Map This!

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Development stage: 00% (as of December 11, 2007) (December 11, 2007)

Open Street Map view of West London on Map This! (Play Station Portable with PSP-290 GPS)
Open Street Map view of West London on Map This! (Play Station Portable with PSP-290 GPS)

Contents

[edit] Introduction

This Wikibook intends to provide an exhaustive guide to Map This!. It is currently (13:09, 23 January 2008 (UTC)) based on Map This! version 0.5.20.

[edit] Map This!

Map This! is an open source homebrew satellite navigation application for the Sony PlayStation Portable. In combination with a GPS receiver it allows you to see where you are on a map. Map This! can also function as a simple map viewer without a GPS receiver.

The official site of Map This! is http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk/.

You can see Map This! in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U33zXTOh14.

There are also two Map This! forums:

[edit] Requirements

In order to get Map This! working you will need the following:

  • A Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), either fat or slim;
  • A homebrew capable firmware (e.g. 1.50, OE or M33 firmware);
  • Enough space on your memory stick for Map This! itself and one or more maps;
  • A GPS receiver (e.g., PSP-290, Holux GPSlim236).

[edit] Homebrew capable firmware

Since Map This! is a homebrew application, you will need a PSP firmware that supports homebrew. This can be either official Sony firmware 1.50 or a custom firmware (CFW), e.g. one of Dark_AleX' firmwares.

[edit] Enough space on your memory stick

Map This! will take about 7MB of space, including a small sample map. However, to store your own maps you will need more space. Depending on the areas and the amount of detail you need, this may add up to several hundred megabytes. You should find out for yourself how much detail you will be able to store.

[edit] GPS receiver

Map This! distinguishes two different kinds of GPS receivers. One is connected to the PSP using the mini USB port, the other using the serial port (next to the headphone connection). So far there is only one GPS receiver that can be connected to the mini USB port, namely Sony's PSP-290 GPS receiver. The following GPS receivers can be connected to the serial port:

  • Holux GPSlim236;
  • Holux GPSlim240 (baud rate needs to be 4800);
  • Holux M-1000.

For these GPS receivers you will need a separate data cable to connect the GPS receiver to the serial port. This cable can either be homemade or purchased online. A cable for Sony's PSP-290 is not necessary.

The following receivers have been reported to work (using serial communication and NMEA), but the overall setup is usually more complicated and it's hard to officially verify it:

  • HOLUX GR-231 (use the default read time of 1, no need of resistor – some say it only works without this but try with a 1k resistor first to be on the safe side);
  • HOLUX GR-230;
  • GlobalSat BR-305;
  • Pharos GPS-360 (baud rate needs to be 4800, set read time to 2);
  • Garmin GPSmap 60C (baud rate needs to be 4800).

GPS receivers that are connected to the serial port are referred to as "generic".

[edit] Installation / setup

This section covers everything concerning files you can put on your memory stick in order to run Map This!. You do not need to follow all steps, but if you want, you can.

[edit] Basic installation

[edit] Getting Map This!

  • Download the latest version of Map This! from http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk/. This site also contains other news posts, so you may have to scroll down to see the latest version;
  • Decide on which firmware you want Map This! to run:
    • If you have a fat PSP and a generic GPS receiver, this will be 1.50;
    • If you have a fat PSP and the PSP-290 GPS receiver, this will be 3.xx;
    • If you have a slim PSP, no matter what GPS receiver, this will always be 3.xx.
  • Find out which firmware version you have:
    • In the Cross Media Bar (XMB) go to Settings -> System Settings -> System Information;
    • The first line will mention your firmware version (e.g. 3.71).
  • Find out which folder you need to run Map This! from:
    • If you will run Map This! e.g. on firmware 3.71, the folder will be ms0:/PSP/GAME371/;
      • The folder may also be ms0:/PSP/GAME/ if you're sure programs from this directory will be run using firmware 3.71.
    • If you will run Map This! on firmware 1.50, the folder will be ms0:/PSP/GAME150/ (only for fat PSP);
      • The folder may also be ms0:/PSP/GAME/ if you're sure programs from this directory will be run using firmware 1.50.
    • (Note: ms0:/ refers to the memory stick in your PSP. In Windows this may e.g. be G:\.)
  • Unpack the directory mapViewer from either the FW1.00 or FW3.xx directory in the archive (depending on the firmware version you just decided on), to either ms0:/PSP/GAME371/ or ms0:/PSP/GAME150/ (depending on the folder you just decided on).
    • Make sure that this folder contains the EBOOT.PBP (i.e., you now have a file ms0:/PSP/GAME???/mapViewer/EBOOT.PBP).

