How to download maps on my garmin gps

A friend taught us how to download free maps to our GPS when we were in Mexico. We are forever indebted to him for showing us how to do this. I have passed on the how-to steps to individuals along the way and wanted to share the information more broadly. So, here we present step-by-step instructions. Step 3: You have two choices at this point — you can download a pre-defined country or build your own custom map.

Note: download map now does not always work so see step 4. On my MAC it downloads as an image and not as a zip file so it is easy to place in the folder; this might be different on a PC. For example, I built maps of all the Southeast Asia countries I wanted to drive through. If this is a map you have purchased then save it your computer.

The usual issue is that the Garmin is confused because there is more than one map on the Garmin. Remove that file make a copy of anything you are deleting before deletion as you may need it later. But, before I did that I deleted the old files before deleting I had saved a copy onto my computer. He needed his map to be in French. I was able to go back and move over the language files onto his Garmin from the folder I had taken off.

Garmin MapSource is now an obsolete product. They will only read 2gb of maps on a card even if the card is larger and will only read segments. Congratulations, you have now loaded the maps to your GPS unit.

If you have multiple maps loaded onto your device use the internal menus to select which map to actively view. Open Garmin BaseCamp all screenshots from version 4. If all of your maps will fit on your GPS it gives you a quick option to install them all. All my maps will not fit and thus I have to select the maps I want to use. Click continue. Note: This option will not exist with older GPS units that only allow one compiled map per device 60CSx and similar The next screen will show you all the maps installed on the unit currently.

You can select and unselect as you see fit and it will install the entire map selected. This is the starting point for older GPS units. If you have unrecognized maps on your GPS maps you have previously installed that aren't installed on this computer you can delete them at this point to save space. At the bottom of the new window you can select each map that you want to load pieces of. To select the parts just click and drag across the map. Selected segments will outline in yellow while being selected and be outlined in black with a blueish tint when selected.

This will update the amount of space bar left at the bottom. To unselect segments click and drag with the right mouse button. You can now switch maps at the bottom.

Select the segments you want from each map and then click Continue. The next screen will tell you what maps are going to be loaded.

Click Install. MapInstall will now build the map sets and send them to the GPS unit or memory card depending on which you selected.