GPS Garmin 25 touch - maps advice needed

[beeb]

This technophobe has just bought a garmin etrex 25 touch

It only has a very basic map installed, so what do I do now?

No money left cost I have just bought this, is there and easy to use free source of maps with instructions for this ageing technophobe?

looking to tour from Edinburgh to Provence this summer, via Rhine,Saone and Rhone.

thanks for any help or direction to a suitable thread that may be somewhere on here?

[PM999]

I'm not familiar with the Etrex 25, but (on an older Garmin handheld and on a Garmin Edge) http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ has always been my goto website for free maps. The manual, FAQs and forum should steer you through the process and the tile selection facility is a useful feature. Deep breath, cup of tea and dive in ....

Paul

[NUKe]

I'm not familiar with the Etrex 25, but (on an older Garmin handheld and on a Garmin Edge) http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ has always been my goto website for free maps. The manual, FAQs and forum should steer you through the process and the tile selection facility is a useful feature. Deep breath, cup of tea and dive in ....

Paul

Paul is right this is one of the easier ones to use with good instructions, Whilst it is free I would suggest that a donation is given. these people develop the code and continually update. Continentals and the Americans seem much happier to make a small donation for free software than the Brits.

[andrew_s]

There are a whole raft of sites to download OpenStreetMap data from
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM ... n/Download

Some are free, some have free simpler maps and "better" maps for subscribers/members, some may make a charge.
There is a significant amount of work setting up and maintaining the creation of the maps, and there's the cost of hosting the download sites, so the free sites usually request donations.

The various sources differ in...
map appearance
routing - none/basic shortest distance/tweaked for the target user group
update frequency
coverage (some may be single country, others may do a continent. others may be worldwide)
cost

The commoner sites are PM999's openstreetmap.nl, velomap or talkytoaster.

Note that whilst a download for the whole of Europe may seem attractive, very large maps will have an impact on the performance of your GPS (longer startup times, mostly)
More modern Garmins, like the Etrex 20/25/30/35, allow you to have several maps on a card, which you can activate/deactivate via the menus.
Older Garmins (Etrex Vista/Legend) are limited to a single map file.

Note that OpenStreetMap isn't infallible. There will be occasional missing roads, or places where the roads don't quite connect, blocking routing through the point. Map quality varies by area - its good in Germany, and has been for a long time, but was a bit patchy in Spain when I last looked.

[Warin61]

As per the above .. go with http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

For a first look, download the predefined country maps - Choose a predefined country: select 'Europe' then select 'United Kingdom' .. then select 'download now'

That will get you the 'Generic Routable' map .. now go back and do it again but this time select at the top 'Generic Routable (new style)' and then do it again for 'Generic Bicycle (Openfietsmap Lite)' .. that gets you 3 maps to chose from. They look different but have the same base information.

Once you have firmed up on what one is best for you .. then go back and select the tiles you want on the map .. this takes some time so it is best to make a style selection from the predefined maps.

Updates happen about once a month. So it is best to get the latest map just a bit before you leave (say 1 week so you get to play with it before you leave) to have the most upto date map.

---------------
Agree with the 2 posts below - use a memory card.

[NUKe]

One thing I just remembered. Do not put Maps on the internal memory, use as SIM card. More than one map can lock the unit up on internal memory, or at least that was the case and there is no to reset once done, that was the case on the 20.

[andrew_s]

Do not put Maps on the internal memory, use as SIM card.

It's not a SIM, it's a Micro SD card.

[ANTONISH]

Note that OpenStreetMap isn't infallible. There will be occasional missing roads, or places where the roads don't quite connect, blocking routing through the point. Map quality varies by area - its good in Germany, and has been for a long time, but was a bit patchy in Spain when I last looked.

I've downloaded the Alicante region of Spain, Austria and France from openfiets maps. The Spanish one worked OK but not in the city ( got directed wrongly in one way streets ), The Austrian one was fine. The French one came out incomplete (probably my error).
I've also found that Garmin's UK Topo maps (came with my etrex 30 ) had the annoying occasionally incomplete junction - I was trying to produce a 200k audax route and there were two within 5 miles of each other.
I download to a SD card - it's safer.

I always make a subscription for the free services.

[Peter Molog]

Try
OpenFietsMap Europe

Included in the the site, a lot of tips and tricks.

Enjoy.