complete personal project · dec 2025 – jun 2026

car-minimap / build.log

Inspired by GarageTinkering's original concept, I built a real-time map display, running completely offline. Starting from GarageTinkerer's foundation, I optimized the image rendering to run smoother at a larger display resolution and added a few features of my own.

hardware: ESP32-P4 (Waveshare 3.4in), microSD storage for offline map tiles, brightness potentiometer

software: ESP-IDF + LVGL, own QGIS-based tile-generation pipeline, persistent odometer

Renders live surroundings fully offline using LVGL and pre-rendered map tiles (zoom level 16) pulled from a microSD card, generated with my own QGIS + custom PNG-to-BIN conversion pipeline.
Added a hardware brightness potentiometer and a persistent odometer that survives power cycles by writing to the SD card.
Designed and 3D-printed the enclosure in OnShape, since I didn't have GarageTinkerer's custom dashboard to mount it in.

Side view of the 3D-printed case for the Car Minimap — side view of the final design: 3D-printed case (8 revisions to get here), brightness potentiometer on the side, and a cutout on top for the GPS antenna

Finished Car Minimap device — the finished device: a working real-time GPS minimap you can take anywhere

github