pasayten_pete

On the 400t, every time I visit the site, it tells me how many previous times I have been there and allows me to add an additional averaging session "point". So, it is storing number of visits (point averages) somewhere.... I did not see that info when I exported a gpx file or looked at the file on the garmin storage via my laptop usb. Just wondering how they are keeping this aspect of the data.

Does anybody know where the averaging data is "stored" on the 400t?

I have been using the new beta software for the Colorado that enables a waypoint averaging application. It seems to be working fine as I add multiple visits and destination moved is getting less and less... My question is where on the Garmin file system if the averaging information stored? I would like to look at how they are storing the data.... I have looked at the gpx files and do not see it in there... Thanks in advance... pasayten

Got a response from Garmin... ************************************************************************************* Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I am sorry that you are having this issue. I have duplicated the issue that you are having. A workaround for you that worked for me was to input the Bellingham destination and allow the nüvi to calculate the route. Once it calculates touch the map. You will now see a 2D version of the map. Touch a point on the map directly on SR-20 and press the green go button. Then select "insert as a via point". The nüvi will then recalculate and send you to Bellingham via SR-20, but make sure that the point that you touch is quite a ways down SR-20 from your current position. You can report the routing error here, http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/errorForm.jsp and specify exactly what your are experiencing so that our cartography department can fix this. Also we have reported this to our engineering department to have this fixed in a future software release. With Best Regards, Nathaniel M Product Support Specialist Automotive Team Garmin International 913-397-8200 800-800-1020 ***************************************************************************************** So, I will do that and til the map routing is updated... I wonder how MAP updates are distributed??? Through web updater or some other means? pasayten

Set a via point near Ross Lake... LOL... 255w routed clear around US 2 to I 5 and then SR 20 east to point and then back tracked to final destination... A couple hundred miles out of the way!!! Did not simply go over SR 20... Probable due to seasonal closure of SR 20 and Nuvi does not have a checkbox to ignore seasonal closures... I would check and see if there is a firmware update. I'm guessing, but it might put the checkbox there. I am updated to the latest version... 4.6... Just did it a few days ago... I have posted a question thru garmin product support today...

Set a via point near Ross Lake... LOL... 255w routed clear around US 2 to I 5 and then SR 20 east to point and then back tracked to final destination... A couple hundred miles out of the way!!! Did not simply go over SR 20... Probable due to seasonal closure of SR 20 and Nuvi does not have a checkbox to ignore seasonal closures...

Never got back to work on it... Part time contracting for $$ and just finishing our house building project in Winthrop Wa used up way too much of our time... Hardly even enjoyed the summer... Never even got out to use Colorado for even ONE cache... Now looking forward to more time for these types of projects... I have built up a good linux GIS server to do a lot of the processing from some spare parts and have 2 TB of storage ready... That was an artifact of the contracting endeavors...

I had all avoidances turned off in Nuvi... But it does not have a seasonal closure checkbox to begin with.

Been playing around with the 255w while driving and have found an issue for a particular route... If in Winthrop, WA and want to drive to westside of mountains like to Everett, the 255w will always pick US 2 hwy for getting over the mountains and never SR20... I even changed the destination city to Mt Vernon which made the SR20 route much shorter and it still picked the longer US 2 route... SR20 is typically closed due to snow later in winter... Could this road system be flagged to "skip" somehow? Maybe the road databse has a segment that is coded wrong? Pain in the butt as if I drive it, the 255w keeps telling me to turn around unless I stop route. Is there a way to look at the road database and tweak/correct it? Thanks, pasayten_pete

I had an early serial number unit (...00364) and was working with Garmin to sort out the "time clock" issue. Upon doing a hard reset step they suggested to try and fix something else, my topo maps "dissappeared". They were still on the internal memory drive "Garmin" and one of their software guys checked all the files via a "live" connection thru my PC and verified that everything looked OK from the file standpoint. He had no answer why the maps did not show up. They had me send my unit back and prompptly sent me a new unit. New unit does not have the clock problem, maps show fine, even added 24K ones I have on a SD card, and I am very happy with the unit.

