GPS

[JohnB]

They are WRONG.  You can add custom maps......  Trust me.......

Install Mapsource and it will send to the card.  It will send to ANY sd card....

Or use IMG2GPS, http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mdipol/img2gps/

The topo maps and trail maps shown above will work on the Nuvi.

[JohnB]

I replied to your PM on the Nuvi.

With a Nuvi, you don't send to the GPS in the same way that was done with traditional Garmin units.  When plugged in the SD card should show up as a drive on the computer.  You send the maps to that drive and not via the "normal" USB/Garmin interface.

Within IMG2GPS or Mapsource, you send the maps to the drive that represents your SD card when plugged into the computer and NOT via the "USB" link...

You won't get help from Garmin because they do not support 3rd party maps....  In fact, they do not approve of their existence.  Their map format is NOT open source and they are probably not pleased that people figured it out.

[Tribal Jeep]

yea i would have figured that they would be a little displeased so I only told him I was trying to use 3rd party maps, when he asked who, I said it was  the canadian federal government free topo maps.

anyway, i managed to figure it out, dont ask me how... just downloading and installing crap loads of programs and then something triggered mapsource to open. it recognized the "calgary trails" map and displayed it. I have it installed over top of my city nav.

One thing that changed and is weird: When I tell it to "GO" to the spot I have designated as Margaret lake, instead of it doing the usual trip 1a -> highway 40 -> "unpaved road" -> Wiaprous Valley Rd and then drawing a straight line directly to the ML Save point (skipping the "non existing" trails), it now wants to travel on HWY 1 all the way out to H"WY 95 in Golden (!), then all the way back to the 1a in canmore -> hwy 40 up 40 "forestry trunk rd" and then straight through and over mocking bird & Ghost country trails to ML.

obviously a little bit of a glitch, but hey, the maps are there so I am happy.

[JohnB]

What is happening is that it is routing on the world basemap then the Calgary Trail Maps.  It can only route on one detailed map at a time and with both turned on, sometimes it gets confused over which to use.  Usually if you have a decent GPS fix on a road in City Navigator it will choose those and should automatically switch to the Trail maps when off road.  Sometimes it doesn't work right.  There should be an option to turn the Trail Maps off in the unit somewhere if it is a problem on the road.  Figure out how to do that anyway and you'll be able to get the topo maps on there as well.  With those, you will need to switch between maps on the unit as only one can show up at a time.

[Tribal Jeep]

yea I figured out how to turn maps on/off, and it sets everything back to normal. thanks for your help JB!

[jpthing]

It does if it isnt recognizing a "known" road. It still will show your position relating to other roads around you if your zoomed out far enough. Aperantly you can make and save your own trails, tho i havnt figured out how to do that yet.. whether it requires topo or just the city nav program.. i am waiting to hear back from Dragonmaster about that.

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a gps will allow you log your own trails

a navigation system (generally) will not