GPS mapping. Help!

[Chrispa90]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help.
I have a Garmin Montana 650t gps which came with a European leisure map preinstalled and which I have been using since I purchased it along with other paper based maps showing more detail such as camping sites. It has always been good for informing me of my exact location and some route finding.
I am now planning a longer trip beginning in Norway and ending in Switzerland and really would like to utilise the garmin much more without resorting to the use of paper maps.

The Montana has microsd capacity and I have tried to download appropriate maps to view on the screen but with no luck so far. My proficiency levels re such technology is questionable to be honest but so far I have managed to download the following file (Norway) to my desktop 'openfietsmap...zip' If anyone can advise me what to do next and help guide me through the whole process of getting my planned 2000ml ride from Bodo (Norway) to St Gallen (Switzerland) with all the poi's including campsites onto those ridiculously tiny microsd cards I would be eternally grateful. Otherwise I may possibly leave home with a whole pannier bag of paper maps and less clothes than I need!
thanks.
Chris

[Paulatic]

I've installed maps on my Oregon successfully. I just followed these instructions.
https://talkytoaster.co.uk/maps/how-to-install-the-map/

[andymiller]

In fairness to Minko, the openfietsmap.nl guy, there are instructions on the download page —you just need to scroll down past the instructions for installing on PCs and Macs:

http://www.openfietsmap.nl/downloads/europe

GPS version:

Unpack OFM(EU2016_x_GPS).zip and copy the garmin folder with gmapsupp.img on a (micro) SD-card

To put multiple areas on your gps device, rename the file gmapsupp.img (e.g. gmapsupp1.img, ofm_2016w.img) and store the files in the same garmin folder on micro SD card. Please note that older gps units only support one gmapsupp.img maps!

You can view the gps mapsets on your computer with Basecamp (with a SD card reader, virtual drive or GPS connected to the pc)

and there's also:

http://www.openfietsmap.nl/tips-tricks/ ... problems-1

and I'm pretty sure the ReadMe that's included in the zip includes installation instructions.

Oh and you can rename the maps to something more informative than gmapsupp1.img.

[cycleruk]

I don't know if the Montana is the same as the Edge 810, but for some reason when installing new maps/courses they end up in the "new files" folder ?
I then transfer them to their respective folders.

[DaveP]

Having just read the OP I'm wondering how basic this needs to be...
Just to make sure, are you aware that the file you have downloaded is in a compressed format and needs to be unpacked or unzipped before doing anything else. If you need software to do this, try here: http://download.cnet.com/7-Zip/3000-225 ... 45185.html
reputable source and software and easy to use.
The unpacked version of the file can simply be copied onto an SD Card - you probably actually need a microSD Card - but you must prepare the card by formatting it and then creating on it a folder called "garmin". Maps need to be placed in this folder or the device will not be able to find them.
It is very much better to buy the appropriate card reader for this job (usually a couple of £). Maps are big files and it can literally take hours to transfer the data by putting a card in the device and connecting it all up to a USB socket.

Question. Do you have a programme called Basecamp on you computer. If not I would recommend you to get it - it's a free download from Garmin. It will let you see your downloaded maps on the big screen and work with them. Much easier than trying to do it all on a handheld device. It will also let you work with whatever maps are currently installed in your device - just pug it in and wait for it to be found.
You will probably need to download a different version of the maps for this purpose. The pc map packages contain installation software.
The whole Europe map is a whopping big file, but Basecamp will allow you to select just the bits you plan to ride through and send them to your machine or your card. If you are not too confident about all this I would recommend only using Basecamp to add stuff to your device. It's Garmin software and it won't put anything where it shouldn't be!
Hope at least some of that is helpful
Have a play with it see what you need to ask next

[DaveP]

I don't know if the Oregan is the same as the Edge 810, but for some reason when installing new maps/courses they end up in the "new files" folder ?
I then transfer them to their respective folders.

From the little I've seen the Edge family of devices do seem to behave differently to the handheld devices.

[cycleruk]

I don't know if the Oregan is the same as the Edge 810, but for some reason when installing new maps/courses they end up in the "new files" folder ?
I then transfer them to their respective folders.

From the little I've seen the Edge family of devices do seem to behave differently to the handheld devices.

Like most computer stuff when you know then it's simple
I use Garmin Connect to do my routes and, once route is saved, it just transfers to the Garmin. (But into the NewFiles folder.)
Not only that but it renames it with a gobbledygook number. So has to be renamed to be understandable in the "Courses" folder.
I have downloaded maps for UK & Balearics from "Open Street Maps" and now have a few routes set up for when I go to Majorca.
A lot of help gleaned from DC Rainmaker -
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/down ... 00810.html

Whether any of this is pertinent to the Montana ???

[andymiller]

I don't know if the Oregan is the same as the Edge 810, but for some reason when installing new maps/courses they end up in the "new files" folder ?
I then transfer them to their respective folders.

From the little I've seen the Edge family of devices do seem to behave differently to the handheld devices.

Like most computer stuff when you know then it's simple
I use Garmin Connect to do my routes and, once route is saved, it just transfers to the Garmin. (But into the NewFiles folder.)
Not only that but it renames it with a gobbledygook number. So has to be renamed to be understandable in the "Courses" folder.
I have downloaded maps for UK & Balearics from "Open Street Maps" and now have a few routes set up for when I go to Majorca.
A lot of help gleaned from DC Rainmaker -
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/05/down ... 00810.html

Whether any of this is pertinent to the Montana ???

