Garmin Montana

I think that’s part of it. I can certainly see the confusion in the use of the terminology. Some people are using Basecamp, but thinking in terms of Mapsource. Even Garmin has been misleading at times. The intent of my post was not to confuse anyone about via points. The intent was to point out that the user can keep tabs on the via point total as they tailor their route in Basecamp.

What your doing is turning on or off wither there will be an announcement of the via point on the GPS screen as you approach it. If you right click on the via point, a drop down list will appear that will allow you to change its property to ‘Alert On Arrival’ or ‘Don’t Alert on Arrival (Shaping Point)’. Not all gps support non announcement of shaping points. I’m not sure about the Montana.

One thing you want to check is via point placement on divided highways. Zoom in and make sure that the via point is placed in the correct lane for the direction of travel. Instead of placing via points at the intersection, put them just past the intersection on the road you wish to travel. You also need to zoom in close enough so as to avoid clicking on POI’s and making them via points. On the other hand, via points can also be a POI, a city park, a cafe or a gas station. These you might want to set the via point's property to 'Alert On Arrival', if you want to stop there.

On my 62s, I set 'Off Route Recalculation' to 'Off'. This prohibits the gps from recalculating the route. If I overshoot the route, I can zoom out, see where I'm at in relation to it and work my way back. Some gps's like the Delorme PN40 allow you to set the off route recalculation threshold, i.e. distance from route, before it recalculates. This is handy, should you ride off the route when refueling or getting something to eat.

I hope this answered your questions.
daryl

The Montana does support non announcements of points.

Here is a discussion I lifted from the Basecamp forum some time ago that may clear up some confusion:

Originally Posted by KGANSHIRT

The concepts are quite simple. It's the method of distinguishing one from the other that is likely quite subtle in the code.

POI - A formal Point Of Interest. An entry in the internal POI database with a name, location and usually other information associated with it.

Waypoint - Any arbitrary point on the map that you have designated you want to keep track of. Usually stored in the "Favorites" or "My Locations" or whatever your personal navigation device calls its waypoint storage database. Your device will usually allow you to store such things as the location, any arbitrary name you want to supply and other information such as address, phone number, category(ies) and a symbol/icon to be used when displaying it.

Via Point - A point used to create a multipoint route, e.g. Go from Point A to Point B via some other arbitrary point(s) that you will designate. If your personal navigation device supports multipoint routing, the via point can be a POI, an existing waypoint/favorite or any other form of location that is searchable on your device, e.g. address, intersection/junction, custom POI, etc. In most cases, to use something as a via point it must already exist in one of the devices' searchable databases.

Shaping Point - In Mapsource, to "shape" a route to go exactly where you want there are a couple of methods. Just as with the personal navigation device, you can edit the route's properties to insert Via points (these are not shaping points although they do serve a similar purpose). You can also just use the route tool to click on spots on the map to force the shape of a route. When you do that, you are using a location that is not already in one of the searchable location databases. Mapsource does not force you to add these points to any of the formal databases. It simply inserts the actual coordinates invisibly into the route. These are shaping points.

Shaping points occur in another, automatic, fashion as well. Even when you only designate a two-point route, e.g. go from Point A to Point B, there will usually be multiple places, usually intersections, where a change in direction is required. When building the route, the personal navigation device (or Mapsource/Basecamp) will automatically include all of these points in the route.

To easily illustrate this, you can create a two-point route in Mapsource by clicking on a Point A and a Point B that will require a few turns to get from one to the other. Now export the route to a GPX file and take a look at it with Notepad or your favorite text editor. You will see that, in addition to the starting point and the ending point, there will be a bunch of other points <RTEPT>in the file to control all the turns.

I apologize if you already knew all that. Perhaps it will be helpful to others with inquiring minds. <?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shape style="WIDTH: 12pt; HEIGHT: 12pt; VISIBILITY: visible; mso-wrap-style: square" id=Picture_x0020_120 alt="https://forums.garmin.com/images/smilies/smile.gif" type="#_x0000_t75" o:spid="_x0000_i1025"><v:imagedata o:title="smile" src="file:///C:\Users\Jay\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.gif"></v:imagedata></v:shape><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>



And yes, these terms are often misused, adding to the confusion.:huh

Posting a light blue on white text means it is invisible to me so I will have to skip it

Is this better?

Originally Posted by KGANSHIRT

The concepts are quite simple. It's the method of distinguishing one from the other that is likely quite subtle in the code.

POI - A formal Point Of Interest. An entry in the internal POI database with a name, location and usually other information associated with it.

