Loading maps onto a 550

Posh Pete

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Trying to load maps onto the 550 via Garmin Express. Apparently, I don't have enough internal memory for any more than Europe North West. However, I can't see an option to load the maps onto the 8GB SD card which i have fitted to the unit. Any thoughts / suggestions?
 
Download the maps to your computer and then transfer them to the card.

John
 
Thanks for that John. Done. Now how does one switch from the 550's internal memory to the maps on the SD card?

Have a look at Settings-Map-Map info. You will probably find you have at least two maps available but only one ticked, change that to tick the latest maps and it should pick it up from the card.

John
 
Hmmm ...

When the unit is connected to the laptop, and looking at "Computer" in the start menu, I can see a file marked Garmin on the "Removeable Disc E " . I assume this is the SD card. This appears to contain the maps I loaded since ii contains a folder marked "Basecamp" containing various files corresponding to various Euro countries (Fr, De etc). Disconnecting the unit from the laptop and firing it up, I can see this, only one map?

Aaaargh!
 

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OK. Sorted now I think. I thought the maps would transfer directly to the Zumo but I then opened up Mapsource and there was the map on the drop down menu. Opened this and selected the maps I needed of Europe up to and including Poland, Hungary etc. Sent these maps to the Zumo overnight and now have this showing ...

Thanks again John.
 

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OK. Sorted now I think. I thought the maps would transfer directly to the Zumo but I then opened up Mapsource and there was the map on the drop down menu. Opened this and selected the maps I needed of Europe up to and including Poland, Hungary etc. Sent these maps to the Zumo overnight and now have this showing ...

Thanks again John.

You're welcome, enjoy the trip.

John
 
Thought I'd post how I solved this for any others who need help. If anyone has an easier way, feel free to post!

Open up Mapsource on your computer. Look at the dropdown menu on the extreme left of your Mapsource window. This shows the versions of maps available to you.

Now update your maps on Garmin Express and there should be an option to save to your computer or to your unit. Save to your computer.

Once you have done this (it will take a while, I left mine overnight) go back to Mapsource and look at the dropdown menu again. You should be able to see "City Navigator Europe NT 2015.4

Bingo!

Now plug in your Zumo to your computer. Go back to Mapsource and choose the "Send to Device" option. You should have an option to send maps to the memory card by using the drop down menu which appears once you click on "send to device".

First however, you must select the map tool from the menu at the top of the screen. This will allow you to click on the tiles / maps you actually want to send to the device. Easiest way is to reduce the map scale to something like 500 km. The tiles you select will be outlined in yellow and the centre will turn pink.

Once you have selected your maps, go back to the send to device option, make sure you have selected the option to send to the memory card from the drop down menu, click "Send" and job done or should be.
 
Good tips; thanks for making the post etc.

One tip more... I am not sure how you are selecting your individual map tiles. To save clicking on each one, its's possible to 'select all'. From memory....

Shrink the map right down

Place cursor at roughly the north west corner

Hold down I think the left click button (if not, it's the right one).... No IT wizard me

Drag the cursor in roughly a south easterly direction, just as if you were highlighting a load of text in Word. The tiles should all turn pink as you expand the dragged over area.

Release click.... Tiles stay pink.... Send to device / card in device. Job done.


You can use the same method just to mass highlight individual areas within a map, say the whole of France for instance.


Or I guess you could just use the 'Send maps associated with this route' option.... Or whatever it's called.
 
Good tips; thanks for making the post etc.

One tip more... I am not sure how you are selecting your individual map tiles. To save clicking on each one, its's possible to 'select all'. From memory....

Shrink the map right down

Place cursor at roughly the north west corner

Hold down I think the left click button (if not, it's the right one).... No IT wizard me

Drag the cursor in roughly a south easterly direction, just as if you were highlighting a load of text in Word. The tiles should all turn pink as you expand the dragged over area.

Release click.... Tiles stay pink.... Send to device / card in device. Job done.


You can use the same method just to mass highlight individual areas within a map, say the whole of France for instance.


Or I guess you could just use the 'Send maps associated with this route' option.... Or whatever it's called.

I will definitely try this next time, took me fookin ages to highlight every piece I wanted to upload to mine, including zooming tight in to make sure I had the all important town centre bits that are easy to miss in some places, thanks for the tip sir.
 
For some unknown reason Garmin are very reluctant to tell anyone how to avoid clicking on (and invariably missing) individual odd shaped map tiles.

The 'Click, then drag the cursor' method works a treat.
 
Does the short cut "ctrl a" do it as well - it highlights everything and then "ctrl c" will copy it, then "ctrl v" will print it where you want it by clicking on the page and then doing "ctrl v" - it places everything you copied in the new page.
 
Thought I'd post how I solved this for any others who need help. If anyone has an easier way, feel free to post!

Open up Mapsource on your computer. Look at the dropdown menu on the extreme left of your Mapsource window. This shows the versions of maps available to you.

Now update your maps on Garmin Express and there should be an option to save to your computer or to your unit. Save to your computer.

Once you have done this (it will take a while, I left mine overnight) go back to Mapsource and look at the dropdown menu again. You should be able to see "City Navigator Europe NT 2015.4

Bingo!

Now plug in your Zumo to your computer. Go back to Mapsource and choose the "Send to Device" option. You should have an option to send maps to the memory card by using the drop down menu which appears once you click on "send to device".

First however, you must select the map tool from the menu at the top of the screen. This will allow you to click on the tiles / maps you actually want to send to the device. Easiest way is to reduce the map scale to something like 500 km. The tiles you select will be outlined in yellow and the centre will turn pink.

Once you have selected your maps, go back to the send to device option, make sure you have selected the option to send to the memory card from the drop down menu, click "Send" and job done or should be.

Just to add that the above will work for Openstreetmap also. Download your maps from OSM. Then open the file with Mapsource. They will appear in the drop down menu as above. Then highlight the ones you need (or the whole map set) as above and transfer to the device or the card in the device.
 
I usually write the whole map update to the computer using Garmin Express. Then use Basecamp to send the maps I want to an SD card. Then drag and drop the map file and unlock code from the SD card to the 550's internal memory. That way the maps on both are the same and for some reason dragging and dropping is a lot quicker than sending the maps direct to the internal memory. Say about an hour compared to overnight.
 
Making things clearer

Mapsource interface showing icons to use when selecting maps and sending to GPS. From L to R above map ...

1. Import from GPS
2. Send to GPS
3. Select map tiles
4. Blow up map :)D)
5. Move map
6. Place waypoint
7. Calculate route between waypoints
8. Select map feature
9. Calculate distance / bearing

On the far left is the window indicating the version of mapping downloaded to the PC via Garmin Express.
 

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