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Im Clearly Doing Something Wrong


geofry25

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I received my Oregon 550 and am going to return the T i also purchased based on advise from others in these forums and that advise is appreciated.

 

However I am trying to load these free maps and I have to be something wrong. I downloaded two different FL topo maps 250-2276-trail_100k_install & 53-9111-My_Trails_install. I see them both in base camp and when I select them, i get basically a yellow square with text that says created with http://cgpsmapper.com

 

A little help please? This isnt rocket science as vest as I can tell but something is escaping me here.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Jeff

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Maybe im just not as smart as I think I am? So I managed to get my premium membership setup and after fumbling through doing a PQ and overlooking the obvious I downloaded a few hundred caches to my garmin folder and when I opened up the "map I can now see a dashed line for a trail here and there. Is this what is considered a topo map? I'm lost. Seems pretty s***ty I guess my expectations were higher. So is there where that bird's eye comes in? Buy that and it overlays on this "map" to give it some value?

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I'm not familiar with the particular maps you've chosen, but there are a few pitfalls.

Make sure the maps are enabled in the profile you're using. Also, 1:100K topos only have a contour for every 100', so there might only be 4 contour lines in Florida. You'll want to get 1:24K topos for more detail.

 

Continue asking questions, we're a friendly bunch!

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im getting smarter by the minute over ere. I think the map was so crappy because it was simply a trail map so it didnt have any detail on it except for trails? I'm downloading a FL topo now and putting it on the device because that seems to be the only way I can view it, its not showing up in the basecamp drop down but it was recognized as one available to install.

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You might also want to post in the forums on gpsfiledepot.com.

 

What operating system are you using? Windows 7 (64 bit) has been known to cause problems with BaseCamp. See this discussion: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=2320.0

 

Correct, the "My Trails" map <http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/53> is only a collection of trails - no other map 'features' - just an overlay of the trails.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track though! Keep at it - Garmin units are not super-intuitive, but they are very powerful.

 

Dave

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Maybe im just not as smart as I think I am? So I managed to get my premium membership setup and after fumbling through doing a PQ and overlooking the obvious I downloaded a few hundred caches to my garmin folder and when I opened up the "map I can now see a dashed line for a trail here and there. Is this what is considered a topo map? I'm lost. Seems pretty s***ty I guess my expectations were higher. So is there where that bird's eye comes in? Buy that and it overlays on this "map" to give it some value?

 

Wait...I'm confused. Downloading a PQ to your device doesn't add any map functionality, it just puts caches on any existing map you have on the device.

 

That "dotted line" along the trail...have you zoomed in real close to the "dots"? Are they actually caches?

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There are 2 types of free maps

1 the map you install on the computer and if wanted transfer to the gps

2 transfer to the gps straight away.

 

As I told you in the other tread, ALL WILL BE CALLED gmapsupp.img

 

therefore if yo have a similar called map on you gps rename that map to my ownname.img

Then transfer the next map to the Gps and RENAME because you will overwrite it sooner or later.

 

The gmapsupp.img goes in the Garmin folder of the gps AND on the Settings (wrench) of the Gps you have to check this new map.

 

Use the videolinks I gave you before, this saves a lot of time, because with just fiddling around it might never work.

However you can go outside and go geocahe, because you don't need a map for that. (no clue what your dotted line might be)

Edited by splashy
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Maybe im just not as smart as I think I am? So I managed to get my premium membership setup and after fumbling through doing a PQ and overlooking the obvious I downloaded a few hundred caches to my garmin folder and when I opened up the "map I can now see a dashed line for a trail here and there. Is this what is considered a topo map? I'm lost. Seems pretty s***ty I guess my expectations were higher. So is there where that bird's eye comes in? Buy that and it overlays on this "map" to give it some value?

 

Wait...I'm confused. Downloading a PQ to your device doesn't add any map functionality, it just puts caches on any existing map you have on the device.

 

That "dotted line" along the trail...have you zoomed in real close to the "dots"? Are they actually caches?

 

Sorry for the confusion. After I downloaded the PQ and was still unsure of what I was looking at I zoomed in and saw these dashed lines mentioned aka the trails that the "my trails" map I downloaded contained. I hadn't zoomed in previously where above I said I only had a yellow block.

