1. Garmin Nuvi 255w Maps

Free user-generated U.S. And international maps UPDATE: Here’s a on your Garmin GPS. This was originally intended as a follow up to my post. Yet those sticking closer to home should investigate this too — the sources below include road maps of U.S.

Sources of free maps for your Garmin GPS. I need free maps for my Garmin Nuvi 205W. I would like to update my Garmin 255W with the latest maps for free. Sources of free maps for your Garmin GPS. I need free maps for my Garmin Nuvi 205W. I would like to update my Garmin 255W with the latest maps for free.

Garmin Nuvi 255w Maps

Cities and some very nice topo maps of greater detail than you can find elsewhere. The image below is from a. Besides being free, these maps are often available for areas not covered by Garmin and other commercial providers. Unfortunately though, turn-by-turn routing is less likely to be found with these maps. One other thing before we get to sources of these maps — they utilize the Garmin.img format, and will require some special techniques for loading them to your unit.

More on that. Sources of free maps for your Garmin GPS Here are the best places to start looking for these maps:. – Undoubtedly the most comprehensive source of user-generated maps for Garmin GPS receivers.

The screen shots at the top of this post and below show maps of Sydney, Australia that I downloaded and transferred to my nuvi. – Another comprehensive list. Specifc areas:. Australia –. Canada –. Caribbean – This site also has maps of Japan, Bermuda and Antarctica. China –.

Greece –. New Zealand –. South America – in the works. Turn by turn routing too. Topo maps – 40 foot contour interval maps of and Thanks to for several of the above sources. OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap is “a free editable map of the whole world.” They aren’t quite there yet, but they are making progress. Here’s a how to on how to convert data to Garmin compatible maps.

OpenStreetMaps that have to Garmin format. Tips for searching for free international maps When searching for international maps, try using the country name + “.img” + “Garmin” + “maps”. Loading user-generated maps using IMG2GPS There are many ways to skin a cat and likewise, there are many ways to load these custom maps to your Garmin GPS. This gets to be a complicated subject and I will only go through one method here.

This technique allows you to upload multiple maps using, so called because it transfers the Garmin-compatible.img map files to your GPS. Here are the steps I followed. If you have pre-installed maps on your GPS, make a copy to back them up. I have a nuvi 660 and I simply copied the nuvi’s “Garmin” folder to my hard drive. While I did not have any problems with this process replacing the pre-loaded maps in my nuvi, it is still a highly advised safety precaution.

Using one of the sources above, download the.img map files you want to send to your GPS. Download and install.

Run IMG2GPS. I could not get a direct upload to work with my nuvi, so I used IMG2GPS to create a file and then copied that to the “Garmin” folder on my nuvi. To do this select “Folder/Card” and “Create File instead of Upload” as shown below. Then click “Load Folder” and select the.img map files you wish to transfer. Finally, click “Create File.” A window will briefly appear on your screen as IMG2GPS compiles a GMAPSUP.IMG file. You will be prompted for a destination directory for the file. Copy the GMAPSUP.IMG file and the.img map files to your GPS (I sent mine to the “Garmin” directory on my nuvi).

You should now be able to zoom in and see the detailed maps of areas you transferred to your device. Finding other GPS data If you’re just looking for waypoints and tracks, you might want to check out my. Related post:.

Rich, it is getting worse I installed the morocco.poi.gpx.zip file and extracted it directly into the the POI folder in the main Garmin folder. Now my device doesn’t start at all, I even can’t access any more its contents when connected to the PC since it doesn’t start too!!!

All what I see (when pressing on) is the “GARMIN” logo then it turns off after trying unsuccessfully with “loading the map”!!! I tried many times in vain!

Please, can my device be restored to its functional configuration (without the extracted file that crashed it? Thx, Yassine. Yes, Cloudmade 🙁 The provided link is for backing-up favorites from Garmin device. In the mean time, I already tried unsuccessfully a “Soft Reset” (by holding the ON button pressed) and a “Master Reset” (procedure below) and none of them worked for my device:(( I’m very disappointed for having such experience.

Thx for your concern and help. How do I perform a master reset on my nuvi 200, 205, 465, 500, 600, 700, 705 or 1000 series device? To perform a Master Reset on the nuvi 200, 205, 465, 500, 600, 700, 705, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400 or 1600 series device: Note: A master reset will erase all waypoints or Favorites and will restore your unit to the default factory settings. If you would like to back up your Favorites to your computer, you can find instructions to do so here.