Got DEM file for 45.5/125 to 49/122 in WA... around 3GB... Files are in a single ftp directory and are individual files... not zipped into "one" file. I later found a note that jobs > 2.3GB are not zipped into a "single" file... probably due to their zip application limitations. That is not a problem as the free wget application I use a lot will retrieve a whole directory with one command. The files are 7.5 minute quad goetiff's in original NAD83 UTM projection and named using the standard lat/long/letter code for 7.5 quads. Included with the tiffs are the respective rrd and aux files... ESRI ArcInfo will love these files... Being in UTM, they will have to be projected back to geographic for use in Garmin. That's no big deal either. An interesting note in the meta data: "NRCS has elected to ONLY serve NED 10 which is 10 meter or better and not NED 10 which was resampled from 30 meter. NRCS also serves the maps in a UTM projection. These two facts differentiate the maps from those served at http://seamless.usgs.gov/. " This could mean that the NRCS data is more accurate?? That USGS Seamless did some interpolation in some areas from 30m DEM's??? I will test an area by overlaying some of this data with ones I got from seamless... Sometimes you can check by seeing if streams intersect the contours at the "correct" points. There are always some "issues" with accuracies and dealing with data, scales, projections, etc in the mapping world.... Too bad the world isnn't flat, that would have made things much easier!!! P.S. But I do love the SPEED and the LESS TIME requesting the DEM's I needed!!!!

Do we need to also guess the year?

CRAPOLA !!! but then I guess HAPPYOLA !!! After downloading tons (400) of "small" 70mb files of 10 meter DEM's from the USGS seamless server for WA, OR, and ID, I find today a USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service site that allows up to 4GB of DEM's in one job!!!!!! That means only about 2-3 jobs per state!!! I just submiitted a test job for 1/2 of WA in one job to test the site... Anyway, could make other states much easier... Hey Indy, might as well post your methods and get everybody processing to do the whole US... :-) Wish we had a large free ftp server available so we could all post our source data as we find it to make future maps and updates easier... and custom tweaks or layering... and whatever... Will have to check if contour program can handle such large files... or maybe the USDA zip file will already have them split up into chunks... Will report back when I see the results... The site: http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/GatewayHome.html P.S. Hey, we could also add soil maps to our Garmin maps as the site has data on that... ha ha... lol

I would to find some good trails data for WA,OR, and ID for the maps... All I have seen so far are a bunch of partial area ones around... Like one for each USFS service area, another for NPS, another for State lands, BLM... etc. I was dreaming there would be consolidated ones... Also to keep from having to check for duplicates... Anyway, any help in sorting this out would be appreciated! Thanks!

I'd love a copy when you finish! Thanks for putting in all the effort to do this. With the different versions of maps (Garmin, NG, Above the Timber) are you doing this "just for the fun of it?" After reading some of the different threads, it looks to take many weeks to put together! Thanks again! I worked for the U.S. EPA for 34 yrs and retired in 2004... The last 12 of which was in the field if GIS and making internet mapping applications. All the mapping data that is used in these maps was produced using public monies (our tax dollars) and I hate it when commercial outfits make big profits on it... My thinking is Garmin should stick to making GPS units for profits which they do quite well... They should have given away any maps they make for free to help their GPS sales... Think about it... If it took a person (Like Indy) 4 weeks (20 days) to make a statewide 24K map, even paying them $100/hr, would workout to $16,000... If they sold 1000 maps (I am sure Garmin sells 10's of thousands), the cost of a map would be $16... double it for profit and you have $32... (of course I didn't include anything for shiny brochures and other "overhead"... ) I loved the work Indy was doing... It is a great value to all of us... so I figure I will help in the effort. And as long as we get good feedback from all of us users, the maps can be tweaked to really fit our needs... more so than most commercial products. And wiith all the high speed internet around... It is really not that difficult for us to cooperate and improve our overall GPS expperiience. I have learned a ton of stuff here on this forum, and many others have written great procedures on making Garmion maps...

Well, I have all the dem elevation and nhd water data downloaded... I am processing all 3 states (ID,OR,WA) at the same time and working on them when I have time... realistically, I would say 2-4 weeks til something is done in Garmin mapsource format. I will probablr start in upper left corner, so WA will be soonest and I also have the "commercial" version of WA that I bought awhile ago, so I can use it to compare the new "free" version and see how it's going.