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You might also want to post in the forums on gpsfiledepot.com.

 

What operating system are you using? Windows 7 (64 bit) has been known to cause problems with BaseCamp. See this discussion: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=2320.0

 

Correct, the "My Trails" map <http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/53> is only a collection of trails - no other map 'features' - just an overlay of the trails.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track though! Keep at it - Garmin units are not super-intuitive, but they are very powerful.

 

Dave

 

Yep, Im seeing that. SO I can apparently have numerous "maps" of one area, each with different overlays/layers I guess or so it seems. I do have Win7 64bit. I will check out that thread. I will poke around in the forums over there too.

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There are 2 types of free maps

1 the map you install on the computer and if wanted transfer to the gps

2 transfer to the gps straight away.

 

As I told you in the other tread, ALL WILL BE CALLED gmapsupp.img

 

therefore if yo have a similar called map on you gps rename that map to my ownname.img

Then transfer the next map to the Gps and RENAME because you will overwrite it sooner or later.

 

The gmapsupp.img goes in the Garmin folder of the gps AND on the Settings (wrench) of the Gps you have to check this new map.

 

Use the videolinks I gave you before, this saves a lot of time, because with just fiddling around it might never work.

However you can go outside and go geocache, because you don't need a map for that. (no clue what your dotted line might be)

 

Appreciate your help. The few maps I have downloaded had installers so I didnt have to deal with img files (at least I dont think I did)to rename. I only grabbed two trail maps and what appears to be a nice Florida topo. I think Im good for now as I want to get out there and learn to use this device and see how the maps help, etc. Im guessing the the img files are the ones that go straight to the GPS, am I following you correctly? NOt clear I guess on the direct to GPS maps you are talking about. Bear with me and my dumb questions but I appreciate everyone's help.

 

VIdeos are definitely getting watched here and there and trying to do some reading too

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There are 2 types of free maps

1 the map you install on the computer and if wanted transfer to the gps

2 transfer to the gps straight away.

 

As I told you in the other tread, ALL WILL BE CALLED gmapsupp.img

 

therefore if yo have a similar called map on you gps rename that map to my ownname.img

Then transfer the next map to the Gps and RENAME because you will overwrite it sooner or later.

 

The gmapsupp.img goes in the Garmin folder of the gps AND on the Settings (wrench) of the Gps you have to check this new map.

 

Use the videolinks I gave you before, this saves a lot of time, because with just fiddling around it might never work.

However you can go outside and go geocahe, because you don't need a map for that. (no clue what your dotted line might be)

 

I went back to the other thread and I am following you now. Grabbing a couple of those maps for routing/driving to see how they work

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For a routable street map of the US, I suggest the Open Street Map USA generated by Ben Kenroth from this site: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download. I use this map on my Oregon 550 and am happy with it. It overlays nicely with the MyTrails map and Garmin's Birds Eye satellite images. It also works in BaseCamp. All you have to do is download it, unzip and copy it over to your SD card. It is a large file (over 3 GB) so it took several hours for me to download (using direct, not torrent).

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For a routable street map of the US, I suggest the Open Street Map USA generated by Ben Kenroth from this site: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download. I use this map on my Oregon 550 and am happy with it. It overlays nicely with the MyTrails map and Garmin's Birds Eye satellite images. It also works in BaseCamp. All you have to do is download it, unzip and copy it over to your SD card. It is a large file (over 3 GB) so it took several hours for me to download (using direct, not torrent).

 

Yep grabbed that one and one called "generic" I think. So just drag onto sd and that's it? Renaming of course as splashy mentioned. I grabbed it using the torrent btw.

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Yes, to the SD card in the \garmin folder. Then you will need to go into the Oregon Map Settings and make sure the map is enabled for the profile you are using.

 

Thanks again. OK so here is where I am at. Making progress I think. First off went out yesterday and logged some finds. Yay! Took my gf and her two boys who have never went. Everyone spotted a cache first except me haha. After first find, I tried to go to the next and started getting this error:Route calculation error, maps dont have routable roads in this area. After a bit of frustration I was able to determine that the routing type in the geocaching profile was set to driving (automobile, whatever it says). Fixed that and ended up with a pretty successful day of caching in a nice park close to home.

