Assigning Symbols on a Nuvi 66

[+Falamazar]

While I have a Dakota 20 handheld GPSr for doing the actual searching for the geocaches, I prefer to load the same .gpx file on my NUVI to make it easier to navigate from one cache to another.

 

To load the .gpx file to the GPSr's, I use the GSAK program. GSAK allows me to assign (override) the symbols for the different cache types when I send the waypoints to the NUVI. This is beneficial in that as I drive along, I will see the various cache symbols on my screen and know at a glance if the cache is a Traditional, a Multi, an unsolved Unknown, a solved Unknown, etc.

 

The symbol assignments are done via the <sym> tag in the "waypoints.gpx" file that is sent from GSAK to the NUVI. I have loaded two previous NUVI's (a 260W and a 1300) in this manner. In both of those cases, the symbols that I specified in GSAK were properly displayed on the NUVI. But that is not the case with the NUVI 66. It appears that when the NUVI 66 loads the .gpx file, it ignores the <sym> tag. In fact, it overwrites the <sym> tag to read the same as the cache title.

 

For example, if the "waypoints.gpx" file from GSAK has a cache with the tags <title>The Big House</title> and <sym>Flag, Red</sym), the resulting "current.gpx" file will have a cache with the tags <title>The Big House</title> and <sym>The Big House</sym).

 

I have tried using BaseCamp, but it won't let me change the symbols for a waypoint that is imported from a .gpx file. It will only let me change the symbol for new waypoints that I create in BaseCamp. And the symbols in BaseCamp don't match the symbols available on the NUVI 66, so even if I reassign a symbol in BaseCamp, I have yet to see the assigned symbol make its way to the 66's screen.

 

I have also tried creating a new waypoint on the NUVI 66 and changing the waypoint symbol from the default Heart to another symbol. But when I open that .gpx file to see how the NUVI 66 handled the symbol assignment, I find that the <sym> tag is once again the same as the <title> tag.

 

As an FYI, I have tried posting this request for help to the Garmin Forums, and the only response that I got there was an Admin message telling me that there are no Garmin Forums for issues such as this.

 

So, I really have two questions here.

 

What is the proper way to enter symbols assignments in the .gpx file for a NUVI 66?

 

What are the official names for the symbols on the NUVI 66?

[+MountainWoods]

I use BaseCamp all the time and import .gpx files for Waymarking. I've always been able to change the symbols after they were imported. In fact, I change them from a pin (I want to go there [red], or Waymark is pending [green]) to a flag (I have visited this [red] or I have waymarked this [green]). There is something wrong with the BaseCamp install if it is unable to change the symbol from an imported waypoint.

 

There are 2 Garmin forums. One is for the devices, and reaches the developers who do the firmware in the units. The other forum is for BaseCamp and other PC software. You reach the latter forum from within BaseCamp and going to Help --> Garmin Forums.

 

Edit: I should mention that I've had no problem in changing the symbol as it shows up in BaseCamp itself and in my eTrex GPSr.

 

However, unfortunately the developers of the GPSr firmware and the PC software (BaseCamp, MapSource) must not have communicated some things between each other. (Or, since I am a software developer, I can tell you that each group may have decided that "we're doing things correctly, and those other developers are doing it wrong!")

 

The symbols betwixt BaseCamp and the GPSrs often do not match! The flags and pins and certain other ones match (geocaches, both to find and found, etc.). But there are a lot of symbols that look one way in BaseCamp and a different way on the units, or vice versa.

 

Also, custom symbols, which DO work on both the PC and units, have different file naming conventions!!! On the PC you store custom symbols in the My Garmin/Custom Waypoint Symbols folder, and they are named 001.bmp, 002.bmp, ...... But on the unit they are named differently. I'm at work and don't have my unit plugged in (it's out in the car), so I don't recall the naming in the (I think) Garmin/Custom directory on the unit, but it is not the same.

Edited December 10, 2014 by MountainWoods

[+Falamazar]

I use BaseCamp all the time and import .gpx files for Waymarking. I've always been able to change the symbols after they were imported. In fact, I change them from a pin (I want to go there [red], or Waymark is pending [green]) to a flag (I have visited this [red] or I have waymarked this [green]). There is something wrong with the BaseCamp install if it is unable to change the symbol from an imported waypoint.

 

I recent got a new laptop and installed BaseCamp on it, and it is responding the same way that it did on my old laptop. If I import a .gpx file, I can double click on a child waypoint like a trailhead or parking, and it will let me change the icon, coordinates, etc. But if I double click on a geocache, it basically does not allow me to change anything. The only change it will let me make to a geocache is to change from Not Found to Found or vice versa.

 

Now I admit, I have minimal experience with BaseCamp, so it could be operator error.

[+MountainWoods]

Aaaaah. The original post did not mention that you were trying to change the symbol on geocache-type waypoints. Yes, that has always been the exception. Geocaches symbols are meant to be "linked to" the found status, and not selectable. It is because they are Geocache waypoints, rather than general waypoints.

 

I play around with the .gpx files all the time (and even manufacture them from scratch), and there may be a way to change the .gpx before importing so that it uses a different symbol; but I kinda doubt it, because of the way that BaseCamp wants to link the symbol to the found status.

 

You can change from the not found to the found symbol, though, in a couple of ways. If the device is Geocache-enabled (which I don't think the Nuvi is?), then recording the GC as found on the unit and then plugging it into the PC will cause BaseCamp to automagically change the symbol from the closed treasure chest to the open/found it symbol.

 

If your device is not GC enabled, just bring up the geocache in BaseCamp and click on the treasure chest symbol itself in the Properties tab. This will mark the GC as having been found. Unfortunately, it does not let you change the date/time of the find, which is a bit annoying.

 

That's all you can do with GC-type waypoints in BaseCamp. If you don't want BaseCamp to enforce the link between the symbol and the found it status, you could hack the .gpx file before importing it and convert it to a general Waypoint, which I won't go into here. But then it is just like any other Waypoint, and won't be recognized by a GC-enabled device if you use BaseCamp to send it to the device.