How to download
How to download customized google maps
How to view downloaded maps
How to combine small images into one big map
Some problems when downloading
How to export tiles to sqlite database
How to download other type maps
How to use offline maps in RMaps, Locus Map or OruxMaps
What projection does Google Maps use?
How to download?
See the screenshot. It is very easy to use.
1, Select a Maps type from the left tree view.
2, Enter a task name, such like "Mytask.egmd". All task files are saved as *.egmd.
If you want to continue an old task, click button "Open task... ".
3, There are 4 parameters (Left Longitude, Right Longitude, Top Latitude, Bottom Latitude) to define the area scope of images that you want to download.
Left Longitude: -180<=value<=180, for East, the value is positive, for West, the value is negative.
Right Longitude:-180<=value<=180, for East, the value is positive, for West, the value is negative.
Top Latitude:-85<=value<=85,for North, the value is positive, for South, the value is negative.
Bottom Latitude:-85<=value<=85,for North, the value is positive, for South, the value is negative.
For longitude and latitude, the input measurement is degree. You can convert the measurement of "Degrees, Minutes,Seconds" to "Degrees" by click menu "Tools->Convert 'Degrees,Minutes,Seconds' to 'Degrees'...".
The followed sketch map explains the area scope:
How to get the latitude/longitude information from Google Maps?
You can right-click a location on the map(http://maps.google.com) and select "What's here?" , The coordinates of that location will automatically appear in the Search box at the top of the page.
4, Define the zoom level. The zoom level defines the image precision. For trial version, the max zoom level is 13, so you can not download high precision images.
5, Select a path to save the project and downloaded images
6, Then click button "Start", OK, start downloading now ... !
When downloading, the log window will display the downloading process. When finished, the log will be saved to a file.
We also provide command line support. Click here to see how to start a task from command line.
Click here to see more examples
How to download customized google maps?
Please click here to see more detail help about how to download customized maps.
How to view downloaded maps?
You can view downloaded maps without combining them into one big BMP. We provide a tool to view the images, you can run it from menu "Tools"->"Map Viewer".
Then open a task from menu "File"->"Open task..." to view the map.
For example:
This is satellite maps:
This is street maps:
This is hybrid maps:
View maps with browser:
How to combine small images into one big map?
After downloading, all small images are saved on your disk. Then you can combine them into one big image map.
We provide a tool : Combiner.exe. You can run it from menu "Tools"->"Map Combiner".
It can output bmp file with a bpw file. And it can also create a georeferenced tif file, jpg, png, ecw, sgi, img, kmz, rst, pnm, pdf, mbtiles, gpkg file, and a map file for OziExplorer. You can convert it to other format by yourself using some image tools such like PhotoShop.
If the bmp file size is too big, you can use tool "BMP Splitter" to split it into some small bmp files.
Some problems
1. Google map uses a protection mechanism to keep a good quality of service. If one makes too much requests, google map will add its IP address to a blacklist, and you may see a message:
Google Error : 403 forbidden
If this happend, you will see a messge in log window: May be your IP is banned by Google. Then you must wait for some time or change to another IP.
To avoid IP banned, you can try to set the downloader to pause some minutes (default 5 minutes). But I can't guarantee it will work. Good luck! Click menu "Misc"->"Options", the following window will be displayed: check the checkbox "Set pause to avoid IP banned (only for Google Maps).
2. For some area, there are not high precision images on google's server, so may be caused a error when you try to download such images. If this happend, you need to set smaller zoom size to download. (For most areas, the max zoom level is 18)
How to export tiles to sqlite database
Click menu->'Export to MBTiles database', then will show this window:
There are 3 types of db that you can choose.
And if you select MBtiles format, after exporting, you can view this .mbtiles file with MBTiles Viewer:
You can also use the mbtiles file in some Android or IOS Apps.
How to download other type maps?
Google Maps Downloader can only download images from Google Maps, if you want to download other types of maps, we provide other tools:
Universal Maps Downloader: It can download maps from many maps servers. Please click here to see all map types (2400+) , and click here to see all tiles samples.
Offline Map Maker: Difference from Universal Maps Downloader: Offline Map Maker can downloads multi zoom level in one task, but Universal Maps Downloader can only download single zoom level in one task.
google earth images downloder: It can download images (including historical imagery) from google earth servers, not google maps.
How to use offline maps in RMaps, Locus Map or OruxMaps?
After exporting all downloaded tiles into a sqlite database, then you can use the sqlite file in some Android apps, such like RMaps and OruxMaps.
For RMaps: When you finished exporting tiles to sqlite database with export type 'For RMaps', you will get a file: your_task_name.gmd.sqlitedb, then copy it to your Android device, to your RMaps installed path, might be like '/sdcard/rmaps/maps/', then refresh your RMaps offline maps, you will see a new offline maps "your_task_name.gmd.sqlitedb". Note: when you view the offline maps in RMaps, you need to zoom it to your downloaded zoom level, otherwise, it will show blank maps.
For Locus Map: Same as RMaps, when you finished exporting tiles to sqlite database with export type 'For RMaps or Locus Map', you will get a file: your_task_name.gmd.sqlitedb, then copy it to your Android device, to your Locus Maps installed path, might be like '/sdcard/Locus/maps/', then refresh your Locus offline maps, you will see a new offline maps "your_task_name.gmd.sqlitedb".
For OruxMaps: When you finished exporting tiles to sqlite database with export type 'For Oruxmaps', you will get two files: your_task_name.gmd.otrk2, your_task_name.gmd.OruxMapsImages.db, you need to rename the your_task_name.gmd.OruxMapsImages.db to OruxMapsImages.db, then on your Android device, in your OruxMaps installed path, might be like '/sdcard/oruxmaps/mapfiles/', create a new folder suchlike 'exmaple', then copy "OruxMapsImages.db" and "your_task_name.gmd.otrk2.xml" to this folder, refresh your oruxmaps offline maps, you will see a new offline maps "your_task_name_gmdmap".
What projection does Google Maps use?
Google Maps uses Web Mercator ( EPSG:3857), more detail information about it, you can goto these links to see:
http://epsg.io/3857
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/EPSG:3857
http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/48949/epsg-3857-or-4326-for-googlemaps-openstreetmap-and-leaflet
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