Installing map to PC

[Peobody]

I just figured out that the .img file that I can see in the \Maps folder on my Zumo XT is not the most recent one. Is there a trick to accessing its hidden .system folder? No joy with file explorer set to show hidden items.

[rbentnail]

This would be great if I knew what files to copy to the PC and how to tell BaseCamp to use them. Interestingly, the device shows numerous maps installed but when I use a file explorer on the PC to navigate to the devices file system I can only find one map file (.img). It resides in the \Map directory along with several tiny .gma and .unl files. The filename of the .img tells me that it's the map that I need in BaseCamp but AFAIK BaseCamp can't use a .img file.

I don't have access to an older model GPS to try that route.

Dazed and confused in Charlotte, NC.

Hey, Dazed & Confused in Charlotte! I'm in Asheboro, When it warms up a bit I can ride over with an old nuvi & my 595 and some usb cables. We can meet somewhere with wifi and "attach" one at a time to your Garmin Express and see if you can get the prompt for Maps to Computer. I'd love to check out an XT! Maybe Michael will come too, he's local.

Lemme know!!

[Peobody]

Hi Russ. That could be plan. I'm happy to come your way as well. I'll PM you with my email address and we can take this off-forum.

BTW, Four Saints Brewery was the destination of a road trip (car) by me and my wife back in mid-March. Definitely a "do again" place.

[sussamb]

I just figured out that the .img file that I can see in the \Maps folder on my Zumo XT is not the most recent one. Is there a trick to accessing its hidden .system folder? No joy with file explorer set to show hidden items.

Here you go:

The .system folder is a hidden folder using the default Folder View Options in Windows. In order to see the .system folder on your device you need to make Folder View Option changes in Windows as follows:

Windows 8 and 10:

1) Open the Control Panel. (Right click on the Windows square in the bottom left of your computer screen. Select Control Panel and click on it.)
2) Inside Control Panel, click on "Appearance and Personalization", then "Folder Options" or “File Explorer Options". This will open the File Explorer Options window.
3) Inside the File Explorer Options window, click on the "view" tab.

Select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives"
Remove check mark for “Hide Empty Drives”
Remove check mark for “Hide protected operating system files” (Recommended)”

Windows 7:
1) Open Windows Explorer and select Organise, Folder and Search Options
2) Click the View tab.
3) Uncheck ‘Hide protected operating system files.
4) Check ‘Show hidden files, folders and drives’

In addition, you may also need to change your device to Mass Storage mode in order for the .system folder to be visible in Windows. You can make this change on your device by following these procedures:

1. Start device by itself and go to Volume Screen.
2. Press the upper right hand corner of screen for 10 seconds.
3. The Developers Screen will pop up
(may see Configuration and Settings, if so select it)
4. Scroll down to MTP SETTINGS
5. Change from AUTO DETECT to MASS STORAGE
6. Shut down the device and connect to PC
7. It should now connect in mass storage mode.

As an alternative to step 1 and 2 above, you can bring up the "trip information" screen by tapping the speed icon, then press and hold the speedometer for about 10 seconds to access the developer screen. Now go from step 3.

[Peobody]

In addition, you may also need to change your device to Mass Storage mode in order for the .system folder to be visible in Windows. You can make this change on your device by following these procedures:

1. Start device by itself and go to Volume Screen.
2. Press the upper right hand corner of screen for 10 seconds.
3. The Developers Screen will pop up
(may see Configuration and Settings, if so select it)
4. Scroll down to MTP SETTINGS
5. Change from AUTO DETECT to MASS STORAGE
6. Shut down the device and connect to PC
7. It should now connect in mass storage mode.

As an alternative to step 1 and 2 above, you can bring up the "trip information" screen by tapping the speed icon, then press and hold the speedometer for about 10 seconds to access the developer screen. Now go from step 3.

I could not find a way to access the developer screen from the Volume screen but was able to do it with the speedometer method. There was an option to enable "Show .System" which I ticked (I left MTP set to "Auto"). This worked.

Once I was able to navigate within .System I found the gmapbmap.img file but immediately knew by its size that it wasn't the map I was looking for. I then opened .System\Map and sorted it by file creation date. I copied the most recent .img file and its associated .gma file to a folder named Garmin on a flash drive. BaseCamp sees the flash drive but not the map. Interestingly, if I attach the device and the flash drive, BaseCamp will display the map in the Library pane under the flash drive so it appears to still be dependent on something on the device. Anyone know what it is? I don't have enough space on the flash drive to test copying the entire contents of .System to it.