[edit] Configuring Map This!

  • In the Map This! directory, open the file system/config.txt;
  • Change the configuration directives to your liking;
  • The following configuration directives are supported:
    • BAUD (number): define baud rate for generic GPS receivers;
    • FAKEFEED (0 or 1): fake GPS signal by reading from file;
    • INITLOCATION (0, 1 or 2): use cold, warm or hot boot for PSP-290 GPS receiver. If you're not sure, just ignore, it doesn't matter too much;
    • DMS (0, 1 or 2): use only degrees, also minutes, or also seconds;
    • SPEEDFIX (number): define conversion factor from knots. Use 1.151 for mph, 1.8523 for km/h;
    • SPEEDLIMIT (number): define speed above which you will be warned about going too fast;
    • NIGHTMODE (0 or 1): enable night mode (inverse colors) at startup;
    • ALTFIX (number): define conversion factor from meters. Use 3.280839895 for feet, 1 for meters;
    • WARNINGDISTANCE (number): increase to get earlier notification of waypoint approaching. Only works for routes;
    • SPEEDFACTOR (number): smoothe movement between irregular GPS updates;
    • TURNSPEED (number): define minimum speed you need to go in order for the screen to rotate automatically;
    • STARTUPMAP (string): make Map This! open this map in GPS mode at startup, e.g., _NY_CITY_TINY_MAPSAMPLE;
    • LOADWIFI (0 or 1): enable WiFi to download maps from within Map This!;
    • STARTUPFREQUENCY (number): define CPU frequency of Map This! at startup;
    • SATINFOFREQUENCY (number): define CPU frequency in GPS info screen (PSP-290 GPS receiver only);
    • STARTUPSCREENMODE (0, 1 or 2): start Map This! in north up mode, track up mode or 3D mode;
    • CURSORSPEED (number): define cursor movement speed;
    • SMOOTHZOOM (0 or 1): enable zoom animation;
    • CACHEMAPINDEX (0 or 1): cache map tiles for faster access;
    • ENABLESERIALPORT (0 or 1): enable when you're using a generic GPS receiver.

[edit] Maps

Because Map This! only comes with a small sample map, you will need to download your own maps. This can be done automatically using Global Map Download Tool (GMDL).

Downloaded maps have to be placed in the Map This! directory in maps/. Map directory names have to start with an underscore, e.g. _NY_CITY_TINY_MAPSAMPLE. Each map directory contains 5 GPSFS files.

[edit] Points of Interest (POI) and routes

Map This! can show Points of Interest (POI) on a map as well as show routes from point A to point B. Both are stored in a POI file.

Like map directories, POI filenames have to start with an underscore, e.g. _banks_and_ATMs. It can be placed either in a map directory (together with the GPSFS files) or in ms0:/PSP/COMMON/. Placing a POI file in the latter directory allows you to load the POI file in every map.

A POI file can contain several directives:

  • lat,lon,desc1,desc2,snd: normal POIs contain:
    • Latitude/longitude: these can be either decimal, e.g. 40.713956°, or using minutes and seconds, e.g. N40°42'50.2416";
    • Description 1: max. 37 characters;
    • Description 2: max. 60 characters;
    • Sound number: including this, if this number is e.g. 3, will make Map This! play the file system/sounds/message003.mp3 when you move the cursor to this entry. This won't work if either desc1 or desc2 is empty.
  • #: lines starting with a pound sign are comments;
  •  !IMAGE:filename.png,: subsequent POIs will use filename.png as icon. The comma at the end is important!;
    • Icons are loaded from the map directory;
    • If they aren't found there, they are loaded from system/icons/;
    • Check out the files in systems/icons/ to create your own icon files.
  •  !WAYPOINT: only all POIs (waypoints) after this directive will be linked by a red line, creating a route.
    • When multiple !WAYPOINT directives are used, then only the last one will have effect;
    • With this directive, waypoints are "active" earlier, i.e., they are shown as if the cursor is above them when the cursor is still a maximum of WARNINGDISTANCE (see Configuring Map This!) pixels away. This is useful to see upcoming waypoints earlier when driving and following a route.