Waypoint - Any arbitrary point on the map that you have designated you want to keep track of. Usually stored in the "Favorites" or "My Locations" or whatever your personal navigation device calls its waypoint storage database. Your device will usually allow you to store such things as the location, any arbitrary name you want to supply and other information such as address, phone number, category(ies) and a symbol/icon to be used when displaying it.

Via Point - A point used to create a multipoint route, e.g. Go from Point A to Point B via some other arbitrary point(s) that you will designate. If your personal navigation device supports multipoint routing, the via point can be a POI, an existing waypoint/favorite or any other form of location that is searchable on your device, e.g. address, intersection/junction, custom POI, etc. In most cases, to use something as a via point it must already exist in one of the devices' searchable databases.

Shaping Point - In Mapsource, to "shape" a route to go exactly where you want there are a couple of methods. Just as with the personal navigation device, you can edit the route's properties to insert Via points (these are not shaping points although they do serve a similar purpose). You can also just use the route tool to click on spots on the map to force the shape of a route. When you do that, you are using a location that is not already in one of the searchable location databases. Mapsource does not force you to add these points to any of the formal databases. It simply inserts the actual coordinates invisibly into the route. These are shaping points.

Shaping points occur in another, automatic, fashion as well. Even when you only designate a two-point route, e.g. go from Point A to Point B, there will usually be multiple places, usually intersections, where a change in direction is required. When building the route, the personal navigation device (or Mapsource/Basecamp) will automatically include all of these points in the route.

To easily illustrate this, you can create a two-point route in Mapsource by clicking on a Point A and a Point B that will require a few turns to get from one to the other. Now export the route to a GPX file and take a look at it with Notepad or your favorite text editor. You will see that, in addition to the starting point and the ending point, there will be a bunch of other points in the file to control all the turns.

I apologize if you already knew all that. Perhaps it will be helpful to others with inquiring minds.

Oops, sorry....

Something weird happened when I pasted it..

Thanks MBD..

r.e touchscreen problems
They took it off me today and I will get a refurbished one in a couple of weeks - you were right they said it was an earlier model thanks

Thanks for the reposted NON blue on white explanation Emmbeedee, my eyes are grateful

No worries to the original poster, some people have different themes so the colour schemes are not the same anyway

But, to the post, as it explains, I personally do not use VIA points, I seem to use shaping points if I do it manually to force it, or it adds a bucket load in by itself

Cheers from a bar in Siem Reap, Cambodia
TravellingStrom

New software 4.70 http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=5335

What kind of point does it make if I grab the route with the arrow shaped tool and rubber band it to a road?

Shaping point.

Thanks! Are we limited in the Montana as to how many of those there can be in a route?

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but here it goes - If I have different maps for the Montana, can I load them all onto a single SD card and switch between them? Was hoping to be able to do City Nav, Topo, and BlueChart by buying the DVD versions and not swap SD cards.

Also, as an FYI - If you're a Citi customer w/ reward points, they have the Montana 600. It's a ridiculous # of points (120K or so, IIRC), but if you're not using your points for anything else, why not? Actually, it would probably be cheaper to buy 10 $50 Amazon or BestBuy gift cards for 60,000 points and just buy it there...or maybe 5 Cabelas $100 cards for 10,000 each?

YES!

More info here.

Buying DVD versions is my first choice, AFTER checking GPSFileDepot for free maps that have the information I need.

Shaping points, no. Via points yes, limited to 50 per route.

This was why I was asking (from your link):

Let's say I get the DVD for City Navigator and BlueChart, will they both use gmapsupp.img as the fileame when transfering the maps to the SD card, overwriting each-other? Or are they kept seperate, allowing you to select which you want to use? Again, I just want to be able to load all my maps onto an SD card (maybe have the Topo built-in w/ the 650t) and not have to switch SD cards or re-load maps from a PC.

Thanks.

If I understand this correctly, as long as I am using the "grab the route and rubber-band it to the road I want to follow" method, I will not bump into limits.

Yup, but that can be a real PITA method for route creation.

I don't know if you are using a Mac or PC, but links exist on that page to walk you through sending maps to your GPSr from either, with three options for PC users.

If you DO NOT use MapSource, the IMG maps sent to your GPSr will not be titled gmapsupp.img, but rather some other name taken from the map data.

If you do use MapSource (I do not advise it), the map sent will be named gmapsupp.img, but, as the walk through instructs, you can simply rename that file once the transfer is complete.

Newer Garmin GPSr units allow for maps to be titled as you see fit, so long as the .img extension is used.

Send Map. Rename Map. Repeat.

What defines an earlier unit? Do you have a serial number range or something?