Maybe but actually his question was about how to install maps on his Montana - how to get tracks and routes onto it is the next step. You could install maps with MapInstall but it's more complicated than copying it to the memory card.

Sadly this just seems to be the umpteenth example of a GPS user who didn't read the instructions —or for that matter bother to acknowledge the people who reply to his question. For all we know he found out the answer by himself 10 minutes after posting and he's not come back to even read the replies, never mind say he's found the answer and save people like you from spending time trying to help him.

[Chrispa90]

Hi and thanks to all those who responded to my help enquiry. Sorry for the delay in a response but I have been away re family stuff.

Thanks for the advice and as a result of it I am pleased to report that I have managed to get some mapping onto a 32gb microsd card. I downloaded it from one of the sites listed on the Cycletourer website and it seems to be being recognised by my Garmin device. I have Norway and German mapping on the same card so far and it has only taken a small amount of the available space which makes me wonder as to whether I will need more map detail than they offer. I will now also need France, Denmark Switzerland and the UK. I notice that the maps I have do not include campsite information as far as I can tell so I am now looking for European campsite information which I am sure I have seen at some point in the mass of information out there but which I have now lost.
I will keep on with this towards my departure date in mid June and I am hoping that I will only wish to take a general European wide map paper when that time comes and that all my daily routing and poi's/camping site finding can be delegated to the Garmin.

Thanks to Dave P re the Basecamp suggestion. I have now downloaded it and am attempting to do as you suggest but it is taking me a little time to work it all out as there seems to be quite a lot on there.
Any further suggestions will be gratefully received.
thanks
Chris

[DaveP]

I am hoping that I will only wish to take a general European wide map paper when that time comes and that all my daily routing and poi's/camping site finding can be delegated to the Garmin.

A paper back up is a good idea, but the rest of this statement is grounds for concern. I'm fairly confident that I am correct in saying that most gps users on here would reject automatic routing. Its all very clever, but its not terribly smart and it isn't difficult to find "horror" stories. Some devices allow you to specify your mode of transport, and some maps, openfiets and velomap to name a couple, have had their properties "adjusted" in favour of cyclists requirements, but even so, the most satisfactory way to use these things is to prepare a track in advance and load that into the machine as well as the mapping. The only exception I personally would make would be if I was in a built up area and I had the relevant CityNavigator map loaded. Its usually safe to allow this combination to find a postal address. CityNavigators are generally good on one way roads etc.
Basecamp facilitates track preparation. If you have Google Earth open at the same time you can inspect a given road from above, and possibly even in Streetview, allowing you to make a fairly well informed decision about whether this is a road you are prepared to cycle on. I should warn you that in my experience this approach isn't terribly good at picking up steep hills - I'm still working on that one!
I would recommend the openfiets all Europe map. The one download will cover everywhere you need. The file is too big to send to a handheld, but Basecamp allows you to edit. The procedure is simple but I found it hard to find, so this is what you do:
Start by connecting your device or an SD card to the computer. In reality its probably best to just use the card but if you don't yet have a card reader using the whole device will allow you go far enough to view the screens that will appear.
With Basecamp showing some part of the map you wish to use click on Maps on the top bar. Then click Install maps in the drop down box. This launches the Mapinstall routine. Choose the device, don't worry over any warning that all your maps won't fit - click continue. This brings up a zoomable view of the entire map covered in a mesh of irregular rectangles. These are the tiles from which the map is assembled. You can select a tile by clicking in it. If you already have a track showing on the map you can easily select a strip map to cover it plus a bit either side for diversions etc.
There is another point about pre-prepared tracks that I was lucky not to find out the hard way. Each way point has a timestamp associated with it, and the time is the time at which the point was created or last moved. It is unlikely that these will be in a neat sequence by the time you have finished editing your work, and time stamps out of sequence can apparently cause a track to be rejected by the device as a corrupted file. I use a downloaded programme called GPS Track editor to rectify this. You just browse to the file in question, open it, tell the software which end is the start and it sorts all the behind the scene stuff for you. Very straight forward.
I found the learning curve quite steep myself. Try to remember that you probably don't need to master everything it offers

[Neil Wheadon]

The above is all great advise, however there is an easier answer.
Most garmins take a micro SD card. Simply get the area you need on a couple of micro SD cards and swap them in as you need them. If you contact gps training http://www.gpstraining.co.uk/ they will supply an SD card with the appropriate mapping for £19.95 including postage and I've bought mapping all over the world from them. the openstreet mapping is really very good. Yes you can download it yourself but it is technically demanding if you're not used to a computer/downloading/zip files/selecting the right website/tiles of data etc etc...

Basecamp and other programs are hard to grasp. you heed to invest many hours in front of a computer to get the hang of it. For many they love to do this and the advise above is great, but if you want an easy way, buy the maps and avoid the very steep learning curve.

To now answer the question, now you have the base mapping, simply plot your route on one of the many online programs, save these as a gpx file and transfer them on the garmin

When you start the ride , access the gpx route and it will sit on top of the mapping you've bought.

In effect the skill you need to aquire is to create a gpx route on an online program which is quite straightforward. My favourite remains Bikely

Neil