Routes (SD card or XT )

[Scarecrow]

Hi Guys
Seasonal Greetings to All
Could one of you wise men out there shine a light on this question please
which Is it best
1. Add planned routes from Basecamp to an SD card
or
2. Add planned routes from Basecamp direct to XT storage

Thanks
Del

[sussamb]

Should work whichever you do.

[Oop North John]

I do the first way if there's lots of routes I want to upload. The second if there's only a few.

[rbentnail]

I always do it the SD card way. I'm not sure if the XT does it this way but here's why:

It's important to understand exactly what the device's DELETE ROUTE command does. Try this- transfer the route to internal memory. Import it. Start it, even if you put the gps in the simulation mode. Imagine the wind as you ride. Enjoy yourself, maybe stop for an imaginary burger . Done. Now delete the route. Can you import it again to re-use, review, discuss with others, etc.?

The 595 and a previous nuvi both delete the route completely if it's transferred to internal memory. If you want to see the route again you'll have to transfer it again from Base Camp.

Now try it with the SD card. Again with the 595 and nuvi, but if you transfer the route(s) to your SD card (listed as User Memory in BC), you can import and delete and re-import as many times as you'd like. Not so important if your routes are for a once-in-a-lifetime trip but it's sure is nice having 25-50 routes at my fingertips whenever I want them without having to reconnect to Base Camp. Never know when a buddy is going to call asking to ride!

I suggest you try both ways and decide which is better for you. I'm also not saying you have to do one or the other exclusively but I've found over time it's easier if I do. The picture is representative of the routes never removed from my SD card. Hard to do that with internal memory.

GPS Routes.JPG (138.39 KiB) Viewed 4607 times

[jfheath]

How do you get the route onto the SD card ?

eg - is the card in the Zumo at the time ?

Do you use drag and drop from within Basecamp
Do you use Send to device in Basecamp
Do you use Export in Basecamp

Or some other method?

[rbentnail]

How do you get the route onto the SD card ?
See Below

eg - is the card in the Zumo at the time ?
Yes, the SD card is never removed from the device for this process

Do you use drag and drop from within Basecamp
Yes, that's exactly how I do it

Do you use Send to device in Basecamp
No, never

Do you use Export in Basecamp
No, never

Or some other method?
No

Keep in mind this is for the 595 but I imagine the XT might be the same. Some XT user testing should be done. I'm going to start from the very beginning:

- Buy the appropriate SD card. A 64 gb works in the 595, don't know about larger.
- Device off. Insert card into the device. Turn device on. Device prompts formatting, say yes. When done turn device off.
- Start Base Camp. Let it completely boot up, I give it a couple minutes. It's really slow. Then plug device into computer with a usb cable. Again, let it completely boot. Takes a while.
- You should now see an added Memory Card/User Data under the device properties.

Base Camp Memory.JPG (17.64 KiB) Viewed 4551 times

- Simply drag and drop your route into the User Data. No need to make a file folder, the device does that for you. Just drag and drop, that's all.
- Import the route for use, just like always. Delete when no longer needed. Re-import if you want. Again, XT user testing should be done to see.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that's it. I drag and drop routes to the User Data. Note that "custom" waypoints don't work this way. I say "custom" b/c let's say I make a waypoint of a gas station to stop at. It won't show up on the device if put in User Data. Drag and drop waypoints into Internal Storage. It will then be saved in the Favorites or Saved Places on the device.

[jfheath]

Ok. I have both here. I will get back to you. There is a difference between main memory and sd cards - eg favourites reveals a programming glitch - I need to remind myself.

[jfheath]

Hi Russ

I had come across that disappearing route issue, but I hadn't got round to trying to pin down what had caused it. Thank you for the insight - I have reproduced the problem on the XT. I am not sure about my 595 - I suspect that it will be different from yours. Mine is not actually a 595. It is a 590 onto which I have installed the 595 software. As such, it seems to have a few differences - for one thing, it has not facility to rotate the screen from portrait to landscape - something that I note is consistent with one of the USA versions. Another issue will become apparent as I relate my findings.

Transferring a route from Basecamp to Zumo

a) To memory card

The transferred files end up in the folder Memory Card->Garmin->GPX
There is one file for each route transferred. Route.gpx, Route1.gpx etc.
There is a file for the all of the Waypoints and shaping points called Waypoints.gpx. Subsequent transfers of routes result in additional Waypoint files being created called Waypoints1.gpx, Waypoints2.gpx etc.

This seems to be the case for the Zumo 590, 595 and XT.

b) To Internal Memory

My 'Zumo with the 595 software' uses the same system as described for the memory card in the folder Internal Memory->Garmin->Gpx

The 590 and the XT (and I suspect proper versions of the 595) use a different system for routes in internal memory.

