Loading maps onto Oregon 450 From US and Canada Problems

[+matokuwapi]

I recently purchased a Garmin Oregon 450. I have both Canadian and US Topo map sets for BaseCamp. So far it seems like I can only either just the US topos I want OR the Canadian Topo...not both at the same time. Am I doing something wrong or is this a pain in the butt I'll just have to deal with. I live in Ontario and travel over to Michigan on a regular basis. I was hoping to be able to have some maps from both sides of the border at the same time or at least available on my GPS for access. When I load maps from the US Topo set, I loose my maps from the Canadian Topo set. In the Set Up / Map / Map Information Select Map area on the GPS there are only two options... One is Worldwide DEM Basemap (currently disabled)...the other is Either TOPO US (northeast) when I load it on...OR Topo Canada. Why doesn't it give me an option to choose either one. Instead I have to back to the computer and load up one or the other. That just doesn't make sense to me.

[seldom_sn]

I recently purchased a Garmin Oregon 450. I have both Canadian and US Topo map sets for BaseCamp. So far it seems like I can only either just the US topos I want OR the Canadian Topo...not both at the same time. Am I doing something wrong or is this a pain in the butt I'll just have to deal with. I live in Ontario and travel over to Michigan on a regular basis. I was hoping to be able to have some maps from both sides of the border at the same time or at least available on my GPS for access. When I load maps from the US Topo set, I loose my maps from the Canadian Topo set. In the Set Up / Map / Map Information Select Map area on the GPS there are only two options... One is Worldwide DEM Basemap (currently disabled)...the other is Either TOPO US (northeast) when I load it on...OR Topo Canada. Why doesn't it give me an option to choose either one. Instead I have to back to the computer and load up one or the other. That just doesn't make sense to me.

BaseCamp creates a file called gmapsupp.img on your OR. Unless you load both maps at the same time you need to rename gmapsupp.img to something like Canada.img before you send the second mapset. Otherwise it will be overwritten.

[+Red90]

Or you can send them both at the same time. Choose the tiles from one mapset, switch to the other mapset, choose those tiles and THEN send to the unit.

[+matokuwapi]

Red90...No matter what I tried I could not make your method work. I could not send both to the GPS unit at the same time, as much as I tried...

 

 

Seldom_sn's answer is correct. I did find the answer via a long convoluted search on the web. In an FAQ. I am going to post that as I found it:

 

M17.) How do I use multiple map (.img) files to help me better manage maps on my Garmin Oregon?

Even though Mapsource and MapInstall always save maps sets as [drive]:\Garmin\gmapsupp.img this file can be renamed once it is on the Oregon to any name (as of beta software 2.99) as long as the .img extension is preserved. This is very helpful if you want to manage multiple maps sets, say one for your home area that would change infrequently and one for a travel destination(s) that you might change frequently. The steps for doing this are:

 

1. Follow the procedure in M15 to create and download your home map set

2. Using a file explorer on your computer locate [drive]:\Garmin\gmapsupp.img and rename the file to [drive]:\Garmin\myhomemaps.img

3. Follow the procedure in M15 to create and download your travel map set

 

When you are done with your travel map set this file can be deleted and replaced with a new map set for your next destination without having to rebuild and transfer your home map set.

 

This technique can also be used to fully use microSD cards larger than 4GB. Perform steps 1 to 3 to create multiple img files on your microSD card. This allows you to have multiple img-map-files of up to 4GB each. All maps will be detected by the Oregon. You can select the maps you want to use in your Oregon profile like usual.

 

M15.) How do I use Mapsource to load additional maps onto my Garmin Oregon?

 

The best place to start is the Mapsource manual in the section called Loading Maps to Your Garmin GPS Unit. The basic operations required to send maps to the Oregon are:

 

1. Connect the Oregon to your computer

2. Select a number of map regions in Mapsource (OR BaseCamp)

called a map set that you want on your Oregon

3. Use Mapsource to build the map set and transfer it to your Oregon or the Oregon's SD card

 

Mapsource (OR BaseCamp) transfers the map set to the Oregon as single file called gmapsupp.img which is stored in [OR drive]:\Garmin or [OR SD drive]:\Garmin . Every time you repeat the process above you delete the previous map set and replace it with a new map set. Maps cannot be added or removed incrementally using Mapsource. (OR BaseCamp)

 

This implies that if you are trying to load maps from multiple Mapsource products (i.e. Topo2008 and City Navigator) that you will need to include map regions from both products in the same map set. Mapsource supports this by allowing you to select the first Mapsource product via a drop down menu in the upper left corner, pick map regions from this product using the Map tool, select a second product and pick map regions from this product before compiling the map set and transferring to the Oregon.