I finally purchased a new Garmin unit (Oregon 400t) and it arrived last week (took a long time to get here, but can't complain as I thought customs would confiscate it!). Last night I got the Syrian OSM data onto it, so I'm pretty chuffed!

I don't seem able to download the xapi data here in syria, but fortunately I discovered that CloudMade have the Syria map and that it's pretty up to date. So using mkgmap I converted the data into a gmapsupp.img file and transferred it to the device... and it works!

I'm also really happy that the name filter works great; so despite on the slippy map it showing the names in arabic, everyone's been using the name:en tag which i'm now displaying as the default tag on the garmin map... works great!

I find the POIs a bit small on the map, but that's probably a setting in the garmin unit? also, i need to play around a bit with what info is displayed at what zoom level... there are only a few motorways in syria, but lots of highways, but only the motorways show at low zoom levels making it tricky to find places. also, there's only a couple of cities in syria, but only these show at low zoom levels... need to be able to see the towns too.

The main thing I'd like to start working on now though is getting a routable map working... at least for Damascus and the main highways in Syria. I'll have to start doing some research. Also, I'd like to get the topo data onto the device for when I'm cycling... i.e. get the cycling map onto the device, so I'll have to start investigating how to do this.

My biggest problem though is finding the time, an issue compounded by the piss poor internet connections we have to endure here in Syria.