On transfer, routes, waypoints and other routing points are all stored in a single file : Internal Storage->GPX->temp.gpx

Importing the Transferred Route into the Zumo.

All of the routes that have been transferred are available for import, regardless of where they are stored.
Apps->Trip Planner->Menu button->Import.

Routes (or Trips) can be imported time and time again - you get multiple copies of the same route ready to run in your Zumo.

Deleting Imported Routes

At this stage, any route can be deleted from the same menu. The routes are still available to be re-imported. In fact, it is not possible to delete a transferred route from the Zumo without connecting it to a PC with the USB cable. (Apart from the 'feature' which Russ has spotted). With the Zumo XT in this state, I could not reproduce Russ's observation - but I hadn't loaded and run a route at this stage.

If you do want to delete the transferred routes - delete the temp.gpx and delete current.gpx from internal Storage->GPX. Or just delete the individual route files from the SD card.

Russ's Disappearing Routes

Russ described the problem as arising if the route is stored in internal memory, it has been loaded and navigation has already started.

I reproduced this issue - I had two routes on memory card and 2 routes in internal memory. Named so that I could tell which was which.
The two in internal memory were called XT 3 Memory and XT 4 Memory. The two on the SD Card were called XT 1 SDCard and XT 2 SDCard

So I loaded XT 3 Memory and set it off navigating. I stopped it pretty quickly so that it was no longer navigating, and then deleted it from with the Trip Planner App. And then I tried to import it again. It wasn't there. Neither was it there in temp.gpx, but was present in current.gpx.
But - the other route that was in internal memory XT 4 Memory was no longer available. It had disappeared from the list of imported routes, and that too was no longer available to import. But it was present in temp.gpx. I did a cold restart of the Zumo, and XT 4 Memory reappeared - but XT 3 Memory had disappeared for good.

So I think I have found out why and maybe have a work around. The problem seems to arise if you delete the route that the Zumo last loaded - even if it is no longer running. If you load up a route (say) from the memory card, or even if you load a different route from the internal memory and then delete a different route from internal memory - all seems to be OK. I tried it having loaded XT 3 Memory first and set it running. Then I stopped it and loaded XT 4 Memory - and deleted XT 3 Memory. All was fine. All of the routes were there except XT 3 Memory, and all routes including XT 3 Memory were available to import again.

I couldn't repeat this on my 590 with the 595 software - as it didn't have the problem in the first place - mine doesn't use temp.gpx or current.gpx

I'd be interested to know how a 'proper' 595 stores its files in internal memory. As I said, mine stores them as individual route.gpx files. - exactly like it does on the memory card - but that is different from the 590 and XT method.


nb - Waypoints have to be imported into favourites if they are stored on the memory card. Not so if they are stored in main memory. Also - no Waypoints / Favourites are visible unless there is at least one favourite entry in internal memory. (XT AND 595).

[axamax]

I had a problem this summer, I had planned a trip to Spain with trip planner in Basecamp and transferred them to the XT. I had to alter the route slightly which was easy enough in Basecamp. To save confusion I deleted the route on the XT and then transferred the new route from BC to the XT.
However when I imported the new routes the old ones were re-imported as well.
The only way to delete them seemed to be to take the SD card out and format it.
We got down to Spain only to be told we'd now have to quarantine on our return, so I'd have to travel back the following day. So I deleted the planned return routes on the unit and formatted the SD card (At that point I didn't want to be reminded of the trip). I forgot that by doing so I would also lose my music.The result was a very stressfull ride of 1500 miles in a day and a half with no music to ease the stress.
I now keep a spare SD card with a copy of my music under the rubber cover.

Why can't there be an option to delete from SD card as well?

[sussamb]

It's the way Garmin devices have always worked, at least the automotive ones. Their handhelds allow you to delete data from a sd card.

It's all to do with the way the automotive units handle data, which isn't consistent across the range. In your GPX folder on the device is current.gpx It contains all the data being used by your device but it's simply a one way copy of what's in inaccessible (to the user) memory. When a device boots it looks in the GPX folder on the device (and the card on certain devices) for other .gpx files, merges them with what's in its memory and then writes a new current.gpx file.

The inconsistency comes since some devices automatically import routes, others require a manual import. Some you can delete then reimport routes, on others you can't. On some even if you use the menu on the device to delete data that data is reimported when you reboot the device. This latter method appears to have been dropped on some of the later non Zumo automotive devices as users complained that deleted data kept reappearing. Now a flag seems to be set to allow .gpx files to be imported only once.

It would be good if Garmin updated the software on all their units so the behaviour was consistent, but with units going back 10 to 20 years this isn't going to happen.