Messed up my Garmin. Help?

[+GBandBob]

I'm hoping somebody can help me here, because I'm at a loss.

 

For the past few years, we have been happily using a Garmin Montana 680. We then used http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl to download OpenStreetMap maps for use on the device. This worked perfectly, and then twice I re-downloaded the maps to update them and keep them up to date.

 

Yesterday, I realized that we had driven far enough to find a cache that we were 'off the map', ie beyond the imagery I had downloaded from that site. So I went back to the site to get more, basically doing the same thing I did before when I was updating the maps. Specifically, from the website I get a big pile of .img files, and I put all of them into my device's "Garmin" folder. Because I wasn't expecting anything to go wrong (I had done this twice before after all), I overwrote the old .img files with the new ones.

 

But something was wrong because when I turned the device on again, I had NO maps. I was back to the extremely basic, blank maps that come natively with the Garmin. And since I had overwritten the old files, I couldn't just undo what I had done. It was at this point I learned, through the grapevine, that this website had been "abandoned" for lack of a better term, in that the owner doesn't update it or maintain it any longer. I could still download the .img files just fine, so I have no idea why they ERASED all of my maps instead of just updating them, even if the maps were out of date.

 

Now I have no idea what to do. I am a complete noob when it comes to GPS device technology. This website was the only method I knew how to do, and it was honestly a fluke that I had figured it out all on my own. I tried to find another website where I could get OSM maps, but nothing worked out. I'm honestly completely at a loss. Before anyone says anything, using a Smartphone isn't really viable for us due to our data plan.

 

If it matters, we reside in British Columbia, Canada.

Edited January 25, 2021 by GBandBob

[+Atlas Cached]

 

See the Maps page here for a large selection of possibilities, along with instructions for getting them loaded to your Montana 6x0.

[+GBandBob]

4 hours ago, Atlas Cached said:

 

See the Maps page here for a large selection of possibilities, along with instructions for getting them loaded to your Montana 6x0.

That leads me to here: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

...for OSM maps, which I have looked at before. There's so many to choose from, and the ones I tried didn't work properly.

[+Atlas Cached]

4 hours ago, GBandBob said:

That leads me to here: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download

...for OSM maps, which I have looked at before. There's so many to choose from, and the ones I tried didn't work properly.

 

There are multiple additional options with OSM based maps for Canada, including OpenMapChest, GMapTool, and OpenTopoMap, all of which I know provide very usable maps for Garmin GPSr.

 

Can you elaborate on "the ones I tried didn't work properly"? This statement is about as helpful as me replying 'They certainly do work!"

 

What maps have you downloaded (map name, file name, file size), what did you do with the file you downloaded, and what did you see on the Montana after you loaded it?

 

It may help us help you  if you can post screen captures of what you are (or are not) seeing on the Montana. You can enable screen captures on the Montana in Setup > Display > Screen Capture = On. Use the power button to capture the screen that is displayed as often as necessary, then connect the Montana to your computer and navigate to the [GPSr:]\Garmin\scrn\ directory to find and copy the desired *.bmp screen captures directly to your next forum post for us to see.

 

Sometimes a picture can tell an entire story.

[+Mineral2]

The crux of your problem is that garmin.openstreetmap.nl outputs its maps as though it were the same map. The metadata is identical, so your GPS is seeing two identical maps and doesn't know what to do. In the past, I've downloaded the maps that install to your computer first (the .gmap or .exe file rather than the .iso file) and used JaVaWa to change the metadata on each map so that they appear as different map sets.

It's too bad that the garmin.openstreetmap.nl custom tile selection isn't working or I'd just suggest you make a larger map. You could actually select all of Canada. It would be big, but it will work.

I've been using extract.bbbike.org which is similar, but lets you customize a rectangular area to download. Additionally, it has more map visual styles to choose from. There are also several non-routable topo maps that might work for you as well. Check out ibycus (not sure when it was last updated) or some other options over at gpsfiledepot.com. 

 

[+GBandBob]

Mineral2:

I just don't understand why doing the exact same thing that I did before suddenly doesn't work. In the past, I just took .nl's default selection for all of British Columbia instead of picking my own tiles. I did that again, and this time it borked.

 

Atlas Cached:

Just to be clear about things... When you go to the Geocaching website's map and choose "OpenStreetMap Default" from the upper-right selector...What you see there is what I had before on my GPS and what I want now. I'm not completely sure, but it seems like some of the sites you've suggested there, and a lot of the stuff from the wiki I linked earlier, will give me a different map than this.

 

I appreciate your patience, dealing with these things is really difficult for me...

[+Atlas Cached]

Wow, so you want very basic maps with very little detail?

 

Those are harder to find now....

 

How does the Garmin Leisure (latin1) map from bbbike look?

[+GBandBob]

5 minutes ago, Atlas Cached said:

Wow, so you want very basic maps with very little detail?

 

Those are harder to find now....

 

How does the Garmin Leisure (latin1) map from bbbike look?

 

What??

 

 

Very little detail? That looks plenty detailed to me, I should think.

[+Atlas Cached]

That is about the least detailed map I could find right now. Or use one of the other maps already suggested and configure the map detail lower on your Montana so you see less of the details!

[+GBandBob]

No, the image I posted was from the Geocaching website. That is the map I had on my GPS previously, and is what I am trying to get now.

 

I tried bbbike. It gave me an .OSM file and I have no idea what to do with it. I need .IMG files, don't I? I'm so confused...

[+Atlas Cached]

22 minutes ago, GBandBob said:

I tried bbbike. It gave me an .OSM file and I have no idea what to do with it. I need .IMG files, don't I?

 

Yes. Choose the format I suggested to get an IMG file.

[+GBandBob]

18 minutes ago, Atlas Cached said:

 

Yes. Choose the format I suggested to get an IMG file.

Ah, I see. My mistake, I clicked on the wrong one.

 

Okay, thank you for this. That does indeed give me a functional map. I would still much rather have the actual OpenStreetMap map if it's possible, though.

[+Atlas Cached]

 

Try this map.

 

Or this map, which is less 'busy'.

 

Links only good for 48 hrs

Edited January 26, 2021 by Atlas Cached

[+GBandBob]

Yes, that second one is what I had before! Thank you, that's what I was looking for. Could you tell me how you generated that for future reference?

[+Atlas Cached]

3 hours ago, GBandBob said:

Yes, that second one is what I had before! Thank you, that's what I was looking for. Could you tell me how you generated that for future reference?

 

[+Der Wald-Pirat]

On 1/27/2021 at 4:25 AM, Atlas Cached said:

 

 

The tile selection doesn't work any more since months. The dude who was running the website doesn't respond anymore. Maybe he is dead, seriously ill, in jail or an asylum or just lost interest in the hobby. That is very bad, because I relied on it since many years. All alternative methods I found n the web are complicated, confusing and only for hackers or advanced computer programmers. Could anyone please recreate the tile selection website somewhere else?

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by Der Wald-Pirat

[+Atlas Cached]

1 hour ago, Der Wald-Pirat said:

All alternative methods I found n the web are complicated, confusing and only for hackers or advanced computer programmers.

 

There are many additional methods to get the OSM maps you desire for your Garmin GPSr with very little effort. Might I suggest some light reading at GPSrChive > How To... > Maps?