making and then loading tracks on a Nuvi 1350

I know there has to be a way. I loaded GPS Kevins version of the TAT trail just fine. How do I create my own tracks? I know the 1350 does not support loading files on to it. I have a memory card. I contacted Kevin but his experience is with a PC and I am trying to use a Mac. He suggested making a .img file, am trying that without success. Also, keep in mind, I am a relative GPS newb, so keep terms somewhat simple.

Start by paying Sam for the official TAT materials rather than taking the fruits of his hard work without compensating him. Then you might get a better reception here.

Use this: http://www.javawa.nl/imgfromgpx_en.html

I export the track as a GPX from Basecamp and drag and drop into imgfromgpx. Then copy the map folder it creates into the same folder as my other Basecamp maps. Finally, transfer the other data (routes, waypoints) from Basecamp and check the option to include maps. That will then launch the map loader application (can't remember what it's called) and copy the custom map that displays the track to the Nuvi.

That's how I do it anyway. You can see the tracks on the map while the route is active. If the route gets FUBAR'ed you can just follow the track line until route works itself out.

I you intend to use tracks, why not get a GPS with full Track features? Nuvi is a car/street GPS that loves Routes, very few know what a Track is.

i'm going to assume you're meaning you want to DRAW (with a computer/tablet/phone/gps) tracks instead of RECORD them (with a gps) ...

offline:
install basecamp on your mac, start the infuriating process of trying to do something with it, and if you succeed, export it to whatever program is also required to make a file your gps can read

online:
use a site like gpsies, furkot, or google's mymaps, or whatever, to draw a track and export it it to whatever program is also required to make a file your gps can read


friends have told me the mac version of basecamp is better. i can't imagine it being much worse, or having to deal with windows crap at the same time, but i guess people do.

side note: if you have a smartphone in your pocket, you can load all the tracks you ever wanted on it, create tracks, record tracks, edit tracks, and do pretty much whatever you want without lugging around an extra computer for basecamp.

We had both, Kevin's worked better. I am done with that trip and would like to plan my own trips, I want to know why his worked better. I don't want to have to buy a PC to do it.

That is exactly the program I am trying to work with, I am having trouble making it happen. I am looking to route off-road, where a GPS cannot give turn by turn directions. Thank you, at least I know I am close to making this happen.

Do you drag and drop the custom map right to the nuvi? What about on a memory card (mine is low on memory)?

I have both, the nuvi has a larger screen and it is set at a zoom level that is useful for higher speed sections. The off road GPS is set at a closer level for slow speed. They all know what a track is, mine does GPS Kevin's tracks just fine.

Edit, and I tried larger screen off road units (Montana) but they don't like when they get covered in dirt and mud, the screen locks up and the unit needs to be powered off and on. The Nuvi actually does better in this regard.

Yes, I want to be able to draw a line on a map, including off road routes that are not on the map. I have base camp and google earth. I can make a track and save it as a GPX file. In order for the 1350 GPS to read it, it needs to have done to it whatever GPS Kevin does, but his advice was for a PC and does not translate to a MAC.

I tried the smartphone thing, there are several issues here: 1: charging, even with a waterproof case is not waterproof. 2: I had the phone jump off my handlebars in Utah and completely disappear. If anyone is doing the TAT and you cross the bridge with metal plates after Green River, look for my phone. You can keep it, brand new iPhone 6, I just want the pics and video off of it. 3: I ride my bike in places that it ends up on the ground a lot. I can buy Nuvi GPS units off of CL for $20 all day long.

No. I let Garmin MapInstall transfer it. I added a memory card to the Nuvi, which I had to partition it down to the maximum size the Nuvi would use.

Drag and drop your GPX file into the main window of ImgfromGPX. You can then change the track colors in the column on the right if you don't already have those set. Name the map and give it a unique map ID number in the boxes at the bottom. Be sure the check box for creating the IMG file is checked. Click Create Map and save it somewhere handy. In Basecamp, Maps > Installed Maps Info... > Reveal in Finder. Move the folder that ImgfromGPX created that ends in gmap into the folder with the Basecamp maps. Now when you transfer your waypoints and routes to the Nuvi with Basecamp, you can select Send maps with MapInstall when done and it will launch MapInstall. MapInstall will tell you which maps it wants to transfer to the Nuvi. Just click Customize... and choose the name of the one you made.

That's a lot of words, but it really only takes a couple of minutes. Making a shortcut to the maps folder saves a few clicks. There may be other or better ways, but I have done this several times and it works great.

Awesome, thank you, I'll try that tonight!

ya, the iphones do suffer from the lack of waterproofness. quite a few androids are waterproof, and have external charging points. i've seen a lot of people dismiss phones because of someone's flying off the bars at some point. it's happened once (after i hit a tree) in over three years of riding. i lump that into poor mounting, and not an issue with phone usage as gps.

if you don't mind, could you link to one of those img files after you're finished with it please ? i'd like to test it out, and see if there are any issues with the file type, on my phone.

for future reference, gpsies.com is the online resource i've been using to plan rides, save and share tracks and routes, and generally backup those routes / tracks. i also use mega and google drive, which sync twice a week, in case anything happens to my phone, which something surely will eventually. having the ability to sync one time (2 minutes) and have everything back exactly as it was, is really nice. if you can image your standalone gps, and sync it somewhere, do it, it's really really handy.

about the "$20 nuvi's" part... i just saw some really large gps devices in target this morning. 5-6" displays. niiiiiiice. only $80-100 too ! then i realized they were extremely limited as far as ruggedness, waterpoofness, and features. man garmin could make these so incredibly good... :)

Sadly, I drank the Apple KoolAid and am not going back (hence the iPhone and Mac parts of my posts above). The lost phone was my fault, it was not secured properly after a fuel stop. There is just too much room for error in that system. Then I was stuck without a phone for the next few weeks, when I am trying to run a business while out of town, that caused some issues. Too many important things combined into something that is hanging off my handlebar.