See the file _banks_and_ATMs for an example POI file.

[edit] Getting POI files

There are several websites that offer POI files for download. Often they are not in the format Map This! uses, so you will have to convert them. Global Map Download Tool can do this for a number of different formats. It can also download routes as POI files.

Another way to download routes is through http://getroute.nieko.net/. When accessing this site using the PSP browser you can only save routes to ms0:/PSP/COMMON/. See http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=66572 for updates.

[edit] Customizing sound files

Since the sound files are MP3 files, you can easily replace them with your own versions. You can either use a microphone to record your own voice prompts e.g., or you can use voice synthesizers:

In order for Map This! to recognize your voice prompts, you have to name them messageNNN.mp3, where NNN is e.g. 001. When a POI ends with "1,", message001.mp3 is played.

Do take into account that, when changing voice prompts and sound numbers, you will have to:

If you want to disable a certain sound, you can simply delete the sound file. This will also slightly speed up Map This!, e.g., when removing beep.mp3, you can scroll through lists faster.

[edit] Geodata

Map This! also supports geodata. A geodata file is called geodata.dat and contains house numbers and streets and their location, zip code, city and state for a specific area. You can use Global Map Download Tool to create geodata for your area (only US, Canada, UK, Sweden). Dutch geodata is published here: http://stuff.nieko.net/psp/mapthis/geodata/.

geodata.dat can be placed in a map directory or in the Map This! directory (same directory as EBOOT.PBP is in) to be able to use it in every map.

[edit] Localization

Map This! fully supports localization, in that the entire interface can be translated to another language and/or alphabet. In order to localize Map This! you need to change a few files:

  • bigfont.png: here you can specify a separate alphabet (e.g. Cyrillic);
  • help.txt: simply translate;
  • keys_c.png,keys_c_t.png,keys_s_c.png: here you can specify a separate alphabet for use with Danzeff OSK;
  • localfont_small.png: small version of bigfont.png;
  • localization.txt: here you can specify the character sets specified in bigfont.png, the Danzeff keys used and the translation of text messages in Map This! itself.

For a number of localization packs in different languages, visit http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=70091.

A Russian localization pack can be found in mapViewer_v05.rar, found here: http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk/mapthis-0-5-1-year-anniversary-edition--71404.html.

[edit] Staying up-to-date

New Map This! versions will be posted on http://deniska.dcemu.co.uk/.

When maps have been changed online, you can simply redownload them using Global Map Download Tool.

Other data, e.g. Dutch geodata, may be posted on the Map This! forums.

[edit] Operation

When you've completed the installation, it's time to start Map This!. This section assumes Map This! is functioning properly. If you encounter problems, see Troubleshooting.

[edit] Map selection screen

The first screen in Map This! is the map selection screen. If you have configured a STARTUPMAP in system/config.txt, this screen will be skipped, and the map will be opened with GPS mode on.

[edit] Controls

  • Up/Down: select map;
  • Cross/Circle: open map;
  • Select: exit Map This!.

[edit] Map screen

After you choose a map, it will be displayed. Map This! will remember the previous location and zoom level on this map. This information is stored in MAP_PREF.TXT in the map directory, but only when exiting the map screen by pressing Select.

The functions below are accessible directly. Other functions are accessible in the Start menu. You can reach this menu by pressing Start.

[edit] Moving around

There are a number of ways to change the view. The analog nub moves the cursor, Up/Down zooms in/out, L/R trigger rotates the map (L+R puts north up) and Right cycles through the different view modes.

[edit] View modes

Pressing Right cycles through North up, Track up and 3D mode. In North up mode, north will always stay up. In Track up mode and 3D mode, the direction in which you're going is up. In 3D mode the map is viewed at an angle.

If you don't have GPS mode on, then North up is disabled.

