Managing a Garmin Nuvi GPS with MapSource

[Kevin Rooney]

Managing a Garmin Nuvi with MapSource

I’ve used a Garmin Nuvi 750 – a good quality automotive GPS – for about 3
years now. Initially I was dubious as to its value, but now am an avid user, and take it traveling in both the US and Canada. I particularly like its ability to constantly recalculate the ETA to your destination. However, after 3 years the internal maps need updating given new/changed roads, speed limits, locations of businesses, etc. One-time map updates cost $40, and lifetime $80, so the question becomes – should I purchase new maps or a new unit – and if new, perhaps with the lifetime map/traffic option, particularly since a new one with LMT runs about $175?

I spent several hours wading thru Garmin’s many current offerings, plus recently discontinued models, and made a decision to buy a new one with new features I’d actually use. Then I realized – how do I move my accumulated favorites from one GPS to the other? You can browse the Nuvi’s subdirectories after connecting a USB cable, and I discovered a \Garmin\GPX\ subdirectory, which contains a ‘current.gpx’ and a ‘temp.gpx’ file. At first, I copied the current.gpx file to my PC, and edited it with MapSource by fixing some typos within waypoints and even added a few new waypoints, mostly trailheads, particular since you can have multiple instances of MapSource running at once. Then, I copied the revised current.gpx back to the Nuvi, unplugged the USB cable, and browsed the “Favorites” after it restarted.

Mostly, that process worked. But, it didn’t work 100% - some of the typos remained, along with some dupes. I repeated the process above – some changes took, others didn’t – then used the “get” and “send” buttons from within MapSource to download/upload the file. Same sporadic results.

I next resorted to “reading the directions” by Googling different online forums, and found 1) others have had similar results, and 2) the OS for Nuvi’s seems to vary between some models.

What SEEMS to be happening when I use MapSource to retrieve, edit and upload changes is that these changes are stored in temp.gpx, and when the unit restarts itself it integrates these changes into the garmin.gpx file. However – I’m quite sure it’s more complicated than that because I’ve deleted both the current.gpx AND the temp.gpx files from the Garmin, loaded a master version of current.gpx stored on my PC and then downloaded it to the Garmin using MapSource, and I still get sporadic revisions. So, I have a hunch the little darling has its own master file squirreled away somewhere, perhaps with a “do not display flag’ set.

So … does anyone have any experience/thoughts on using MapSource to manage the “Favorites” file on nuvi Garmin models? To put this in perspective - about 95% of the changes/additions actually work (deletions don’t), and in the process, have added lots of waypoints for turnoffs to trailheads in the Eastern Sierra so the whole process has been most productive. And, I can make the final edits, including deletions, on the Nuvi itself, although this is a less efficient method.

Thanks.

 

[max]

Kevin, this is a shot in the dark, but you might try opening a user account at

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

and ask in the forum there. They might be able to give you a more definitive answer on the file structure of the GPS. One of the frequent users there, Boyd, is pretty savvy regarding mapsource, even though much of the focus is towards the hand-held GPS units, like the 60CSX and the Oregon models, using topo maps. Might be worth asking though!

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Thanks, Max. Another source I'm checking out is GPSDiscussion.COM

 

[psmart]

Google has lots of hits on the topic. I'm using a Nuvi 1250, and presumably I'll be asking the same question one day.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&newwin...ve+nuvi+favorites&spell=1&fp=fb0beceb888e9115

The first hit seems consistent with your experiences. I haven't tried this, so use at your own risk!

The procedure is quite simple. On the old GPS, locate the file named Current.gpx and copy it to your computer. It should be in a folder named GPX.

Now rename this file Temp.gpx and copy it to the same location on your new unit. There may already be a file of this name there, but it's safe to delete it and replace with your new file. When you start up the GPS, it will import all of your favorites.

Now this assumes that your new GPS doesn't already have any favorites on it. If it does and you follow the procedure above, the favorites from your old Nuvi will be ADDED to the favorites on your new Nuvi. If this isn't what you want, copy the Current.gpx file on the new unit to your computer as a backup before you begin. Now, on the new unit, go to Menu > Tools > My Data > Delete Favorites. You can either select them all or delete only the ones that you want to remove. Now use the procedure above to copy favorites from your old Nuvi.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Kevin,

I do not have a Nuvi, so take what follows with a grain of salt

Have you tried making POIs out of your waypoint files?

Save your waypoints in a .gpx file, then use the Garmin POI Loader to upload the POIs to your device. From the page linked to above:

Except for our Basic Handhelds and older Rino® two way radio GPS units, all of our current Outdoor and Automotive products are compatible with custom POIs.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

psmart - Thanks for posting that quote/link. I'd toyed with that idea, but had been resisting it because of the possibility of hosing the internal Favorites file - the one user's can't see (am quite certain there is one). I have countless hours invested in creating these entries, but ... I bit the bullet and followed the instructions. Upon disconnecting the GPS from the PC the first time, my heart sank when I went to the Favorites section and it was empty! However, turning it off, then back on did the trick. I repeated the exercise a few more times, just for good measure, and on the 3rd attempt, it simply wouldn't work by copying the files. So, I used MapSource to download the revised current.gpx file, powered it off/then on, and Presto - the Favorites are there in their modified/updated form. I think that's about as much experimenting as I want to do with it until I get a replacement (a 1390LMT).

Hopefully this info will be of use to others with a different model Nuvis as well.

Mohamed - yes, I've experimented a bit with creating custom POI's, but it seems like a bit of a kludge compared to creating a waypoint (POI) in MapSource and downloading it via the USB cable method. That works quite well, and it's a process I'm very comfortable with as I use my 60CSx at least twice a week, and the Nuvi is a variation on a theme. Also, I really like using maps.google.com, as you can use map coordinates for destinations, and after installing a Garmin add-in to Firefox/Chrome, choose the Send function, and it will download the coordinates and create a Favorite using the description you've entered in the browser. Don't know if TomTom has this provision.

For anyone reading this wondering how I power up an automotive GPS on my home office PC - I have a 12VDC adaptor with a cigarette lighter output. Very handy for running automotive toys away from a vehicle.

FWIW - throughout this exercise, I've come to the conclusion that the way the Nuvi 750 works with Favorites is this - it maintains an internal version of the Favorites, one that is not user-accessible. Upon power-up, it loads this file in memory, merges the current.gpx with temp.gpx, and then integrates that file with its internal file based upon location. If there's an existing location in both the internal file and the merged file, it does NOT update the internal with spelling changes, etc. This theory would not be difficult to test.