First 4 hours with my new Garmin GPSmap 60Csx GPS unit and City europe mapping

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Here is a site with some cool POI files for europe as well as all over the globe. It has some camp site poi files which seem very useful. I installed the french, german, english and dutch camp site listings and ...well they seem to work, and they cost nought and weigh nought !

http://www.poiplaza.com/index.php?p=co

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

My request of Garmin:

Problem Description: How can I upload a series of POI files so that I see seperate POI folders in the menu when I push FIND?
Additional Details: Currently every POI folder I upload overwrites the installed custom POI folder. I need to install several custom POI folders so that in the menu I see several custom poi folders and not just one. So for example I want my campsite poi then another custom poi folder saying bike shops for example...or even having them all mixed up would work as long as each new upload did not overwrite the previously installed custom POI folder but added/merged to it. How do i do this?? I am off on a tour very soon so an early reply would be most useful. Many thanks.

...I wonder if they will reply before I get the answer from somebody on this board?

 

[yello]

Garmin can take WEEKS to reply, so I feel safe in the suggestion that one of the good folk of CycleChat will be first with an answer.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

..true...in the meantime does anybody know how to remove the stoopid motorway toilet icons which appear all over the screen, I assume so the 4x4 drivers can take use the gps to take a leak...

 

[CopperBrompton]

or even having them all mixed up would work as long as each new upload did not overwrite the previously installed custom POI folder but added/merged to it. How do i do this??

Just copy all your POI files into a single folder, then point POI Loader to that folder - job done.

Ben

 

[andrew_s]

My request of Garmin:

Problem Description: How can I upload a series of POI files so that I see seperate POI folders in the menu when I push FIND?
Additional Details: Currently every POI folder I upload overwrites the installed custom POI folder. I need to install several custom POI folders so that in the menu I see several custom poi folders and not just one. So for example I want my campsite poi then another custom poi folder saying bike shops for example...or even having them all mixed up would work as long as each new upload did not overwrite the previously installed custom POI folder but added/merged to it. How do i do this?? I am off on a tour very soon so an early reply would be most useful. Many thanks.

...I wonder if they will reply before I get the answer from somebody on this board?

From info I posted on this thread: Creating your own POI files

1) If you load a POI file campsites.gpx (or .csv), the loader creates a file G:garminpoipoi.gpi on the SD card.
You can just rename this file to campsites.gpi either using USB mass storage mode, or a card reader. You can then load a completely separate category of POIs from a file bikeshop.gpx to create a new poi.gpi file on the card, and rename this to bikeshop.gpi the same way.

2) Find -> Custom POIs gives you a jumbled list of the closest bikeshops and campsites. If you then press the Menu key, you get a context menu with an option "Select Database" on it, containing an entry for each of the .gpi files you have on the SD card. Selecting an option restricts the list of POIs to just those in that category.
Note:
a) You have to choose the category each time you go into Custom POIs - it doesn't get remembered.
the name on the Select Database list is the name of the original GPX file, not the name of the renamed GPI file.


Keeping a single folder with all your GPX POI files in, and reloading the lot every time would allow the jumbled list of all types of POI, but not selecting a category (AFAIK - I've not tried it).

 

[Kirstie]

On my recent LEJOG I had multiple GPS failure but I worked out that this was due to tracklogs downloading bum data rather than the unit itself.

Helpfully, I'd taken 2 GPS units, unfortunately both with the same bum data downloaded onto it. We managed though, as some of the routes were still intact. By far the funniest moment was turning on the spare unit on day 1, after the original failed, to find that it was telling me I was 3000 miles off course, and that I should, in fact be on the border of South Egypt/Libya in the middle of the desert

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Thankyou Andrew ...I have just managed to do it , in fact I could have done it all along by just hitting menu select data base as when i do that the poi files appear separtly...wouldh have been veryu useful in Germnay anmd france...oh well, I live and learn

 

[bonj2]

all sounds very complicated...have you mastered the device now and are comfortable with its ability to direct you around the place?

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I hav enot 'mastered' it. However I am a LOT further down the learning curve than I was. On my recent ride across France this thing was invaluable to me, mainly for getting me through towns and finding and homing me into camp sites.
Getting around Lyon was abreeze because of this thing.
HOWEVER...I still do not trust it's ability to calculate it's own routes in such a way as suit my needs on the ground best...just getting it to work out it's own routes often throws up some very odd choices of route. These are not so apparent when you sit at home messing witht he thing but when you are out there on the ground sometimes it's choices leave something to be desired.
I planned in my own routes before I went using BRT, mapsource and gps babel (as I dont have the Euocity nav DVD just the SD card). I filtered the routes to 50 points max so it could navigate them and limited each route to 100km (ish). This worked.
But to do all that (as a beginner) took me 12 days at the PC...3 more than it took me to ride across france!

 

[andrew_s]

How I create routes quickly and easily...

a) Decide where I want to go, and what roads I want to use to get there.
Use my skill and judgement to place a small number of waypoints along the road, such that the shortest way between each pair of waypoints is where I want to go.
c) Upload to the GPS, having first saved as a GPX file if necessary (it isn't necessary for routes created in Mapsource or Memory Map).
d) Navigate the route in "Follow Road" mode.