When you've gone through all view modes, night mode is enabled, inversing the colors on the map. In darker conditions, the screen then won't produce that much light. After going through the view modes again, night mode is disabled.

[edit] GPS/NMEA recording

For testing purposes you can record the GPS/NMEA data to a file. This function is (de)activated using Left. GPS/NMEA data is recorded to gps.txt. In config.txt you can specify the FAKEFEED directive to be either 0 or 1. When 1, GPS data is read from gps.txt instead of from the GPS receiver. Reading from gps.txt can also be selected in the Start menu.

[edit] Toggle POI

When you have loaded a POI file (see Start menu) you can unload it and load it again using Triangle. When loading a POI file that contains a route, the marker will be turned on automatically. When unloading, the marker is not turned off automatically.

[edit] Enable GPS mode

Pressing Square enables GPS mode. When the receiver has gotten a fix on at least 3 satellites, Map This! will show your current location on the map (if the map covers your current location). You can view GPS information in the GPS info screen (see Start menu).

You will also notice an info bar on the right. The indicator at the bottom left of this bar indicates your GPS signal. All 6 bars empty (in red) means 2 or fewer fixes (at least 3 are necessary). The more green bars, the more fixes: 1 bar = 3 fixes, 6 bars = 8 fixes.

You can disable GPS mode by moving the cursor using the analog nub.

[edit] Marker

You can set a marker at your current position by pressing Cross. A white line will be drawn from your current location to the location of the marker. At the top of the screen you will see the distance to the marker.

You can add extra segments by pressing Circle. The total length of all segments is shown directly above the cursor. It is not possible to save this path to a file.

If you have loaded a route (POI file), then the marker is automatically set and segments are added between the waypoints. Again, you can add extra segments by pressing Circle, but these are not stored.

You can remove the path and turn off the marker by again pressing Cross.

[edit] Controls

  • Analog nub: move cursor / disable GPS mode;
  • Up/Down: zoom in/out;
  • Right: cycle through view modes / enable/disable night mode;
  • Left: enable GPS/NMEA recording (works only in GPS mode);
  • L/R trigger: rotate map;
  • L+R trigger: put north up;
  • Triangle: load/unload POI file;
  • Square: enable GPS mode and show GPS info bar;
  • Cross: set/remove marker;
  • Circle: add extra segments (works only when marker is set);
  • Start: open Start menu;
  • Select: close map and return to Map selection screen.

[edit] Start menu

In the Start menu you'll see 12 actions. Some of these open new screens, others toggle a setting. You can select an action by pressing Cross.

In many of these new screens you need to input text. You can do this using the Danzeff method.

[edit] Danzeff

The Danzeff On Screen Keyboard (OSK) is a means of inputting text on the PSP. When the OSK is active, you will see the alphabet at the bottom right of the screen, divided over 3x3 blocks.

In order to input a character, you move the analog nub to the block you need and press Triangle, Square, Cross or Circle depending on which character from that block you need.

By holding the R trigger you can type upper case letters (these usually don't have a different effect in Map This!). If you have set up localization, holding the R trigger may bring up a different alphabet (e.g. Cyrillic).

Pressing the L trigger will bring up decimals. Holding the R trigger here will give you special characters. Pressing the L trigger again will bring you back to the alphabet.

[edit] Add POI

The Add POI screen allows you to create your own Points of Interest (POI). The four fields correspond to desc1, desc2, lat and lon respectively as mentioned at Points of Interest (POI) and routes.

When you're done filling out the fields, you can press Start to save the POI. Select cancels adding a POI.

New POIs are stored in the file _MY_POIS in the map directory.

[edit] POI Lookup

The POI Lookup screen allows you to open a POI file. Press Cross to show a POI file on the map. Here you can also open the POIs you have added using the Add POI screen by opening the file MY POIS.

Pressing Circle in the POI Lookup screen allows you to search for specific POIs in a certain POI file. Fill out the search field and press Start to search. You will see a list of all the matched entries. Selecting one (press Cross) will bring you to the location of that specific POI. Only those POIs that matched the search will be showed.

[edit] Address Lookup

Address Lookup allows you to search for a specific street and house number in a particular city, state or zip code area. In order for this to work you will need geodata for the current map.

