--split-name-index
Index each part of a street name separately. For example, if the street is "Aleksandra Gryglewskiego" then you will be able to search for it as both "Aleksandra" and "Gryglewskiego". It will also increase the size of the index. Useful in countries where searching for the first word in name is not the right thing to do. Words following an opening bracket '(' are ignored.
See also option --road-name-config.
--road-name-config=filename
Provide the name of a file containing commonly used road name prefixes and suffixes. This option handles the problem that some countries have road names which often start or end with very similar words, e.g. in France the first word is very often 'Rue', often followed by a preposition like 'de la' or 'des'. This leads to rather long road names like 'Rue de la Concorde' where only the word 'Concorde' is really interesting. In the USA, you often have names like 'West Main Street' where only the word 'Main' is important. Garmin software has some tricks to handle this problem. It allows the use of special characters in the road labels to mark the beginning and end of the important part. In combination with option --split-name-index only the words in the important part are indexed.
There are two main effects of this option:
- On the PC, when zooming out, the name 'Rue de la Concorde' is only rendered as 'Concorde'.
- The index for road names only contains the important part of the name. You can search for road name 'Conc' to find road names like 'Rue de la Concorde'. However, a search for 'Rue' will not list 'Rue de la Concorde' or 'Rue du Moulin'. It may list 'Rueben Brookins Road' if that is in the map.
Another effect is that the index is smaller.
See comments in the example roadNameConfig.txt for further details.
--mdr7-excl=name[,name...]
Specify words which should be omitted from the road index. It was developed before option --road-name-config and is probably no longer needed. Matching is case insensitive.
Example usage: --mdr7-excl="Road, Street, Weg"
--mdr7-del=name[,name...]
Use this option if your style adds strings to the labels of roads which you want to see in the map but which should not appear in the result list of a road name / address search. When creating the index, words in the given list are removed from the end of road labels. Any word not found in the given list is considerered to be a valid label; words before the last valid label are not removed. If the label consists of a single word in the given list, or all the words in the label are contained in the given list, then the label is omitted from the index. The comparison is case insensitive and words are separated by a space.
Example: Assume your style adds surface attributes like 'pav.' or 'unp.' to a road label. You can use --mdr7-del="pav.,unp." to remove these suffixes from the index.
--poi-excl-index=poi[-poi][,poi[-poi]...]
By default, mkgmap indexes the following POI types with a non-empty label:
- 0x00 .. 0x0f (cities, sub type 0, type <= 0xf)
- 0x2axx..0x30xx (Food & Drink, Lodging, ...)
- 0x28xx (no category ?)
- 0x64xx .. 0x66xx (attractions)
This option allows the exclusion of POI types from the index. The excluded types are not indexed, but may still be searchable on a device, as some devices seem to ignore most of the index, e.g. an Oregon 600 with firmware 5.00 only seems to use it for city search. If your device finds a POI name like 'Planet' when you search for 'Net', it doesn't use the index because the index created by mkgmap cannot help for that search.
So, this option may help when you care about the size of the index or the memory that is needed to calculate it. The option expects a comma separated list of types or type ranges. A range is given with from-type-to-type, e.g. 0x6400-0x6405. First and last type are both excluded. A range can span multiple types, e.g. 0x6400-0x661f.
Examples for usage:
- Assume your style adds a POI with type 0x2800 for each addr:housenumber. It is not useful to index those numbers, so you can use --poi-excl-index=0x2800 to exclude this.
- For the aforementioned Oregon you may use --poi-excl-index=0x2a00-0x661f to reduce the index size.
--bounds=directory|zipfile
Specify a directory or zip file containing the pre-processed bounds files. Bounds files in a zip file must be located in the zip file's root directory.

The pre-processed boundaries are used to add special tags to all elements (points, lines and polygons) containing the elements location information. The style file can be used to assign the address tags mkgmap:country, mkgmap:region etc. using these values.

The following special tags are added:

  mkgmap:admin_level2 : Name of the admin_level=2 boundary
  mkgmap:admin_level3 : Name of the admin_level=3 boundary
  ..
  mkgmap:admin_level11
  mkgmap:postcode : the postal_code value
Pre-processed bounds can be created with the following command:
  java -cp mkgmap.jar
    uk.me.parabola.mkgmap.reader.osm.boundary.BoundaryPreprocessor
    <inputfile> <boundsdir>
The input file must contain the boundaries that should be pre-processed. It can have OSM, PBF or O5M file format. It is recommended that it contains the boundary data only to avoid very high memory usage. The boundsdir gives the directory where the processed files are stored. This directory can be used as --bounds parameter with mkgmap.
--location-autofill=[option1,[option2]]
Controls how the address fields for country, region, city and zip info are gathered automatically if the fields are not set by using the special mkgmap address tags (e.g. mkgmap:city - see option --index). Warning: automatic assignment of address fields is somehow a best guess.
is_in
The is_in tag is analysed for country and region information.
nearest
The city/hamlet points that are closest to the element are used to assign the missing address fields. Beware that cities located in the same tile are used only. So the results close to a tile border have less quality.
--housenumbers
Enables house number search for OSM input files. All nodes and polygons having addr:housenumber set are matched to streets. A match between a house number element and a street is created if the street is located within a radius of 150m and the addr:street tag value of the house number element equals the mgkmap:street tag value of the street. The mkgmap:street tag must be added to the street in the style file. For optimal results, the tags mkgmap:city and mkgmap:postal_code should be set for the housenumber element. If a street connects two or more cities this allows all addresses along the road to be found, even when they have the same number.
Example for given street name:
Node - addr:street=Main Street addr:housenumber=2
Way 1 - name=Main Street
Way 2 - name=Main Street, mkgmap:street=Main Street
Way 3 - mkgmap:street=Mainstreet
Way 4 - name=Main Street [A504]
The node matches to Way 2. It has mkgmap:street set with a value equal to the addr:street tag value of the house number node.

If the street is not given with addr:housenumber, mkgmap uses heuristics to find the best match.

Tells mkgmap to write NET data. If you specify this option, you do not need to specify --net and option -no-net is ignored.

Overview map options

--overview-mapname=name
If --tdbfile is enabled, this gives the name of the overview .img and .tdb files. The default map name is osmmap.
--overview-mapnumber=8 digit number
If --tdbfile is enabled, this gives the internal 8 digit number used in the overview map and tdb file. The default number is 63240000.
--overview-levels=level:resolution[,level:resolution...]
Like levels, specifies additional levels that are to be written to the overview map. Counting of the levels should continue. Up to 8 additional levels may be specified. The hard coded default is empty.
See also option --overview-dem-dist.
--remove-ovm-work-files
If --overview-levels is used, mkgmap creates one additional file with the prefix ovm_ for each map (*.img) file. These files are used to create the overview map. With option --remove-ovm-work-files=true the files are removed after the overview map is created. The default is to keep the files.

Style options

--style-file=directory|zip-filename|url
Specify the path to a directory, zip file or url containing style information. A style is composed of a group of files and typically contains the following files: version, info, options, points, lines, polygons, relations - see the style manual for further details.

The style files can be in the specified directory or contained in a sub-directory. If styles are contained in sub-directories then the required style must be specified with the --style option.

--style=name
Specify a style name. Must be used if --style-file points to a location containing multiple styles. If used without also specifying --style-file, it selects one of the built-in styles.
--style-option=tag[=value][;tag[=value]...]
Provide a semicolon separated list of tags which can be used in the style. The intended use is to make a single style more flexible, e.g. you may want to use a slightly different set of rules for a map of a whole continent. The tags given will be prefixed with "mkgmap:option:". If no value is provided the default "true" is used.
Example: --style-option=light;routing=car
will add the tags mkgmap:option:light=true and mkgmap:option:routing=car to each element before style processing happens. This can then be used in rules like:
landuse=farmland & mkgmap:option:light=true {delete landuse}
--list-styles
List the available styles. If this option is preceded by a --style-file option then it lists the styles available within that file or folder.
--check-styles
Perform some checks on the available styles. If this option is preceded by a --style-file option then it checks the styles available within that file. If it is also preceded by the --style option it will only check that style.
--levels=level:resolution[,level:resolution...]
Change the way that the levels on the map correspond to the zoom levels in the device. See customisation help. The hard coded default is: "0:24, 1:22, 2:20, 3:18, 4:16", although each style can have its own default. The default style for example overwrites it with "0:24, 1:22, 2:20, 3:18". Up to 8 levels may be specified.
--name-tag-list=tag[,tag...]
Specify the tag that will be used to supply the name. Useful for language variations. You can supply a list of tags and the first one found will be used. e.g. --name-tag-list=name:en,int_name,name