[sussamb]

Shouldn't depend on anything on the device, my maps work as stand alone maps. gmapbmap is Garmins basemap and as you rightly say it's not the one you wanted.

The main map is normally named gmapprom.img, is that the name of the file you copied? If not what was it called?

If it is you may need to also copy the associated .unl file

[jfheath]

The maps for XT seem to be different.

On the XT there is an img file, a gma file and a unl file created witht he same name. These are in Internal Staorage/Map

So for me there is D6210120A.img (the big file - 2.4GB), D6210120A.gma and D6210120A.unl

I know that these are the map files on the XT, because Basecamp tells me the name of them when I select them from the left hand pain.

On the PC, the same map is stored in C:\Program Data\Garmin\Maps\City_Navigator_Europe_NTU_2021_10.gmap\ which is a folder. I know that it is stored in that folder, because if I move the folder to a different location, Basecamp cannot find that map.

The folder contains this

BC - 01.jpg (12.56 KiB) Viewed 3628 times

The CNEuroNTU etc folder contains these two files.

BC-02.jpg (5.79 KiB) Viewed 3628 times

The Product1 folder contains 615 folders each named with an 8 digit number.
Each of those folders contains a single file. A filename with 8 characters - numbers and letters, with the GMP suffix.

The point is, the map files on the PC for BAsecamp are in a very different format - or they appear to be.

So I looked at where my OSM map is are stored for Basecamp.

These are stored in C:\Garmin\Maps\OSM generic routabel new(GBR)
and this folder contains 100+ files - mainly IMG files. On the Zumo itself it is stored on the memory card as a single file - gmapsupp.img

I tried renaming the folder on the PC and using the existing foldername to copy the img file , unl and gma files that I copied fromt he Zumo XT.
No dice. It wasn't having it.

It seems that what we know about the Zumo 590 and 595, has changed with the XT, and this complex file format on the PC might be why they have tried to ditch it from Express. They clearly haven't tried to use the Zumo maps when using Basecamp - it takes ages to load up although subsequent runs of Basecamp load up pretty quickly. I wonder if that copies them onto the PC ????

[sussamb]

Interesting. BaseCamp has never copied maps to a PC, it simply indexes them on first use, so I can't see the XT being different here.

Naming of maps has changed for numerous reasons over the years. It used to be simple, gmapprom.img was the main map file and gmapsupp.img a supplementary map. The EU map is now so large it's split into two, often named Dxxxxx.img with one in .system and one in a folder named Map.

Whatever the naming though they should all be seen by BaseCamp provided they are in the Garmin folder on a removeable drive.

[Peobody]

I've messed with this a good bit more but without any success. For ha-ha's I used BaseCamp to install a map onto a flash drive. Since this was just a test I only selected three regions from one of the City Navigator North America maps. The result was a .img and .gma file on the flash drive, no .unl file even though the process clearly showed an indexing step. In a previous post jfheath mentioned corresponding .img, .gma, and .unl file in the Internal Storage\Map directory on his device which I also see but the date of those files are associated with the last map that I was able to install to the PC using GE based on the file dates of 3/11/21.



The files that I believe are associated with the last map updates are in .System\Map and those only have .img and .gma files (looking at files with a date of 3/25/21).



This make me wonder if the Internal Storage\Map directory was being used by the process that installed maps to the PC.

Little makes sense in all of this but installing a map to the PC DID work with the ZUMO XT before the last firmware update.

Hopefully my attempt to insert screenshot images into this post worked. Edit: Nope! Guess I need help figuring this out too (used the "Insert Image" button and the url of .gif images hosted on imgbb.com)

[Rofor]

@jfheath

It seems that what we know about the Zumo 590 and 595, has changed with the XT, and this complex file format on the PC might be why they have tried to ditch it from Express. They clearly haven't tried to use the Zumo maps when using Basecamp - it takes ages to load up although subsequent runs of Basecamp load up pretty quickly. I wonder if that copies them onto the PC ????

I hope i have not misunderstood your post...

I think, map format on the pc did NOT have changed - I had an older CN NA map on my former Zumo 595 (think it's from late 2019 - it's v2020.10) and have not used it on my new Zumo XT! The folder and the content of the subfolders is exactly the same as the CN Euro 2021.10 from my Zumo XT - just like on your pictures!

Again, for me it doesn't look like they changed the map format - maybe you have installed the map also on PC before(!) you made the firmware-update to 5.90 or 6.10?

For me, this (changing maps) also would not make sense, as Garmin would have to manage another set of maps only for the Zumo XT and the new Garmin Treat!