I posted this as a footnote in another thread so I'm re-posting here as a new subject. As I leave for my USA trip tomorrow I'm keen to solve the issue today.

I used the enclosed route method on a large section of my California 100k DMS map which has resulted in these 3 files appearing my Windows smartphone (in a folder named \Storage Card\Memory-Map-OS-5\qct, which is misleading as I'm running 'European Edition Version 5.4.2, Build 1089').

dms_California100.qc3, 549MB
dms_California100.qct, 18.0KB
dms_California100.qed, 330MB

(I also downloaded dms_California100.mmi, 4.29MB, using Explorer, and the Find Place facility seems to be working OK.)

But when I load MMNav on the smartphone, or re-open the map, or perform some operations on it , I get "Could not open...dms_California100.qed". I tried re-downloading with a different route (a time-consuming procedure) but no change. It's as if the file is corrupt. Is there a known issue with this please? I can get rid of the messages by deleting dms_California100.qed, but I would rather like to have the elevation data. Perhaps some flaw in the 'route' procedure itself is causing this?

I've just tried downloading California.ZIP to my smartphone but only 20 MB seems to have arrived, and I ca't unzip it.

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi Terry,

My guess is that the .QED file is too large. It was probably intended to be used with the 1:24k maps which would need to be cut down to a smaller area even with the .QC3 map format (and .QCT maps would need to have been cut down to a much smaller area for a mobile device).

I believe you've also been transferring areas of the 1:24k maps. Cutting those maps should have produced some smaller .QED files. See if any of those files give some elevation data on the 100k map, either with their original name (if the correponding 24k map is present on the PPC) or copied/renamed to be the same as the 100k map.

The version number of WM on your smartphone might also be of interest (to MM support).

Cheers, Alan.

Thanks Alan.

That sounds a reasonable guess to me. On the other hand the full 430 MB California.qed file on the PC appears to be working OK. And the 549 MB dms_California100.qc3 is opening OK on the smartphone (HTC Touch Pro 2 running under WM 6.1).

I'm also puzzled about the folders. Downloading those enclosed routes created this one
\Storage Card\Memory-Map-OS-5\qct
which is presumably where MMNav is finding the California 100K map extract (and my USA 250 K West map). But the folder I'd been using is
\Storage Card\Memory-Map\qct
which holds my UK maps, and that's also contribting to the smartphone's map list. Does MMNav search for all QCT/QC3 files on the device?

By renaming the 330 MB QED to
\Storage Card\Memory-Map-OS-5\qct\dms_California100.qed.bak
I've stopped the error messages. There's still a copy of that file at
\Storage Card\Memory-Map\qct\dms_California100.qed

Booking my flight and arranging accommodation has proved a lot easier than getting these maps set up on my PC, iPad and WM smartphone!

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I believe Alan is correct on this one. The way the program opens the QED file and the QC3 file are different. The limited virtual memory on a Windows Mobile device would cause an issue with very large QED files. I have loaded several different QED files this morning (obviously much smaller) without issue.

Hi Terry,

Yes, I believe so.

It's a strange situation if one has to complain that MM have given too much data (in the .QED file). Sadly I don't think there's any way to "decimate" (reduce) the data file, nor even create your own .QED file, e.g. from the free SRTM (Space Shuttle) data.

Cheers, Alan.

The only way to create a smaller QED file is to use the route tool to "clip" a smaller map which clips only the appropriate QED section.

Ok, thanks both. That's disappointing.

Re the suggestion to extract a smaller section, what maximum size is allowed? Obviously it's not practical to do this by trial/error!

Assuming this restriction is a file size limit and assuming file size is directly proportional to the area enclosed, presumably we need a 'maximum area enclosed' number to make this a practical proposition.

But I doubt if I'll adopt that approach anyway. Anything less than the size I already extracted would cut out parts that I just might manage to reach in my two weeks road trip.

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi Terry,

It's probably not a "fixed" limit but will depend on the amount of available memory in the device and what MM currently has loaded.

The GB .QED file is about 75MB and that seems alright. I see there are several Australian .QED files of just over 200MB, but there's no guarantee that they will run on a Windows Mobile device either.

You could try cutting the .QED file into the same regions as your 1:24k maps. A trick which might work is to create different folders on the mobile device for each map area, copy the correponding .QED into each folder, and then rename each file to be the same as the 100k map. Then using File Explorer on the phone, copy the appropriate .QED file (for the area you currently want to use) into the same folder as the map. (I used this trick with .MMI files in the days when MM only supported one placenames file on mobile devices).

Cheers, Alan.

Thanks Alan, I'll give that idea try if I don't run out of time.

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Hi Terry,

I don't have any USA maps but I've just replaced the normal 1:250k Australian "Zone 56" (NSW) .QED file (~5MB) with the NSW_East.QED file (207MB) and it seems to be working fine (on my HP114 WM6.1 PDA).

That's the largest .QED file which I have access to, and the .QC3 file is much smaller than the .QED so not a very realistic test, but it may indicate that MM mobile can open .QEDs above 200MB. ;)

Cheers, Alan.