I get full directions, despite having only specified a few waypoints.

Example - Gloucester to Worcester, by the best cycling route...
(zoom out as required)
a) 9-point route as created.
Full 52km route, as navigated by the GPS.
This didn't go the quite right way, as the GPS doesn't know about the cycle track cutting the corner after reaching the Worcester ring road. Google maps doesn't know about it either. I'd just ignore the GPS prompts at this point. It would resume navigating me as soon as I'd passed the last bike-only section.

I generally use waypoints instead of routepoints, as I can adjust the route on the fly if necessary by adding and removing waypoints using the GPS buttons. A route created using routepoints can't be fiddled with away from the PC, AFAIK.

Another advantage of preparing routes this way is that you can do it directly on the GPS, so it becomes possible to set up a route out on tour when you don't have a PC. It takes me about 1min per waypoint plus a couple of minutes.

EDIT:
When navigating in follow road mode, it's best to have the routing options set to "car" or "delivery". If you set it to "bicycle", it will put in quite large detours to avoid short bits of main road, so it's difficult to anticipate what route it will choose when you are placing your few waypoints.
Bicycle works quite well for routes into and out of larger towns. There are generally plenty of smaller roads not too far off the direct main road route that it will avoid.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Thanks Andrew, I am going to try that..sounds like it does the job.

By th eway I hav ejust recieved a reply from Garmin..a month late:

Thank you for contacting Garmin(Europe)Ltd.

Sorry for the delay in responding. There is no way to have seperate
folders for POIs as the unit will only look in one location. Every time
the POI files are uploaded using the POI lodaer they will overwrite the
previous POI file. The only way to get more POIs on the the unit is to
send them all in one go but compiling them into one folder on you
computer.

If there is anything else I can help with please let me know.
Kind regards
Jamie Wiltshire Garmin (Europe) Ltd

The Global leader in satellite navigation

 

[Andy in Sig]

Is the mapping for GPS generally restricted to roads? I'm thinking of established cycling routes as if you could buy the electronic mapping of them with the route marked, that would probably be 90% of what most tourists want. All you would need in addition is street mapping of the towns on the route to help when tracking down your hotel. I suppose really that in the case of Germany, that means the Bikeline guides being made available electronically.

 

[andrew_s]

My 60CSx expired on Friday, at the lunch stop in Cassel (between Dunkerque and Ieper). It wouldn't turn off, so I pulled the batteries out, after which it wouldn't turn on. At least it was an opportunity to rediscover the fine old art of navigating off a map in the back pocket

On return home, I checked out the cost of sending it off to Garmin for repair ($150 flat rate for out of warranty repairs), and decided to have a go at fixing it myself, since it was probably a switch that had become displaced rather than anything complicated.

In case anyone else needs to take theirs apart, this is what I did...

To disassemble:
1) remove the 6 screws holding the back on (2 at top end, 4 under battery compartment lid). The port covers can remain in place
2) prise up the back half of the case, inserting small screwdriver between back case and seal, and twisting.
3) At the top end, the top part of the case and aerial cover is glued down. Break the rear case section free of the glue (quite easy - it's sealant rather than structural).
4) Reach under the rear case and unplug the 4-wire mini-USB port connection. Leave the coax for the external aerial connected - there's sufficient slack.
5) The main circuit board is held in place by a transparent plastic clip that covers most of the top half. At the bottom end, unclip each side with a small screwdriver - insert, twist, and lever up. You have to bow the sides of the main case outwards slightly. With the lower end of the clip unclipped on both sides, lift a little and pull downwards to get the top end out from under the case mouldings, after which it may be removed.
6) The main circuit board may then be removed by prising up the bottom end so it just clears the end of the case, and sliding it downwards so the aerial is pulled out of the tube in the top half of the casing.

As I had thought, there was a small microswitch that had been bent down. I straightened it, and added a small piece of plastic between the back of the switch and the top of the display as a brace, and reassembled. I've just pressed the top rubber cover back down rather than trying to re-glue. It's outside the main waterproof seal, and the existing glue seems to have been tacky enough to just stick back under finger pressure. I expect I'll just have to wait and find out whether I've disturbed the waterproofing too much.

 

[bertie_boy]

I don't know if you have a route or a track. You can only use the Highway page with a route.

I guess you have a track with less than 250 points. This screenshot shows how I convert my tracks to routes.

In MapSource, save your track as a gpx file. In fact it's the gpx file that you get from b r toaster, it's a track file. In gpsbabel, that's the input file. I create a second file by changing the filename slightly on the Output side.

Click the Filter button to bring up the window to transform a track to a route.

You should end up with a gpx file which you can open straight back in MapSource and it should appear on the Routes tab.

This is the route that you transfer.

You are going to do a test run with a local route, aren't you? It took me a lot more than a week to perfect (?) all this.

Tip: Give each route a numeric prefix so that they appear in the Route list on your gps in the order that you will be riding them. in MapSource, double-click the route name, something like RPT001 to RPT229, and call it 00) Basel

I have been following this thread with great interest. I am at the stage above where I am trying to get my track into GPSbabel and out as a route. I can get this to happen but when I open up the file in Mapsource the pink route is full of little black flags, how do I lose the flags?