Product description options

--family-id=integer
This is an integer that identifies a family of products. Range: [1..65535] Default: 6324
--family-name=name
If you build several maps, this option describes the family name of all of your maps. Garmin will display this in the map selection screen. The default is "OSM map".
Example: --family-name="OpenStreetmap mkgmap XL 2019"
--product-id=integer
This is an integer that identifies a product within a family. It is often just 1, which is the default.
--product-version=integer
The version of the product. Default value is 100 which means version 1.00.
--series-name=name
This name will be displayed by Garmin PC programs in the map selection drop-down. The default is "OSM map".
--area-name=name
Area name is displayed on Garmin units (or at least on eTrex) as the second part of the mapname in the list of the individual maps.
--copyright-message=text
Specify a copyright message for files that do not contain one.
--copyright-file=filename
Specify copyright messages from a file. Note that the first copyright message is not displayed on a device, but is shown in BaseCamp. The copyright file must include at least two lines and be UTF-8 encoded. The following symbols will be substituted by mkgmap: $MKGMAP_VERSION$, $JAVA_VERSION$, $YEAR$, $LONGDATE$, $SHORTDATE$ and $TIME$. Time and date substitutions use the local date and time formats.
--license-file=filename
Specify a file which content will be added as license. The license file must be UTF-8 encoded. The following symbols will be substituted by mkgmap: $MKGMAP_VERSION$, $JAVA_VERSION$, $YEAR$, $LONGDATE$, $SHORTDATE$ and $TIME$. Time and date substitutions use the local date and time formats. All entries of all maps will be merged in the overview map.

Optimization options

--improve-overview
Tells mkgmap to use a more complex method to calculate the outlines of complex multipolygons which are visible in the overview map. This reduces the size of the overview map and it improves especially complex coastline areas.
--reduce-point-density=NUM
Simplifies the ways with the Douglas Peucker algorithm. NUM is the maximal allowed error distance, by which the resulting way may differ from the original one. This distance gets shifted with lower zoom levels. (Default is 2.6, which should lead to invisible changes) See also --simplify-lines which gives better control.
--reduce-point-density-polygon=NUM
Allows you to set the maximal allowed error distance for the DP algorithm to be applied against polygons. See also --simplify-polygons which gives better control.
--merge-lines
Try to merge lines. This helps the simplify filter to straighten out longer chunks at lower zoom levels. Decreases file size more. Increases paint speed at low zoom levels. Default is enabled, use --no-merge-lines to disable.
--allow-reverse-merge
Use this option to allow the reversing of lines and roads to get even better results from line merging. Reversing is only done when oneway attribute allows it and the type has no direction. See --line-types-with-direction for further details.
--line-types-with-direction=type[,type ...]
Use this option to tell mkgmap which line types should never be reversed. If your TYP file renders certain line types with a direction even if the way has no oneway attribute you must list those types here to prevent reversing.
Example usage: --line-types-with-direction=0x26,0x10005,0x10006
--min-size-polygon=NUM
Removes all polygons smaller than NUM from the map. This reduces map size and speeds up redrawing of maps. Recommended value is 8 to 15, default is 8.
See also polygon-size-limits.
--polygon-size-limits=resolution:value[,resolution:value...]
Allows you to specify different min-size-polygon values for each resolution. Example:
--polygon-size-limits="24:12, 18:10, 16:8, 14:4, 12:2, 11:0"
If a resolution is not given, mkgmap uses the value for the next higher one. For the given example, resolutions 19 to 24 will use value 12, resolution 17 and 18 will use 10, and so on. Value 0 means to not apply the size filter. Note that in resolution 24 the filter is not used. The following options are equivalent:
--min-size-polygon=12
--polygon-size-limits=24:12
--polygon-size-limits=24:0,23:12
--polygon-size-limits=24:0,23:12,22:12,21:12,16:12
--simplify-lines=resolution:value[,resolution:value...]
Use this option to specify different values for the Douglas Peucker algorithm depending on the resolution when it is applied to lines. It overwrites the --reduce-point-density value. The syntax is similar to --polygon-size-limits, but values are given in metres. This distance gets shifted with lower zoom levels. Example:
--simplify-lines=23:2.6,22:4.2,21:5.4,20:6
--simplify-polygons=resolution:value[,resolution:value...]
Use this option to specify different values for the Douglas Peucker algorithm depending on the resolution when it is applied to polygons. It overwrites the --reduce-point-density-polygon value. The syntax is similar to --simplify-lines.