 

Real issue I now have and back to the street maps/driving. As mentioned I downloaded the open streets map but I couldnt get it to load as its too big (does anyone know for sure if the 4GB limit is real on the Oregon, have read conflicting reports?) so I added this one 500MB-lon_-85.06_to_-80.68.2013-02-12.gmapsupp.img which I think is a street map for basically fl for the slice of coords listed and I have it enabled under my automobile profile and all other maps disabled. When i select a waypoint ( one example was a parking waypoint for a park we are going to today fo rmore fun)or place on map (I selected a school) and I get the aforementioned error (route calculation error...). Any ideas? Is the map I have loaded not a real "driving" map? In map screen under settings in my automobile profile it shows enabled - family name and says OSM street map underneath that.

 

P.S. what is worldwide DEM basemap,NR?

 

Thanks for everyone's time

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You will want to use a different profile for geocaching than for road navigating and tailor the preferences for each activity. Most of the preferences "stick" with the profile being used. Most people start out with the Automotive profile for road navigation and the Geocaching profile for geocaching. In the geocaching profile setup, for routing make sure you have it set for "Direct Routing".

 

As far as the Open Street Map USA, if you use the Kenroth map, it is just over 3 GB. I use an 8 GB SD card and it has plenty of room for my geocache and waypoint GPX files, OSM USA map, MyTrails map and several large Birds Eye satellite images; with plenty of room to spare for camera snapshot storage..

Edited by alandb
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You will want to use a different profile for geocaching than for road navigating and tailor the preferences for each activity. Most of the preferences "stick" with the profile being used. Most people start out with the Automotive profile for road navigation and the Geocaching profile for geocaching. In the geocaching profile setup, for routing make sure you have it set for "Direct Routing".

 

Thanks Im good on the profiles and I have direct routing selected in my geo profile, that what was causing my routing error yesterday. The routing for the OSM street maps is where I am stuck currently. I get that same error but I am set up for driving and in my auto profile. I am taking and moving all of my topos & trail maps into the device to make enough room on 4GB card to house the big OSM map to see f that changes my issue for soem reason as Im not certain what that 500MB map I mentioned is, i deleted it from the card as well.

 

I went back to my original post from last weekend and found my 8GB question it sounds like you have an 8GB in yoru 550T, any reason I wouldnt be able to use one in my "non-T" model alandb that you are aware of?

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No reason at all. I have used both 8 GB and 16 GB cards without a problem. The non-T and T models have the same capabilities in this regard. The automotive route calculation problem might be because you are selecting a destination (like a geocache) that is off a routable road. If the geocache you are traveling to has a Parking waypoint, try selecting it as a destination instead of the geocache.Otherwise, select a destination that is on or near a road.

Edited by alandb
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You will want to use a different profile for geocaching than for road navigating and tailor the preferences for each activity. Most of the preferences "stick" with the profile being used. Most people start out with the Automotive profile for road navigation and the Geocaching profile for geocaching. In the geocaching profile setup, for routing make sure you have it set for "Direct Routing".

 

Thanks Im good on the profiles and I have direct routing selected in my geo profile, that what was causing my routing error yesterday. The routing for the OSM street maps is where I am stuck currently. I get that same error but I am set up for driving and in my auto profile. I am taking and moving all of my topos & trail maps into the device to make enough room on 4GB card to house the big OSM map to see f that changes my issue for soem reason as Im not certain what that 500MB map I mentioned is, i deleted it from the card as well.

 

I went back to my original post from last weekend and found my 8GB question it sounds like you have an 8GB in your 550T, any reason I wouldnt be able to use one in my "non-T" model alandb that you are aware of?

 

Hard to say what happened (im guessing that 500MB map i had loaded wasnt a street map but unsure) but I put the big ole street map on the 4G card and it works like a charm, routes and all now. Clearly need a bigger card if I am to use this and the other maps, at least I think I do. I can leave the topos on the device but I found an excuse to buy a new card so Im gonna use it. Thanks for the help and guidance.

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