The data needs to be input using US standards. Street can e.g. be 1 Roosevelt Drive (you may leave out the house number) and State can e.g. be TX. It is advisable to speed up the search by providing the city, since the geodata file is indexed using city names and zip codes.

Press Start to start the search. First an exact match is tried, where street name and house number have to match. Second a relaxed match is tried (TODO: what's different from exact match?). Third and last a wide match is tried, where house number is ignored.

You will see a list of all the matched entries. Selecting one (press Cross) will bring you to the location of that specific street and house number.

Map This! cannot calculate a route from your current location to this location. For downloading route files, see Getting POI files.

[edit] Address Reverse

Instead of looking up a particular street and house number, Map This! can also show you the closest street and house number, or possibly intersection (if two streets are equally close to your current location).

If the nearest street is more than 300 meters away no result will be returned.

[edit] Read GPS from file/unit

For testing purposes you can read GPS/NMEA data from a file. GPS/NMEA data is read from gps.txt. If the FAKEFEED directive from config.txt is set to 1, then GPS/NMEA data is read from file at startup.

[edit] Set CPU to 222/333 MHz

Change the current CPU speed to be either 222 or 333 MHz. Setting the CPU to 222 MHz will make your battery last longer, but it will make Map This! run slower. Setting the CPU to 333 MHz will drain your battery faster, but it will make Map This! run faster.

[edit] Hide/Show Panels

Choosing Hide Panels will remove all the panels in the map screen. Show Panels will make them appear again.

[edit] Take Screenshot

Map This! will make a screenshot of the map screen (including info bars) and save it to ms0:/PSP/PHOTO/.

[edit] GPS Info

The GPS Info screen gives you information from the GPS receiver. The fields present are:

  • GPS state (on, off, activating): shows if the GPS receiver is functioning or not;
  • Time: the current time in GMT according to the GPS receiver;
  • Sat-In-View: the numbers of satellite the GPS receiver sees;
  • Fixed: the numbers of satellites the GPS receiver has a fix on;
  • HDOP: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDOP;
  • Lat: your current latitude;
  • Lon: your current longitude;
  • Alt: your current altitude;
  • Speed: your current speed in knots;
  • Bearing: your current direction;
  • Loc: see INITLOCATION at Configuring Map This! (PSP-290 only);
  • Quality: TODO (generic receivers only);
  • CPU: current CPU speed.

You can change Loc by pressing Left and Right. You can change CPU speed by pressing Up and Down.

Per satellite you will also see the following information:

  • Sat ID: ID of the GPS satellite;
  • Elevation: elevation of satellite relative to the horizon (toghether with the azimuth gives you the point in the sky where the satellite is);
  • Azimuth: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azimuth;
  • SNR: Signal-to-Noise Ratio;
  • Fix: indicates whether the GPS receiver has a fix on the satellite (PSP-290 only).

[edit] Reset Trip data

This action resets the distance covered, the average speed and the trip timer.

[edit] Help

The help screen shows the controls and credits.

[edit] Config

This screen shows the Map This! configuration from config.txt. White lines can be edited, but changes are only reflected when you restart Map This!.

[edit] Tips & tricks

Several users have reported tips & tricks regarding Map This!.

[edit] Extension cable for PSP-290

Because the PSP itself slightly interferes with the reception of the PSP-290 GPS receiver, you can increase reception by moving the GPS receiver away from the PSP by connecting an extension cable. This cable can be bought from PCMobile. Several users have reported a faster fix and more satellites in view using this cable.

[edit] Format memory stick as FAT32

Format your memory stick as FAT32 (not FAT), you'll be able to put much more map data on it. You do need to restart your PSP afterwards.

Of course be sure to make a backup of the contents of your memory stick beforehand.

Formatting as FAT32 should also work on a Mac (choose "PC DOS" as format).

[edit] Order of applications in XMB

You can use BlackVenom's PSP Game Structure Utility to sort the applications in XMB.

[edit] Troubleshooting

[edit] Starting Map This!