Hill Shading (DEM) options

Hill Shading is rendered by BaseCamp and GPS devices when the map includes a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Use the following options to add a DEM to the map and control its characteristics. DEM creation requires files containing height information for the area covered by the map, the so called hgt files, which typically cover 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude and are named by the coordinates of their bottom left corner (e.g. N53E009). They contain height information in a grid of points. Typical hgt files contain either 1 arc second or 3 arc second data. 3 arc second files have 1201 x 1201 points, which means files contain 2 x 1201 x 1201 = 2,884,802 bytes. 1 arc second files have 3601 x 3601 points, with a file size of 25,934,402 bytes. Other files are supported as long as the formula sqrt(filesize/2) gives an integer value.
--dem=path[,path...]
The option expects a comma separated list of paths to directories or zip files containing *.hgt files. Directories are searched for *.hgt files and also for *.hgt.zip and *.zip files.
The list is searched in the given order, so if you want to use 1 arc second files make sure that they are found first. There are different sources for hgt files, some have so called voids which are areas without data. Those should be avoided.
--dem-dists=number[,number...]
If given, the option specifies the resolution(s) for the DEM data. If not given, mkgmap determines a single value based on the resolution of the hgt files. For BaseCamp you only need one value; for GPS devices you need one for each resolution given with the --levels option. The actual values are the distance between two DEM points and should be a multiple or submultiple of the distance between two points in the hgt file, that is 3314 for 1 arc second and 9942 for 3 arc second. Higher distances mean lower resolution and thus fewer bytes in the map. Reasonable values for the highest resolution should not be much smaller than 50% hgt resolution, that is somewhere between 1648 and 5520 for 1 arc second hgt input files (3312 is often used), and 5520 to 9942 for 3 arc second hgt input files.
Example which should work with levels="0:24, 1:22, 2:20, 3:18":
--dem-dists=3312,13248,26512,53024
This was found in a Garmin Demo map for transalpin data created 2009.
--dem-interpolation=auto|bicubic|bilinear
Use this option to specify the method that is used to interpolate data from hgt raster to the DEM raster. The value bicubic gives the highest precision but is slower, bilinear is faster but less precise, it tends to smooth the profile and thus also reduces DEM size compared to bicubic. The value auto means that bicubic is used where is seems appropriate according to hgt resolution and dem-dist value, else bilinear is used. The default is auto.
--dem-poly=filename
If given, the filename should point to a *.poly file in osmosis polygon file format. The polygon described in the file is used to determine the area for which DEM data should be added to the map. If not given, the DEM data will cover the full tile area.
--overview-dem-dist=integer
If given, the option specifies the resolution(s) for the DEM data in the overview map. If not given or 0, mkgmap will not add DEM to the overview map. Reasonable values depend on the size of the area and the lowest resolution used for the single tiles, good compromises are somewhere between 55000 and 276160.

Sea Processing options

If your map contains sea areas then you will need to use --generate-sea to generate the sea areas from the OSM files or --precomp-sea to use separate precompiled sea tiles.

--generate-sea[=VALUE[,...]]
Generate sea polygons. When this option is specified, the sea is generated using a multipolygon unless the polygons value is specified. The coastline data can be read from the input OSM files, separate files containing coastline data if --coastlinefile is specified or precompiled sea data if --precomp-sea is specified. The VALUEs are as follows:
multipolygon
generate the sea using a multipolygon. This is the default value.
polygons | no-mp
don't generate the sea using a multipolygon - instead, generate a background sea polygon plus individual land polygons (see land-tag value).
land-tag=TAG=VAL
tag to use for land polygons (default natural=land) created by the polygons option. For these to be visible in the Garmin map, a suitable land polygon type must be defined in the TYP file (suggested type is 0x010100 or 0x54), the polygon must have a higher drawing level than the sea polygon type and the style file must link TAG=VAL to the land polygon type defined in the TYP file.
no-sea-sectors
disable the generation of "sea sectors" when the coastline fails to reach the tile's boundary. Under some conditions land sectors are generated instead and these use land-tag.
extend-sea-sectors
Adds a point so coastline reaches the nearest tile boundary. This implies no-sea-sectors.
close-gaps=NUM
close gaps in coastline that are less than this distance (metres)
floodblocker
enable the flood blocker that prevents a flooding of land by checking if the sea polygons contain streets (works only with multipolygon processing)
fbgap=NUM
flood blocker gap in metre (default 40) points that are closer to the sea polygon do not block
fbthres=NUM
at least so many highway points must be contained in a sea polygon so that it may be removed by the flood blocker (default 20)
fbratio=NUM
only sea polygons with a higher ratio (highway points x 100000 / polygon size) are removed (default 0.5)
fbdebug
switches on the debugging of the flood blocker generates GPX files for each polygon checked by the flood blocker
check
check whether the coastline data contains sea within sea or land within land
--coastlinefile=filename[,filename...]
Defines a comma separated list of OSM or PBF format files that contain coastline data to be used instead of extracting the data from the input files. If you specify --coastlinefile you must also specify --generate-sea.
--precomp-sea=directory|zipfile
Defines the directory or a zip file that contains precompiled sea data. Sea data in a zip file must be located in the zip file's root directory or in a sub directory named sea. When this option is defined, natural=coastline tags from the input OSM files are ignored, the --coastlinefile option is ignored and the precompiled data is used instead. You can use the multipolygon, polygon and land-tag values of the --generate-sea option in conjunction with --precomp-sea to control the way the sea is built, but the other --generate-sea values are not available. If --generate-sea is not specified, the --precomp-sea option sets --generate-sea=multipolygon.