Start with the unit OFF and unplugged from power 2. Touch and hold the lower right corner of the screen with an index finger or the eraser end of a pencil 3. Continue touching and holding the lower right hand corner of the screen then power the unit ON 4. Release the power button when the device powers ON.

You will see a new message: Do you really want to erase all user data? Remove your finger from the touchscreen when this message displays 6. Touch Yes The device will automatically reset. Follow the on screen prompts then place your device in an area with a clear view of the sky until it acquires satellites. This is not exactly on this topic, but related: I have paid for the Garmin lifetime maps for my Nuvi 200w, but what a PAIN it is getting the updates.

It seems that with every quarterly update, I have to update to the latest version of.Net, and that is a mess with unreliable updates (see ), besides having to keep a PC updated with Windows (XP) just to use it safely on the ‘Net (I don’t need Windows for much of anything else – Linux suits about all the rest of my personal PC needs). So now I have a PC with.Net 2.x, 3.x, and installing 4 as I type (on my main Linux PC), and probably have several MORE reboots to go to get to the object of this exercise, new maps. Is this really necessary for just downloading their map file(s) once a quarter, and extracting the region-specific subsets? Is there some manual way to do this with some archive manager type software (lots on Linux to choose from)? Are Tom-Tom and Magellan as restrictive and convoluted about this process for their map updates?

Unfortunately, your life is going to get more and more difficult using Windows XP. It’s old software and the world is moving on. I “get” the whole linux thing – I was using BSD unix on a VAX 11/750 back in 1985, have been a sysadmin, hand-write c and html code with vi, etc. I primarily use Macs which are BSD unix at the core. But Windows 7 is the latest and greatest and that’s where things are heading. You could always get a cheap netbook with Win 7 and use that for your map updates, or even a Mac.

Well, I have another PC with Win7 (maybe try that one next quarter), but that’s not the issue. I seriously doubt the process is much different since the dot-Net 4 framework, and code using it should work about the same on Win7 as on XP. With either version my gripe is about having to use any sort of Windoze once a quarter along with all the time it takes for downloading/verifying/”installing” to PC storage since the 200w does not have enough internal storage).

So far I have spent an hour or more with that, and still have not gotten to the final part of actually running the program to pick and choose the map “segments” to put on internal storage and SD card (gotta review the docs for that as usual each quarter). You would think with all that “cutting edge” dot-Net programming power Garmin could figure out how to examine the current distribution of map segments on the internal storage and mounted SD card, and just refresh with the updated equivalents, but no, I need to spend more time doing that really “complex” bit myself. Seems like this is a lot of complexity and human time involved for doing something a program should be capable of doing for us – isn’t’ that the idea of programming? They could make it much more platform-neutral with Java if they want to keep secret (more like obscured) their proprietary little code tricks to verify that you are legitimately entitled to the update (where I suspect most of the coding effort is expended). Then I could run the Java applet on Windoze or Linux (with the correct JRE, which I would likely use for other apps, also).

That’s cool – I was a VMS DEC VAX admin for a while in the mid-90’s, and started a migration for the app to DEC-Unix on an Alpha. Then I went on to Solaris and web admin’ing, work as a “step up”.

I have used Windoze all along for desktop usage since Win 3.0 days, but I got over the gee whiz factor fairly quickly after picking up on OS/2, and Linux. I like to leave my Windoze use at work for my work PC, and have fun with a more flexible OS environment for personal use 😉. I’ve got a Garmin Nuvi 205W. I’m traveling to Costa Rica for vacation in March and I’d like to download the maps for Costa Rica. Do you know where I can go to get free maps of Costa Rica?

How exactly will the maps work after I upload them to my Garmin? Will the unit work the same as it does when I use it in the US (show my speed, give my location, provide turn by turn directions, include waypoints and Points of Interest, etc.)? I’ve heard that it’s necessary to rent a GPS, but I’d rather not pony up an extra $100 if I can avoid it.

Updates for Cycling Devices Don't have maps yet? Get street maps on your Edge to navigate safely and efficiently when training, touring or commuting. Or add topographic maps to your Edge for vivid detail of terrain contours and elevation information.

Need to update existing maps? We currently offer map updates for CityNavigator maps and Garmin Cycle Maps. If you’ve added City Navigator maps in DVD format to a map-compatible fitness device, you need to download the desktop app to update the cycle maps that came with your device.