The Garmin map updates refer to the updating of the previous maps or addition of the latest and updated maps. The Garmin maps can be updated by using the Garmin Express software deployed only for the map-related operations. What you need to do is just download this Garmin Express software on your PC (Windows/Mac).
Garmin map updates (garmin.com)
You will need to access the Garmin express web address i.e. www.garmin.com/express in the address bar of the browser and hit enter. The Garmin GPS device’s map needs to be changed with the latest one as soon as it is released. Garmin Maps update can be done even by the noobs who are not much familiar with the interface of the Garmin device. Garmin web domain www.garmin.com navigates the user to various other sections of it like the product catalog, Garmin Connect (community), Garmin Express etc.
Garmin map update through Garmin Express
Let us show you the detailed and understandable guide for updating the maps of your Garmin Nuvi navigation device. Go through the instruction set carefully to successfully update the existing maps of Garmin device.
- Open the web browser of your computer and make sure you have a working high-speed internet connection. Enter the garmin.com/express web address in the address bar.
- Then, download and install the Garmin Express software on your computer.
- Start the Garmin Express software on the computer and connect your Garmin device to the computer with the help of a USB cable.
- Wait for few seconds till the Express software detects the presence of your navigation device (Garmin Nuvi or whatever you are using).
- Within a few seconds, your device will be shown up on the homepage of the Garmin Express software.
- Double click on the icon of your respective Garmin device to check the availability of any map that needs to be installed on the Garmin device.
- If an update is available to be downloaded, there will be installation button in its right, just click that install button and proceed with the update.
Garmin Connect (Community)
The Garmin Connect community is a virtual social media space through which all THE Garmin users can get connected to each other is a single place.
- The users need to register or sign up with their personal information like the name, contact details and other information.
- After signing up with your personal information, the login credentials i.e. username and password will be generated through which Garmin connect can be logged in.
- The Garmin Connect keeps and publishes the records of all the users on a single dashboard. These records are mainly the physical activities like the total length covered through running and various other sports and fitness related activities.
Uses of Garmin Connect
- The Garmin Connect space allows a single Garmin user to compare his/her personal activity statistics with the rest of the members of the Garmin Connect.
- You can set and follow the goals for your fitness and other activities.
- This Connect platform encourages the athlete to compete with the other active members.
- Also, they can set their own deadlines and see the transformational statistics in a single click of the Connect.
How to set up your Garmin Nuvi?
Garmin Nuvi device can be set up and installed in some easy and convenient steps.
How to add a border to all slides in powerpoint. Let us make you understand what you need to do while setting up the Garmin Nuvi device. Below is the full-fledged guide of setting up the Garmin Nuvi device.
- Unpack the Garmin Nuvi GPS device from its factory packaging and see if all the necessary components like power supply cord, user manual and other essentials are included in the box.
- Your Garmin device has an inbuilt battery that can render a power back up of up to three hours, therefore you have the option whether you want to connect your GPS device to the car power outlet or not.
- Switch on your Garmin Nuvi GPS device and wait for the device to get on until the welcome screen.
- Now, select your home country, language and time zone is available on the home window of the Garmin GPS device.
- Then you will have to put a check on the radio button of the agreement of the terms and conditions of the Garmin device.
- You are now ready to use your Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator for a better and precise navigation.
- Upon the successful access into the Garmin navigation device, few of the features will be available in the home window i.e. Points on interests, settings etc.
You are now ready to use the Garmin Nuvi device for effective and accurate navigation.
Some of the important features of Garmin device
- Wireless connectivity (Bluetooth)
- Real traffic view
- Audio navigation assistance
- Point to point navigation
- Points of interests (PoI)
Real-time traffic view
The Real-time traffic view helps the user in getting an advance idea of the traffic pursuing ahead on his/her router. The user needs to simply drag the router forward/ backward and see the colors of the route to get an idea about the traffic congestion in the area. Red color indicates highly intense traffic jams and congestions, while yellow and blue colors of the routes indicate less and nil traffic in the route.
Points on interests (PoI)
The points of interests refer to the frequently visited places like the restaurants, gas stations, shopping stores, and other places. The Point of interest is useful in getting the navigation done to a frequently visited place quickly. There would be several of these PoIs available on the home window of the Garmin GPS navigator.
Audio navigation
Sim800l delete all sms. The audio navigation is quite a useful feature of this navigation device because it is through this feature that a driver need not look into the display of the navigator and hence keeping the driver away from the distractions of following the Garmin Nuvi navigator. The Garmin user can simply listen to the audio navigation instructions from the Nuvi device and carry on with the driving simultaneously. This results in safeguarding the driver and other surrounding vehicles of that route.
Wireless connectivity of smartphones
The users can connect their smartphones with their Garmin Nuvi device through the Bluetooth feature. What they need to do is just open the Bluetooth of the Garmin device and search for the available Bluetooth devices nearby Once your smartphone is listed in the list of devices. Just touch your phone icon on the Garmin display to get your Garmin device connected to the phone. The users can either make or receive calls through the Nuvi GPS device rendering their hands free. This, in turn, helps in keeping the driver safe while driving.