Indy, I have WA,ID, and OR dems... 350-400 files, approx 30GB, catalogged by 1deg lat x 2deg long directory structure (8 files per block). Do you have the exact settings you used for global mapper? I would like to compare results to a linux contour program. I know settings affect shape file size a bunch... What size shape file "average" are you looking for in a typical cell in a mountainous terrain like WA,OR,ID? I played a little with granularity and files sizes changed dramatically, but a somewhat less dense shape file looked fine on 400t even to a reasonable zoom level. Anyway, I would like to get to a optimal level of file size versus accuracy on a Garmin 400t screen. Makes a big diff in storage requirements and loading,panning, and drawing times. Also, what roads data are you using? Also, I have found pieces of USFS and NPS trail/primitive road gis coverages on different websites... I also have GNIS and land ownership for all 3 states. Thanks...

Just a followup to my Garmin 400t bought in mid Jan with serial #18Z000364 which was having time issues periodically losing time where alarm clock would not go off at right time... which Garmin said was indeed wrong. And after a few hours of being off, after being turned on, time would show the previous time turned off before it got a sat lock. This behavior was said by Garmin to be "normal" Well in working with Garmin tech support a few weeks with the time/alarm issue, after a hard reset which they told me to do, the original topo 2008 map in internal memory would not show... Garmin even checked all the files in an online live connect session. So, they sent me a new unit which I have been using for the last 4 days. The unit is in the 18Z005xxx numbers, and has 4GB internal memory. Low and behold, the clock is working flawlessly... in fact, even after being turned off for a day and turnedon the next, the time is immediately "correct" even before sat lock... which would make the previous statement of Garmin about "normal" behavior not accurate... at least in the case of my current unit. Both units needed are were upgraded to the new 2.4 firmware/software. The old unit had to be upgraded to the newer GPS 2.6 software, but the new unit came with the GPS 2.6 software. Just passing this along for any of those with the early units that are still experiencing any "clock" issues.

There are some "free" maps at http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com I saw Mt Rainier topos, and a statewide roads map. Some other folks on this forum are working on statewide "free" 24K topo/road/trail coverages... CO, UT are done and CA, AZ, MT near done. Poke around the threads on here. I also have been downloading data for WA, OR, and ID for generating free maps for those areas, but it will be awhile til those are processed.

I should memtion so work does not have to be duplicated that I am downloading dem's for WA,ID, and OR... Even though WA is available commercially. I am near 50% done.

I used web updater for my 400t and it found firmware 2.4 and software 2.60 upgrade (I had the "m" chip)

Well, after exploring the clock/alarm problem with my otherwise fine working 400t with the Garmin folks for two weeks, the tech person asked me to do a "reset"... two soft keys & power on... Did that and unit did boot up, but then had lost its topo base map! Even though all the proper files were still in the memory and verified by Garmin thru a live hookup session and checked by their software folks... Does not even show up on map select menu. So, 18Z000364 is on its way back and new one being sent next day air by Garmin. I am still happy with the 400t and Garmin and am looking forward to the replacement unit. I had got the original unit in mid January online for $512 and no sales tax which was better than my local REI (Seattle) of $599 + 8.x% sales tax... I knew that I would be dealing with Garmin if any issues, but the price difference was worth it.

I have been also going back and forth with Garmin tech support email for the clock on my 400t... Sometimes the alarm would work, sometimes not... Anyway, there suggestion today was to do the "reset"... left key, right key, and power on... Did that and it rebooted what I thought was OK, except the400t had "lost" its base map... All the "correct files" where on the internal memory (and verified thru a garminlive session thru my PC and 400t... But no base map... Not even on the selection list... No locate on map menu item... anything to do with the basemap was goooon.... But all the correct files were there... Something got wigged out... So, they are sending me a new unit. My old serial number was 18Z000364. I am still veryhappy with the unit... especially with the available 24K topos available for my area in the Pacific Northwest.

To avoid the need of "renaming" and transfering different states 24K data to the SD card on my Colorado 400t, I have just been picking up multiple 2GB SD cards and using one for each "area". Can swap in field w/o my laptop and USB connection. Can also group caches and routes also. Ay buy.com right now for $9.95 each and free budget shipping...

24K scale and 40ft contours vesus Topo 2008 which is about 100K and 150ft contours in Northwest... Major difference in resolution, especially if hiking, mtn biking, and geo-caching. The 24K scale matches detail found on the the "best" USGS 7.5 minute quad paper maps.