Garmin BirdsEye JNX Raster Tiles
Open BetaJNX is a binary raster-tile container Garmin created for its BirdsEye satellite imagery service, supported on Oregon, GPSMAP, Montana and etrex handhelds. On osm2cdr the JNX is generated natively by our own Python writer: we render the chosen area into JPEG tiles via QGIS and pack them into a .jnx with a header, tile index and Garmin-format coordinates (int32). The file is marked device_id = 0 (all devices) and written with no DRM or expiry, unlike subscription BirdsEye files. To be honest: this is a single-zoom raster overlay — no routing or search, just a picture of your OSM map on top of the base map. The limit is 50,000 tiles per file.
Key Features
About Garmin JNX Format
JNX appeared as the container for BirdsEye, Garmin's paid satellite imagery service. The device shows such tiles on top of its own vector map: a raster underlay appears beneath the familiar streets. The format is supported by outdoor models — Oregon, GPSMAP, Montana, etrex.
A custom JNX is a way to show your own raster map on the device: a rendered OpenStreetMap style, a topographic base, a nature reserve scheme. It helps where the picture matters more than routing: trails, details, features that simply are not in the device's vector map.
The selected area is rendered into JPEG tiles at a single detail level and packed into a .jnx by our own writer: a header, a tile table, coordinates in Garmin's integer grid. The file is marked as "any device" and contains neither protection nor an expiry date, so it is not tied to a particular unit.
The limitations are honest: one zoom level, up to 50,000 tiles per file, no routing and no search. A large region is better split into several files.
What Program Opens Garmin JNX Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with Garmin BirdsEye JNX Raster Tiles (.jnx) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Proprietary format
- 2D only
- Lossy compression
- No attributes
- Output: 1 file
- A Garmin JNX raster-tile container written natively in Python: JPEG tiles (quality 85) at a single zoom, device_id 0, no DRM, 50,000-tile limit.
Who Uses Garmin JNX Maps
How to Export Garmin JNX
How to Open After Export
- A Garmin device — copy the file to the microSD or to internal memory, into the Garmin/BirdsEye/ folder; after a restart, enable the layer in the map settings.
- Check before you set off — open the maps menu on the device and make sure the layer is visible: some models show raster layers only at certain zoom levels.
- Garmin BaseCamp — will show the map on your computer if the device or its memory card is connected.
- Mapc2Mapc or GMapTool — viewing and converting .jnx on a computer, if you need to check the contents or break the file down into tiles.
- A large territory — export it in several pieces: when the limit of 50,000 tiles is exceeded, the tile list is truncated.
Popular maps in Garmin JNX
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