garmin Oregon 700 and maps

[+3isamagic#]

My trusty Magellan died and I decided to give Garmin a try.  I found a good deal on the Oregon 700.  It came today and I successfully did the live gc thing and paired it with my WiFi and with my phone.  And now I am stuck.  The map is pretty basic.  

All I want is some basic streets (I don't need turn by turn....phone is free) and some basic trail info for parks and such.  

I feel like I am missing something.....how do I put a better map on it without buying twenty maps at a hundred dollars each?

 

My daughter works for the airlines so we have some flights and want to gc all over US and Canada.....isn't there a basic North American map?

Help!!!!

Thank you!

P.s. If you are kind enough to respond....please speak like you are talking to a preschooler.  Seriously been trying to solve this all day.  I just don't get it.

 

[+kunarion]

Here's an article with a good overview of one way to do it:

https://www.cyclingabout.com/free-maps-on-your-garmin-gps/

[+Mineral2]

I'm going to guess your home location based on the states with the highest number of finds.

The best map for the pacific northwest is the Northwest Topos map that Moun10Bike has created. This is seriously THE map that I use and recommend to others in the area. 

Additionally, the Northwest Trails is a transparent overlay of the trail data from Northwest Topos and actually covers some trails outside of the current bounds of the Northwest Topos map. You can overlay the trails on top of other maps as well.

The other place to look for free topo maps is over at www.gpsfiledepot.com

Finally, the Open Street Maps described in the link that Kunarion posted are a great way to get full coverage of the US and Canada when it comes to roads and major trails. The OSM maps are also routable, which can be useful since the Garmin Oregon does have a nice automotive mode.

Choose your maps and download them and if you run into any difficulties getting the maps installed on your computer or GPS, we're here to help. Pleas note that the process is slightly different depending on whether you're using a Mac or a Windows PC.

[+3isamagic#]

EDIT: I just saw the caveat on the cyclingabout page about not using SD cards over 32 GB.  That was the problem!  My husband went out and got a 16 GB card, and it worked fine!  

The question about renaming the files still remains...he's going to experiment a little.

 

Okay, some questions from my husband:

He downloaded the full US map via Bittorrent from OpenMapChest.  (He also downloaded Canada and the UK).

When he opens the Map menu on the 700, and taps "Configure Maps," *only* the pre-installed maps show up.  The downloaded map (generically named "gmapsupp.img) does not show up at all.  He put the file in a folder on the SD card called "Garmin" as instructed.  How do we access the map?  (Additionally, he read that the newer Garmins allow the maps to have different names, so they can be overlaid.  We have a 64GB card, so there's plenty of space for all of them.  Is there a protocol for renaming the files?)

 

Edited January 26, 2018 by 3isamagic#
solved half of problem.

[+on4bam]

To manage maps on your GPS (and in Mapsource/basecamp) take a look at Javawa tools. Device manager and Map Tool is what you need.

 

[+speakers-corner]

6 hours ago, 3isamagic# said:

EDIT: I just saw the caveat on the cyclingabout page about not using SD cards over 32 GB.  That was the problem!  My husband went out and got a 16 GB card, and it worked fine!  

The question about renaming the files still remains...he's going to experiment a little.

 

Okay, some questions from my husband:

He downloaded the full US map via Bittorrent from OpenMapChest.  (He also downloaded Canada and the UK).

When he opens the Map menu on the 700, and taps "Configure Maps," *only* the pre-installed maps show up.  The downloaded map (generically named "gmapsupp.img) does not show up at all.  He put the file in a folder on the SD card called "Garmin" as instructed.  How do we access the map?  (Additionally, he read that the newer Garmins allow the maps to have different names, so they can be overlaid.  We have a 64GB card, so there's plenty of space for all of them.  Is there a protocol for renaming the files?)

 

I just rename my OSM maps as I need them (for example "gmapsupp-UK.img") and then copy them to the SD-Card, leaving the gmapsupp.img in the internal memory untouched.

[+Atlas Cached]

7 hours ago, 3isamagic# said:

EDIT: I just saw the caveat on the cyclingabout page about not using SD cards over 32 GB.  That was the problem!  My husband went out and got a 16 GB card, and it worked fine!  

The question about renaming the files still remains...he's going to experiment a little.

 

Okay, some questions from my husband:

He downloaded the full US map via Bittorrent from OpenMapChest.  (He also downloaded Canada and the UK).

When he opens the Map menu on the 700, and taps "Configure Maps," *only* the pre-installed maps show up.  The downloaded map (generically named "gmapsupp.img) does not show up at all.  He put the file in a folder on the SD card called "Garmin" as instructed.  How do we access the map?  (Additionally, he read that the newer Garmins allow the maps to have different names, so they can be overlaid.  We have a 64GB card, so there's plenty of space for all of them.  Is there a protocol for renaming the files?)

 

See the MAPS page here for plenty of information on getting the maps you need onto your device, as well as tons of additional information on how to use other features. 8^)

[+Mikkyp]

You can load up to 20? maps on to the sd card. If you use Mapsource they are all named gmapsupp.img and each new map loaded will over write the previous one. To avoid that, each time you load a map rename it to anything you want, but leave the extension as   .img   

 

Try this web site for garmin open source maps anywhere in the world

Www.Garmin.openstreetmap.nl

 

Have a look at this web site

 

Www.gpsrchive.com for all garmin handheld gps info.

 

Regards

 

Mikkyp

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by Mikkyp

[+Mineral2]

Although the file names are different, the map names from Open Street Map are the same, so only one map from Open Street Map can be displayed at any one time. Unless... You change the names using JaVaWa. This is probably best done if you install the maps locally to BaseCamp, so instead of downloading the .img file, download the .exe or .gmapi file instead. BaseCamp (or MapInstall on a mac) will then create the .img file(s) when you install them on your GPS or SD card. Once they are created, you can copy them to other Garmin GPS without going through the install, which can sometimes take a while, especially if you custom select which tiles from which maps get installed.