You can download procompiled sea data for the whole world from the mkgmap download page at http://www.mkgmap.org.uk/download/mkgmap.html

If you want to build your own precompiled sea data, you will need to build a copy of mkgmap from the source, with the optional PrecompSeaGenerator source included. This generator uses ESRI shapefiles as its source data. It is not included in the standard mkgmap build due to its dependencies on external libraries.

Diagnostic options

Messages produced by the diagnostic options are directed to stderr when no logging configuration file is in use. When using a logging configuration file, they are logged with custom level DIAGNOSTIC (1100).

--report-roundabout-issues[=all|loop|direction|overlap|junctions|flares[,...]]
Report on various types of roundabout issue:
  • all - report on all the types of issue. This is the default if --report-roundabout-issues is specified without a value.
  • loop - check that each roundabout is formed from a single loop with no forks or gaps
  • direction - check the direction of travel around the roundabout, see also --fix-roundabout-direction
  • overlap - check that highways do not overlap the roundabout
  • junctions - check that no more than one connecting highway joins at each node
  • flares - check that roundabout flare roads are one-way, are in the right direction, and don't extend beyond the flare
--roundabout-flare-rules-config=filename
Provide a configuration file containing the rules to be used with the --check-roundabouts=flares option in determining whether a pair of roads joining a roundabout should be considered to be flares.
--report-routing-islands
Routing islands are small road networks which are not connected to other roads. A typical case is a footway that is not connected to the main road network, or a small set of ways on the inner courtyard of a large building.
These islands can cause problems if you try to calculate a route and the GPS selects a point on the island as a start or end. It will fail to calculate the route even if a major road is only a few steps away. If this option is specified, then mkgmap will report these islands.
See also --max-routing-island-len.
--report-similar-arcs
Issue a warning when more than one arc connects two nodes and the ways that the arcs are derived from contain identical points.
--report-dead-ends[=LEVEL]
Set the dead end road warning level. The value of LEVEL determines those roads to report:
  • 0 = none (the default)
  • 1 = report on connected one-way roads that go nowhere (default if no LEVEL specified)
  • 2 = also report on individual one-way roads that go nowhere.
--dead-ends[=key[=value]][,key[=value]...]
Specify a list of keys and optional values that should be considered to be valid dead ends when found on the node at the end of a way. Ways with nodes matching any of the items in the list will not be reported as dead ends. If no value or * is specified for value then presence of the key alone will cause the dead end check to be skipped. The default is --dead-ends=fixme,FIXME.

POI options

--add-pois-to-lines[=all|start|end|mid|other]
Generate nodes that may be used by the points file to produce POIs at various positions of non-closed lines. The option expects a comma separated list that specifies the positions at which a node should be generated. The default is all. If the inner or all values are used, a lot of points are likely to be generated and these are likely to need filtering in the points file. Each node is tagged with the same tags as the line plus mkgmap generated tags mkgmap:line2poi=true and mkgmap:line2poitype with one of the following values:
  • start - The first point of the line
  • end - The last point of the line
  • inner - Each point of the line except the first and the last
  • mid - An extra point added by mkgmap at the middle of the line
--add-pois-to-areas
For each polygon and multipolygon, generate a node that may be used by the points file to produce a POI. The nodes are created after the relation style but before the other styles are applied. Each node is tagged with the same tags of the area/multipolygon, plus mkgmap generated tag mkgmap:area2poi=true. Artificial polygons created by multipolyon processing are not used. The nodes are created at the following positions:
polygons: the first rule that applies of:
  • the first node tagged with a tag defined by the --pois-to-areas-placement option
  • the centre point
multipolygons: the first rule that applies of:
  • the node with role=label
  • the centre point of the biggest area
--pois-to-areas-placement=tag=value[;tag=value...]
A node is placed at the first node of the polygon tagged with the first tag/value pair. If none of the nodes are tagged with the first tag-value pair the first node tagged with the second tag-value pair is used and so on. If none of the tag-value pairs matches or no tag-value pairs are supplied, the centre of the polygon is used. It is possible to define wildcards for tag values like entrance=*.