Q: When I try to start Map This! the PSP gives me an 80020148 error, what can I do?
A: This usually indicates you're trying to run a FW3.xx program under 1.50 kernel or vice versa. Move Map This! e.g. from ms0:/PSP/GAME150/ to ms0:/PSP/GAME/ or replace EBOOT.PBP with the version for that specific firmware. Another cause may be that you're trying to run Map This! on an official Sony firmware. Map This! requires a firmware that can run homebrew programs (see also Homebrew capable firmware).

Q: Map This! says it can't load usbacc.prx/usbgps.prx, what's going on?
A: The PRX files you extracted (for old Map This! versions) or those in your current firmware may be broken. You can try extracting them again or you can try reinstalling your firmware.

This error also occurs when you're trying to run Map This! under 1.50 kernel.

Q: Why does Map This! crash when the PSP returns from standby mode?
A: This happens because it doesn't reopen the file handles, which are lost when you go to sleep mode. You can easily fix this by going back to the map selection screen before putting the PSP in standby mode.

[edit] GPS reception

Q: My GPS receiver seems to be broken, what do I do?
A: Several firmware downgraders break some keys in the firmware necessary for the PSP-290 GPS receiver to work. Even with the PSP-290 connected, GPS state in the GPS Info screen will still be "OFF". You can use Chilly Willy's KeyCleaner to fix these keys.

Q: Why does Map This! take so long to show where I am?
A: Getting a fix can take some time, depending on a few factors. You can get a fix the quickest:

  • by having a lot of open sky (e.g. in a field);
  • with good weather, no clouds;
  • when standing still;
  • having the GPS receiver some distance away from the PSP (using e.g. an extension cable for the PSP-290);
  • pointing the biggest surface to the sky (in the case of the PSP-290 the part that says "GPS").

In these conditions you may get a fix within 30 seconds. Some people also reported getting a faster fix by lowering the CPU speed (in the GPS Info screen you can lower the speed to 110MHz). In the worst case scenario getting a fix may take up to 10 minutes, e.g. when driving fast in a storm.

Q: Why does Map This! show my current location/speed/altitude all wrong?
A: Several factors influence GPS reception and precision, such as weather, number of satellites fixed and how close the satellites are together. This may give an error of up to 100m in extreme cases. Depending on the error, a red circle may be shown around the cursor, indicating the current location is approximate.

If you're using a very old firmware (or an old Map This! version and old PRX files), then the PSP-290 GPS receiver may report a positive latitude, while this should be negative. This is a bug in the firmware and has been solved in 3.03.

GPS receivers usually report speed in knots and altitude in meters. See Configuring Map This! for configuration directives that change units of speed and length.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Q: Why doesn't it work?
A: Because somewhere something went wrong. Try unpacking Map This! to your memory stick without changing anything (it should work out of the box), disabling all plugins and checking all sections on this page. If nothing works, explain what setup you have (which PSP firmware, fat or slim, etc.) and what exact steps you have taken in the forum.

Q: My PSP screen always turns off after 5 minutes, how do I prevent this?
A: In the XMB, go to Settings -> Power Save Settings -> Backlight Auto-Off and change it to "Off". You may also want to change Auto Sleep to off, since the default value is 10 minutes.

[edit] Can I?...

[edit] Can I use GPS receiver X with Map This!?

Depends. If the GPS receiver supports NMEA and is self-powered, chances are that it will. However, you will also need a cable to connect the GPS receiver to the serial port of the PSP. GPS receivers that are not self-powered (except for the PSP-290) need more power than the PSP can supply, so these will not work.

Your safest bet, however, is to purchase a GPS receiver that is mentioned in the GPS receiver section. Ready made cables are available from PCMobile.

[edit] Can I use Map This! in my car?

Yes, you can, using a PSP car holder. These can be purchased from Arkon or through sites such as eBay.

As mentioned in the Map This! splash screen: "Using this software while driving may be dangerous, distracting and illegal in certain areas. Please check your local laws and use caution!"

[edit] Can I use my TomTom maps and POIs in Map This!?

You cannot use TomTom maps or geodata in Map This!, because they are stored encrypted and because you probably aren't allowed to use this data anywhere else than on your TomTom.

