[Pics will have to be by direct link - Photobucket seems to be having problems again despite the ‘fix’ add-on].
Using OSM maps (OpenStreet map data garmin.openstreetmap.nl/) I think I should explain that this is a community project and folk all over the world contribute to updating maps. These are checked by area reps in different countries - Garmin and TomTom would claim their maps are better… and that’s why you pay for them! Being a Linux Xubuntu user (last used windows in 2007) I tend to believe in community projects and OSM will not disappoint. I think they are only available for Garmin but if you have a TomTom device with an sd-card slot then it may work. These maps are for a car satnav. You could try the maps on a truck satnav (in car mode) using the sd-card as below but I’ve not tried it.
I bought a Garmin Nuvi 52LM in 2014 (have tried a later model but had to send it back with a faulty power button and so stayed with the old faithful) when I started van driving, and could not update maps as I was not a windows user. A friend updated the maps on his windows laptop for me and it took about 4 hours with the Garmin Express programme. What a pain and then I found out about OSM - downloaded the map, installed it on an sd-card, took about 30 mins and little hassle. The procedure below will not over write any orignal Garmin data/operating system - as you are only putting a map on the sd-card which the device kindly reads FIRST and loads before looking at the maps on the device. You could put several countries maps on the sd-card (but rename the different maps - I just leave mine as it is gmapsupp.img as I have only used the UK map. You can add POI but I don’t bother. For multi-drop I find the Garmin excellent with the 2D plan view selected rather than 3D as it is useful to look at the surrounding road names… but I have the truck satnav app on the phone for route planning, bridges and weight limits.
So follow the procedure below and I hope you find it worthwhile. Certainly save you time compared with Garmin Express and you can update monthly (25th of each month approx they are available).
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make a directory on the PC for downloading the map zip file to - I use satnav-zip… and a sub directory for each months download date e.g. 31jan18. I keep the previous month there just in case the new download is corrupted somehow and I’ve got to reload (but never been the case).
photos.app.goo.gl/ekMnXp9OlRDLAvFl2 -
take the micro sd-card in the adaptor and format it in the card reader on the PC to FAT32. Afterwards create a directory ‘garmin’ - in lower case (because the maps on the device are stored in ‘Garmin’) and you want the device to load the sd-card map. I use an older sd-card that’s only 4gb but if you are buying new you’ll probably have to have a larger 32gb+ as that’s all that’s available now. Even if new I’d recommend formatting to check for errors.
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place the sd-card in the garmin and plug in to the PC. You should get similar to the following in your file directory. The Garmin hard drive mounted and the sd-card aswell. You can see the file structure of the device but I wouldn’t meddle with the directory content.
photos.app.goo.gl/Cx14Ukzj66exQ7Ar2
photos.app.goo.gl/1gbkeQIGZ7W8iUyt1 -
to select the map go to garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ and you should see
photos.app.goo.gl/wiNN6BlnrhpGPW6z2
There is a choice of Generic routable and Generic routable (new style). I use the former as I have an older device. I did try the ‘new style’ and it didn’t work as well. With a newer device it may be better.
Select Generic routable, from Europe pull down select UK, and then ‘download map now!’ (don’t select TYP or anything else)
photos.app.goo.gl/ZBL0R72IeKz25KqF2
photos.app.goo.gl/8xHk3UKTdFrrkkwR2
select osm_generic_gmapsupp.img to download to satnav-zip/31jan18 directory. Best early morning w/e as evenings can be slow. Extract to the same directory and you have your map ‘gmapsupp.img’.
photos.app.goo.gl/jkHy9c0ysOonT6s52
- copy ‘gmapsupp.img’ to the sd-card directory ‘garmin’ and all ready to use. Unmount the device directories and remove Garmin from PC.
Sorry if this seems “long winded” but I don’t want anyone to mess up their device. For following months I just delete the old file using the File Manager with Edit->Delete (not the keyboard ‘delete’ key as this does delete but also creates a trash file on the sd-card which you don’t want), and copy over the new gmapsupp.img. About once a year I format the sd-card just to check for errors. In multi-drop jobs doing 30-40 drops per day - OSM has never let me down except for new build areas which haven’t had road names or postcodes assigned.