Default: entrance=main;entrance=yes;building=entrance

--make-poi-index
Generate a POI index in each map tile. Probably not used by modern devices, but still supported.
--poi-address
Enable address / phone information to POIs. Address info is read according to the "Karlsruhe" tagging schema. Automatic filling of missing information could be enabled using the --location-autofill option. Default is enabled, use --no-poi-address to disable.
--nearby-poi-rules=type[-type][1]:distance[:delete-poi|delete-name][,...]
Defines a set of rules to follow when a POI is near to another of the same type and label. Each rule consists of three parts separated by colons. The first two parts must be provided; the last part can be defaulted.
The first part of the rule is a Garmin POI type code or range of type codes, with an optional suffix; it determines when the rule is triggered. A type code may be specified in decimal or hexadecimal (e.g. 0x2c0b). A rule is triggered when processing a POI if the type code of the POI matches the rule type or falls within the range of type codes, providing there is also a match in the POI name and the first part suffix. If the suffix is '/all' (the default) then the match is only made on the type. If the suffix is '/named' then the rule is only triggered if the POI has a name. If the suffix is '/unnamed' then the rule is only triggered if the POI has no name. A wildcard of an asterisk character may be used to match any type code. The wildcard may also be combined with a suffix to allow separate processing of named and unnamed POIs.
The second part of the rule is the distance in metres which an already processed POI must be within for it to be considered to be nearby and hence trigger the action part of the rule.
The third part of the rule is the action part and provides two options:
delete-poi - the POIS are considered to be duplicates and the duplicate is deleted. This is the default.
delete-name - the POIS are not duplicates, but only a single name needs to be displayed.
Wildcard rules are only applied if no other rule is applicable.
For example:
--nearby-poi-rules=*/named:10,*/unnamed:25,0x2f17-0x2f1f:30
This has the following effect:
If no other rule applies, a POI with the same name and type and within 10m of one already processed will be deleted.
If no other rule applies, a POI having no name and of the same type and within 25m of one already processed will be deleted.
A POI of any type between 0x2f17 and 0x2f1f that is within 30m of another POI with the same type will be deleted.
If you have a lot of rules, the --nearby-poi-rules-config option is likely to be easier to use.
Note: a POI that matches another in type, name and exact location is always considered a duplicate and deleted.
--nearby-poi-rules-config=filename
Allows you to specify the nearby POI rules as described in the --nearby-poi-rules option in a configuration file. The format of the rules is the same as in --nearby-poi-rules, except that each rule is specified on a separate line, rather than separated by commas. This format makes it easier to view and maintain the rules when you have a lot of them. If you just have one or two rules, it is simpler to use the --nearby-poi-rules option.