However, TomTom POI files can be converted to Map This! format. Instructions to convert OV2 files to plain text can be found on the TomTom website. You can also use Global Map Download Tool to convert OV2 files.

[edit] Can I connect GPS receiver X to the USB port on the PSP?

So far, only the PSP-290 GPS receiver can be connected to the USB port. All other GPS receivers need to be connected to the serial port.

[edit] Unofficial versions

Besides Deniska, other people have worked on Map This! as well. Some of the functionality other people have written has made it into the official version (notably MIB.42's changes), while other functionality was released in unofficial versions.

One of the first unofficial versions, by atari800, added sound features to Map This!. This version has now been taken offline.

Another unofficial version, by Nieko, added a.o. auto map switching, auto zooming, and GPS recording to POI. This version can be found on [1].

[edit] Legacy

In older Map This! versions there are a few things that worked differently. If you want to update to a newer Map This! or want to run an older version, take a look at the following changes.

[edit] POI icon format

Starting Map This! version 0.5.05, the POI icon format (used for files in system/icons/) has changed from horizontal to vertical. An old POI icon would be 30x15 pixels with the active part on the left and the inactive part on the right. A new POI icon is 16x32 pixels with the active part at the bottom and the inactive part at the top.

Because Map This! reads the icon size from the file itself, it is possible to make POI icons bigger, but then they will not be fully displayed in the POI Lookup list. This restriction applies to icons in system/icons/ only.

[edit] PRX files (usbgps.prx and usbacc.prx)

In order for the PSP-290 to function, Map This! needs two PRX files from the PSP firmware, namely usbgps.prx and usbacc.prx. Starting Map This! version 0.5.05, Map This! will load these files from the PSP firmware itself, but in earlier versions, you had to extract them yourself.

In most cases, a combination of usbacc.prx from firmware 2.71 and usbgps.prx from firmware 3.03 works well, but you may want to try out other combinations.

What you'll need:

What you need to do:

  1. Download and install PBP Unpacker;
  2. Download Sony firmwares 2.71 and 3.03;
  3. Open the firmwares in PBP Unpacker, extract just the DATA.PSAR (right-click on it, select extract);
  4. Download PSAR Dumpers, make sure you're using the correct version with respect to the firmware version;
  5. Put the PSAR Dumper (do this one version at a time) on your MemoryStick Pro Duo (MSPD);
  6. Put DATA.PSAR in ms0:/ (root folder for the MSPD);
  7. Run PSAR Dumper (same way as running Map This!);
  8. When prompted, press the Circle button (dump WITHOUT sigcheck, this is important!);
  9. Once finished, exit program and connect to PC, move the flash0 or f0 folder from MSPD to PC;
  10. Find usbacc.prx and usbgps.prx in flash0\kn\ folder (or f0\kn\ folder), copy them to a new folder, name the folder with firmware version number;
  11. Repeat step 3 through 10 with other firmware.

Place usbgps.prx from firmware 3.03 and usbacc.prx from firmware 2.71 in the Map This! directory, i.e., in the same directory as EBOOT.PBP.

(Once again, you only need to do this if you insist on running an older Map This! version.)

[edit] WiFi switch & UMD

In Map This! versions earlier than 0.4, GPS read functionality could depend on the WiFi switch being turned on or off and on a UMD being in the drive or not. Starting with Map This! 0.4, this doesn't matter anymore.


Old version below

The application supports map tiles compatible with Google Maps' grid (see below for acquisition options).

[edit] Tips & tricks

Here is a few things, not mention in the original README file:

  • you can generate maps with negative zoom value with some services,but check the preview to make sure the data is available for your area first.
  • you can delete some zoom levels to save space by deleting Nx folders inside your map's folder. You cannot wipeout the 1x (base) zoom folder though.
  • Negative zoom works (except for Google Map - which only goes down to 0). In my experience, Google Satellite goes to -3 (to -4 in Vegas), all Local.Live maps go to -2.
  • The Google Maps Download.exe will work on its own(icons and resources folders and config.txt should be in the same directory) (just compile a release version which will be marginally faster, or copy the one out of bin/Debug). I will not release "just the exe" since I think it's important for people to have the source and not just run some random application.