If I get a successful .img file, I'll post it up.

The iCloud back up does not work when traveling with very limited cell reception. I lost a couple weeks worth of pics and video. This even caused me to rethink about using the phone camera on trips. I am not a fan of all in one devices anymore after that incident cause by a slight brain fart of not completely securing the phone after a fuel stop. This is a topic for a different thread. I have decided to go with stand alone GPS units now. Let's discuss how to make that work.

The Nuvi has been rather rugged for me. It know some people dispise Kevin but he has a tourtuial on how to waterproof a Nuvi. All it takes is a little silicone around the screen. If I smash it, they really are $20 on Craig's list, all day long. I only have the one right now but I plan on picking a few up and carrying a spare on longer trips. I would have to go through 30 of them before equaling the price of a Montana or a new iPhone.

OK at least you are not one of the people who ask for an under $100 solution that will last forever.

I would suggest you buy a very old PC (Windows XT) Lap Top or Tablet and install MapSource to manage your Tracks. Keep a backup on a thumb drive and if PC goes tits up, just buy another old one. Use thumb drive to transfer Tracks from PC to Mac and on to Internet or friends via e-mail.

You just drag and drop to get gpx files from our PC to your GPS via USB.

Mapsource is the most intuitive program for managing Tracks. You can Cut, Paste, Edit, and HAND DRAW Tracks with ease. If you can use Xcel, you already know how to use MapSource. If you talk to the guys on this site who really manage a lot of Tracks, most of them still use MapSource. We all looked at BaseCamp and never switched. However I have Mac friend who finally uses BaseCamp, he never got MapSource to work on Mac.

I have almost 4,000 files with 1.5 gig of Track data on my PC and have posted many thousands of miles of Tracks on GpsXchange.com

I am currently editing my Continental Divide Ride Tracks merging Active Logs from 6 riders into the best single set of Tracks for the 2,500 mile ride.

Sounds like you are serious dirt rider, 99% of them use Garmin hand helds. I would try a 78 for $160.

Bottom line, there is nothing simpler in "making and then loading tracks on a Nuvi 1350" than with MapSource on PC.

The issue is kind of specific to the Nuvi. They do not support having .gpx files loaded on them. There is a trick where the file is converted to a .img file and it is an over laid map.

I am a dirt rider who uses roads to connect trails. I don't need turn by turn, just a line to follow on the GPS. I have a 78 for the closer zoom levels. The Nuvi is for further out zoom levels on faster roads where I need to see a turn coming up.

Again, GPS Kevin has a video how this technique works for varying speeds without having to touch the GPS. If you look at Graham Jarvis and other hard enduro riders, they use a similar setup for races that require GPS navigation and have minimal course marking.


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This discussion is all over the place. Windows or Mac, there is no difference in a GPX file's data format no matter which OS the GPX file was created on. In addition, if you take a GPX Tracks file and convert it to a Garmin IMG map overlay (gmapsupp.img), that can be done on many OS platforms with equally good results.

As for managing Tracks, what the heck has the OS got to do with how one manages Tracks. This is clearly a personal preference discussion. Jerry's preference is to use what he's been using for the past 12yrs. You can use whatever file or database solution you feel comfortable with. These are just files.

When it comes to creating Tracks, you can do that a number of ways - some of which have been discussed. My preference is to use Furkot.com. I can route along roads or mapped Trails and if needed I can switch the map view to Satellite and 'draw' part or all of my route over a visible trail. That route(s) can be Exported as a GPX Track(s) and then the GPX file can be converted to an IMG for your nuvi - or any other Garmin that accepts gmapsupp.IMG map files.

I mostly understand what you are saying, I know this has gotten off topic but if you read my first post, my issue is with the last line of your reply. I can create the gpx files just fine. I got that. My issue is converting them and then, once converted, where do I place them on my memory card so that the Nuvi will recognize them. The Mac vs PC thing came up because I was recommended some conversion programs that are not compatible with Mac. You make it sound as if I can do all of this with Garmin software.
I will take screen shots of each step I am taking tonight. I'll post them and maybe you can tell me where I am going wrong.
Does the file have to specifically be named "gmapsupp.img"?



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Sorry, I was responding to "Making" in the title. Didn't read enough detail about problem was "Loading". Again why Nuvi when it is such a handicap using Tracks. The over lay maps are great for promoters of events etc but for just riding real Tracks that you can turn on/off and change color are so much more friendly.

Funny I use Nuvi in motorhome but it is so bad for the big picture (all detail goes away like "Cities"), I use my 76 for big picture and Nuvi for turn instruction of Route.

Just FYI. The "tracks" displayed on the Nuvi with the method I described can be color coded. If you wanted to make separate maps for each track, then they could also be turned on and off. It is easier to load tracks on my eTrex, but the Nuvi is just much easier to see. Some of the other options are just out of my price range. I do ride a KLR after all.

Since your nuvi 1350 does not accept GPX files, you do need a third-party application to convert the GPX Tracks to a Garmin IMG file. As 919nick described, I also use IMGfromGPX on my Mac from the good folks at JaVaWa.nl and I have it save an IMG file - not the GMAP file that 919nick describes - unless you just want to use BaseCamp/MapSource and Garmin MapInstall to load the same GMAPSUPP.IMG onto your nuvi SD Card. You need to make sure the IMG file produced by IMGfromGPX is named GMAPSUPP.IMG for the nuvi to recognize it and you should place the file in the /Garmin/ folder on your SD Card.