Miscellaneous options

--max-jobs[=integer]
Specify the number of threads to be used for concurrent processing. Increasing max-jobs will reduce the execution time, providing sufficient memory is available and the value is not greater than the number of cores in the CPU. If no value is specified, the limit is set to the number of CPU cores. The default is for the limit to be automatically set to a reasonable value based on the amount of memory allocated to the Java runtime and the amount used in processing the first tile.
--keep-going
Don't quit whole application if an exception occurs while processing a map - continue to process the other maps.
--block-size=integer
Changes the block size that is used in the generated map. This option is not usually needed, but sometimes an error message will ask you to try a value for this option.
--net
Tells mkgmap to write NET data, which is needed for address search and routing. Use this option if you want address search, but do not need a map that supports routing or house number search.
--route
Tells mkgmap to write NET and NOD data, which are needed in maps that support routing. If you specify this option, you do not need to specify --net and --no-net is ignored.
--add-boundary-nodes-at-admin-boundaries=NUM
This option controls how mkgmap calculates special routing nodes which are needed by Garmin software to allow routing between different map tiles. These nodes are written to section 3 and 4 in the NOD file. When a road crosses the tile boundary (bbox), the road is split at this point and such a special node is written. This allows routing between one set of tiles produced by splitter.jar. However, if you create a map from different sets of tiles, those tiles are likely to overlap. For the overlapping tiles, none of the entries in NOD3 match and thus routing across tile border doesn't work when the route is not fully covered by one of the tiles. The option tells mkgmap to add special nodes wherever a road touches or crosses an administrative boundary. The NUM parameter specifies a filter for the admin_level. Boundaries with a higher admin_level value are ignored. The default value is 2 (country borders). Another reasonable value might be 4. A value less or equal to 0 tells mkgmap to ignore intersections at administrative boundaries.
--drive-on=left|right|detect|detect,left|detect,right
Explicitly specify which side of the road vehicles are expected to drive on. If the first option is detect, the program tries to find out the proper flag. If that detection fails, the second value is used (or right if none is given). With OSM data as input, the detection tries to find out the country each road is in and compares the number of drive-on-left roads with the rest. Use the --bounds option to make sure that the detection finds the correct country.
--ignore-turn-restrictions
When reading OSM files, ignore any "restriction" relations.
--ignore-osm-bounds
When reading OSM files, ignore any "bounds" elements. With this option selected generate-sea sometimes works better, but routing across tiles will not work.
--preserve-element-order
Process the map elements (nodes, ways, relations) in the order in which they appear in the OSM input. Without this option, the order in which the elements are processed is not defined.
--cycle-map
Tells mkgmap that the map is for cyclists. This assumes that different vehicles are different kinds of bicycles, e.g. a way with mkgmap:car=yes and mkgmap:bicycle=no may be a road that is good for racing bikes, but not for other cyclists. This allows the optimisation of sharp angles at junctions of those roads. Don't use with the default style as that is a general style!
--nsis
Write a .nsi file that can be used with the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS) to create a Windows Installer for using the map in BaseCamp. It looks for an installer template and license file template in the resources and resources\installer folders. Note that it does not use the license file specified in --license-file.
--make-opposite-cycleways
Some one-way streets allow bicycle traffic in the reverse direction and this option makes a way with the same points as the original that allows bicycle traffic (in both directions).
--link-pois-to-ways
This option may copy some specific attributes of a POI to a small part of the way the POI is located on. This can be used to let barriers block a way or to lower the calculated speed around traffic signals. POIs with the tags highway=* (e.g. highway=traffic_signals) or barrier=* (e.g. barrier=cycle_barrier) are supported. The style developer must add at least one of the access tags (mkgmap:foot, mkgmap:car etc.), mkgmap:road-speed and/or mkgmap:road-class to the POI. The access tags are ignored if they have no effect for the way, else a route restriction is added at the POI so that only allowed vehicles are routed through it. The tags mkgmap:road-speed and/or mkgmap:road-class are applied to a small part of the way around the POI, typically to the next junction or a length of ~25m. The tags are ignored for pedestrian-only ways.
--process-destination
Splits all motorway_link, trunk_link, primary_link, secondary_link, and tertiary_link ways tagged with destination into two or three parts where the second part is additionally tagged with mkgmap:dest_hint=*. The code checks for the tags destination, destination:lanes, destination:street and some variants with :forward/:backward like destination:forward or destination:lanes:backward. If a value for destination is found, the special tag mkgmap:dest_hint is set to it and the way is split. This happens before the style rules are processed. This allows to use any routable Garmin type (except 0x08 and 0x09) for that part so that the Garmin device tells the name of this part as hint which destination to follow.
See also --process-exits.
--process-exits
Usual Garmin devices do not tell the name of the exit on motorways while routing with mkgmap created maps. This option splits each motorway_link, trunk_link, primary_link, secondary_link, and tertiary_link way into three parts. All parts are tagged with the original tags of the link. Additionally the middle part is tagged with the following tags:
mkgmap:exit_hint=true
mkgmap:exit_hint_ref=<ref tag value of the exit>
mkgmap:exit_hint_name=<name tag value of the exit>
mkgmap:exit_hint_exit_to=<exit_to tag value of the exit>
Adding a rule checking the mkgmap:exit_hint=true makes it possible to use any routable Garmin type (except 0x08 and 0x09) for the middle part so that the Garmin device tells the name of this middle part as hint where to leave the motorway/trunk. The first part must have type 0x08 or 0x09 so that Garmin uses the hint.
--delete-tags-file=filename
Names a file that should contain one or more lines of the form TAG=VALUE or TAG=*. Blank lines and lines that start with a # or ; are ignored. All tag/value pairs in the OSM input are compared with these patterns and those that match are deleted.
--ignore-fixme-values
Ignore all tags for which the value matches the regular expression pattern "(?i)fix[ _]?+me".
--tdbfile
Write files that are essential to running with BaseCamp; a .tdb file and an overview map. The options --nsis and --gmapi imply --tdbfile.
--show-profiles=1
Sets a flag in the tdb file. The meaning depends on the availability of DEM data (see "Hill Shading (DEM) options").
Without DEM data the flag enables profile calculation in BaseCamp based on information from contour lines.
If DEM data is available the profile is calculated with that information and the flag only changes the status line to show the height when you hover over an area with valid DEM data.
The default is show-profiles=0.
--transparent
Make the map transparent, so that if two maps covering the same area are loaded, you can see through this map to see details from the other map too. Typically used for maps containing just contour lines. See --draw-priority as well.
--draw-priority=integer
When two maps cover the same area and both are enabled in the device, this option controls the order in which they are drawn in and therefore which map is on top. Higher priorities are drawn "on top" of lower priorities. The map drawn on top must be transparent for the one underneath to be seen. The default value is 25.
--custom
Write a different TRE header. With this option, mkgmap writes the bytes 0x170401 instead of the default 0x110301 at offset 43. Useful for marine maps.
--hide-gmapsupp-on-pc
Set a bit in the gmapsupp.img that tells PC software that the file is already installed on the PC and therefore there is no need to read it from the device.
--verbose
Makes some operations more verbose. Mostly used with --list-styles.
--order-by-decreasing-area
Puts area/polygons into the map in decreasing size order, so that smaller features are rendered over larger ones (assuming the draw order is equal). The tag mkgmap:drawLevel can be used to override the natural area of a polygon, so forcing changes to the rendering order.
--max-routing-island-len=integer
Routing islands are small road networks which are not connected to other roads. A typical case is a footway that is not connected to the main road network, or a small set of ways on the inner courtyard of a large building.
These islands can cause problems if you try to calculate a route and the GPS selects a point on the island as a start or end. It will fail to calculate the route even if a major road is only a few steps away. If a positive value is specified, then mkgmap will mark islands with a total length less than the specified value in metres as not routable. Reasonable values are 500 or higher. The default is to not to mark any islands as unroutable. If any of the roads forming the island touches a tile boundary or a country border the island is ignored, as it may be connected to other roads in a different tile.
See also options --add-boundary-nodes-at-admin-boundaries and --report-routing-islands.
This option seems to cause routing problems in BaseCamp.
--fix-roundabout-direction
Reverse the direction of travel around roundabouts that do not have the expected direction (clockwise when vehicles drive on the left). See also --report-roundabout-issues=direction.