[edit] Global Map Download Tool

Now on a separate page, see: Global Map Download Tool

[edit] Ready Made Maps

http://www.mediafire.com/?6nlknldk5lj Star Maps - with lat/lon

http://www.mediafire.com/?emnubmdmmyn Subways (New York, London, Moscow, and Toronto) - no lat/lon


http://www.in7ane.com/psp/maps_usgs_parks/ USGS topographic maps of US parks

http://www.in7ane.com/psp/maps_various/ Various maps aligned and rendered with MapCruncher

http://www.in7ane.com/psp/maps_russian_topo/ topomaps.ru / topomaps.eu topographic maps aligned and rendered with MapCruncher

http://www.in7ane.com/psp/maps_toporama_canadian_parks/ atlas.nrcan.gc.ca topographic maps of Canadian parks rendered with MapCruncher

[edit] Ready Made POI Files

http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=33362 UK Speed Cameras (to be rehosted)


[edit] GPSFS

This has not yet been finalized or made it into a release version of Map This!, so just here for reference.

Credit goes to Juanito, who created the original FS draft, thanks.


#          __________
# 0-7     | GPSFSV01 |
#         |----------|
# 8       |    X     |
#         |----------|
# 16      |    Y     |
#         |----------|
# 24      | basezoom |
#         |----------|
# 32      | filetype |
#         |----------|
# 40      | maxsize  |
#         |----------|
# 48      |   IDX0   |
#         |----------|
# 56      |   IDX1   |
#         |__________|
#              .
#              .
#              .
#          __________
#         | IDX N    | - points to GPSFSEOF 
#         |----------|
#         |   PNG0   |
#         |----------|
# ..      |   PNG1   |
#         |----------|
#              .
#              .
#              .
#          __________
#         | PNG N-1  | - last image
#         |----------|
#         | GPSFSEOF |
#         |__________|

[edit] Header

48 bytes, all Int64's are signed

Format Value Description
char[8] GPSFSV01
Int64 x from coords.txt
Int64 y from coords.txt
Int64 basezoom from coords.txt
Int64 filetype 0 = png, 1 = jpg
Int64 maxsize (N) number of tiles (including missing)

Note: if x and/or y are negative it is interpreted as coords.txt is missing

[edit] Pointers

8 * (N + 1) bytes, all Int64's are signed

Format Value Description
Int64 IDX0 points (including header byte (48) offset) to first image
Int64 IDX1 points (including header byte (48) offset) to second image
... ... ...
Int64 IDXN-1 points (including header byte (48) offset) to last (Nth) image
Int64 IDXN points to GPSFSOEF marker

[edit] Notes:

  • Number of IDX entries is always fixed and equals to the max number of tiles for given map size.
  • This way any IDXn entry is completely defined as offset from the beginning of the file.
  • The IDX section cover the most distant zoom tiles first. Here is the example:


IDX0->4x000000

IDX1->4x000001

IDX.->4x015014

IDX.->4x015015 <last tile at this level>

...

IDX.->1x0000000

IDX.->1x0000001

...


  • IDX offsets are relative to the beginning of the map file: IDX0 = [00100000] means that the PNG0 starts 100000 bytes from the beginning of the file.
  • If a tile is omitted - the corresponding index has a negative number. The absolute value of this entry should be equal to the file size of previous entry. Example:


IDX0 00010000 non-empty PNG 1K size

IDX1 00011000 non-empty PNG 3K size

IDX2 -0003000 empty file

IDX3 -0003000 empty file - don't really care what value is as long as it's negative

IDX4 00014000 non-empty file - size is determined by next index entry


[edit] 5 File Span Change

Changes from the previous format:

There are now 5 files (GPSFS, GPSFS1, GPSFS2, GPSFS3, and GPSFS4) - at this stage latter ones will be missing for a 4 tile map (this may cause problems in Map This! - test).

The IDX fields have been split into IDXfile and IDXidx both being int32's (other numerics stay int64) IDXfile is 0 to 4 IDXidx has the same logic as before EXCEPT it resets to 0 for each new file - so (1) if the next IDX is 0 use file.length instead (2) if you were using idx > 0 to identify existing tiles that needs to be >= 0 now (yes, took me ages to find in my own code).

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