This program allows to automatically assemble maps in order to create GPS background maps in Garmin KMZ format.
In order to use it:
- Create a directory named "maps" in which you put screenshots to be assembled. A minimum amount of overlap is needed between the different images in order to allow a robust match;
- launch IGNMapper. It will read the directory and create a database of the images it finds and assign arbitrary coordinates to them
- use the keys to move/place images together:
b: show/hide image borders
s: select the image that is highlighted
t: snap the current highlighted image onto the selected one using best match (if a match is found)
p: try to automatically fit all maps consistently (worksmost of the time)
d: compute and display descriptors for currently highlighted image (for debug purposes only)
e: show/hide descriptors computed with 'd'
w: save the database (including image positions)
Optionally, the program will load maps/mask.png and use it as a mask (white/transparent) to combine the images and remove unwanted features from the screenshots in the combined images.
- Onces all images are consistency placed, you need to add two control points by using Shift+left mouse click. Each new control point erases the oldest one. Good control points should be diagonaly placed over the full set of images to ensure maximal accuracy;
- save the map using 'w';
- edit the file maps/file_map.xml and set the real GPS coordinates of the two control points.
- re-launch IGNMapper and hit 'g' to display the tile grid. Choose a proper view and window size (some GPS like GARMIN expect to find less than 100 tiles in custom maps) and press 'x' to export a kmz file.