Deprecated and Obsolete Options

--check-roundabouts
Deprecated; use --report-roundabout-issues and/or --fix-roundabout-direction instead. Check that roundabouts have the expected direction (clockwise when vehicles drive on the left). Roundabouts that are complete loops and have the wrong direction are reversed. Also checks that the roundabouts do not fork or overlap other roundabouts and that no more than one connecting highway joins at each node.
--check-roundabout-flares
Deprecated; use --report-roundabout-issues=flares instead. Check that roundabout flare roads point in the correct direction, are one-way and don't extend too far.
--max-flare-length-ratio=NUM
Deprecated; use --roundabout-flare-rules-config instead. When checking roundabout flares, ignore roads whose length is greater than NUM (an integer) times the distance between the nodes on the roundabout that the flare roads connect to.
--check-routing-island-len=integer
Deprecated; use --report-routing-islands and --max-routing-island-len instead. Translated to --report-routing-islands if info level logging is enabled, plus --max-routing-island-len=integer.
--drive-on-left
--drive-on-right
Deprecated; use --drive-on instead. The options are translated to --drive-on=left|right.
--make-all-cycleways
Deprecated; use --make-opposite-cycleways instead. Former meaning: Turn on all of the options that make cycleways.
--charset=name
Obsolete; use --code-page instead.
--map-features=filename
Obsolete; use --style-file instead.
--ignore-maxspeeds
Obsolete; former usage: When reading OSM files, ignore any "maxspeed" tags.
--ignore-builtin-relations
Obsolete; former usage: When reading OSM files, skip the built-in processing of relations. This speeds up the processing non-routable map layers that do not contain multipolygons. This implies --ignore-turn-restrictions.
--road-name-pois[=GarminCode]
Obsolete; former usage: Generate a POI for each named road. By default, the POIs' Garmin type code is 0x640a. If desired, a different type code can be specified with this option. This is a workaround for not being able to search for roads. 0x2f15: a blue dot in the middle of the road, and if you select, or 'hover' over it, the street name appears.
--make-cycleways
Obsolete; former meaning: Some streets have a separate cycleway track/lane just for bicycle traffic and this option makes a way with the same points as the original that allows bicycle traffic. Also, bicycle traffic is prohibited from using the original way (unless that way's bicycle access has been defined).
--remove-short-arcs[=MinLength]
Now ignored, former usage: Merge nodes to remove short arcs that can cause routing problems. If MinLength is specified (in metres), arcs shorter than that length will be removed. If a length is not specified, only zero-length arcs will be removed.
--adjust-turn-headings[=BITMASK]
Now ignored, former usage: Where possible, ensure that turns off to side roads change heading sufficiently so that the GPS believes that a turn is required rather than a fork. This also avoids spurious instructions to "keep right/left" when the road doesn't actually fork.
Optional BITMASK (default value 3) allows you to specify which adjustments are to be made (where necessary):
1 = increase angle between side road and outgoing main road
2 = increase angle between side road and incoming main road

Latest commits

  • mkgmap-r4918 add surface=chipseal to group of surfaces which means paved.
    06 mar 2024
  • mkgmap-r4917 fix typos in documentation: $LONG_DATE$ -> $LONGDATE$, $SHORT_DATE$ -> $SHORTDATE$.
    18 feb 2024
  • mkgmap-r4916 sortResource_v3.patch (with updated date in comment) by Ticker Berkin.
    13 oct 2023
  • mkgmap-r4915 Polish format (*.mp) Don't crash with NullPointerException when a contour line has no label.
    11 oct 2023
  • mkgmap-r4914 no_hp-overflow_v2.patch by Ticker Berkin (with modified javadoc and updated unit tests):.
    08 oct 2023
See more...