This is the simplest tutorial on how to add or update maps to your Garmin Sat Nav.
Garmin maps are simple .img files (files with .img extension). So updating or adding maps is as simple as copying and pasting a file, which has to be named gmapprom.img or gmapsupp.img. In some places, you may find locked files, but there are tools to unlock those.
An additional option (but not free) is to purchase official maps from Garmin’s website. The cost in the UK (Europe map) is £49.99 for a single update or £74.99 for LifeTime update (updates forever). If your GPS has LMT in the description is because LifeTime updates are included already (no extra charge). Once you got this, you install Garmin software from their website and you get the updates whenever you want.
But because we like free stuff, these are the steps:
Step 1. Buy a cable and connect your Sat Nav
The first step is to connect the device to your computer. For this purpose, you need a mini USB cable. If you are an Andriod user you probably have one already, otherwise, you can get one in Amazon for around USD 3 (option 1, option 2, option 3).
Step 2. Find your Map
Open Street Map (OSM) is the most used and globally recognised source for maps. They are free, created and updated by users and volunteers across the World.
The easiest thing to do is to find the map of your interest ready to use in .img format. So select your map from this link (once you find the one you need, click on the Provider column), only make sure that it says Yes in Routable column. In my case I wanted France so I download the map from the following website. There you click on Europe Maps and then Benelux & France.
That’s it! Your browser will start downloading a .zip (if it is compressed) or a .img file. In my case the file is called “Benelux & France-IMG-UL.zip“, and it is around 600MB.
Clarification: If you cannot find your map in the link above, follow the following steps:
1. Go to http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/
2. In “Choose a predefined country” select Thailand
3. Click “Download map now”
4. Select only the file “osm_generic_gmapsupp.zip” to download.
5. Unzip the file above
6. Copy the unzipped file (gmapsupp.img) to your SD card
2. In “Choose a predefined country” select Thailand
3. Click “Download map now”
4. Select only the file “osm_generic_gmapsupp.zip” to download.
5. Unzip the file above
6. Copy the unzipped file (gmapsupp.img) to your SD card
[Only for advanced users]: browse OSM website or other providers to find more specific maps. If your map has .osm extension, use one of these tools to convert it to .img. Mkgmap is a good one.
Step 3. Copy your Map to your Sat Nav
Here you have two options, you can copy the file to your Sat Nav memory, or you can use an external SD card:
Option A: Use you Sat Nav inbuilt memory
You can now just copy and paste your file to your device. Once connected to your computer, it will appear as an additional drive, as shown in the image below.
You may not have enough space on your device, but you can remove some files and replace the existent map. You can always make a backup and copy the files to your computer.
gmapprom.img is the pre-installed map, so you can just replace it. gmapbmap.img is the base map containing only large roads and larger cities, not really suitable for routing. You could delete it but as it is only about 50 MB you wouldn’t gain much space. You can also delete some of the voice files to make room. These probably contain lots of different voices and languages (files with .sum and .vpm extensions) that you never use, so maybe taking up quite a bit of space. They should all be in the
GarminVoice
directory. This is also only around 50MB. Another option would be to go to garmin.openstreetmap.nl and select only the files you are interested in and see if the generated map fits on your device.
Option B: Use an external SD card
If you do not want to remove nor touch the original maps (the ones that came when you bought your device), you can play safe and use an external SD card (read more at our “Best Travel Gadgets” post). You only need to create a folder called Garmin and copy your .img file in this directory.
You can get a 4GB SD card for around USD 4: Kingston, SanDisk. You need to format it with FAT32 [Windows, Mac]. Garmin says it will only accept up to a 4GB card for certain models, so check that in advance.
Step 4. Check your new Map in your Sat Nav
To check if the map was copied correctly and it is ready to use, follow these steps:
- Disconnect your Sat Nav from the computer
- Turn it on and click on Tools (bottom right corner)
- Click on Settings, then on Map, and then on Map Info.
You should now see your new map, as the image below:
More information
You can find many Garmin Sat Navs on Amazon at different prices (from USD 100):
How To Get A Free Map Update On Garmin Nuvi 1410 Driver
New devices can load multiple “*.img” files. If you want to have more maps on your device you can rename maps file in:
gmapprom.img (original map/ or renamed new map), gmapsupp.img (2° map), gmapprom1.img (3° map), etc.
gmapprom.img (original map/ or renamed new map), gmapsupp.img (2° map), gmapprom1.img (3° map), etc.
Other websites with information and resources are:
Some other recommended Garmin Sat Navs are the ones below. Bear in mind that nowadays most of them come with LifeTime maps from the country you buy it from, so better to buy it with the maps you are most likely to need.
Do not forget to visit our “Best Travel Gadgets” post to find other useful artefacts for your trip!
If you have recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi with LMT or LM extension (for example Garmin Nuvi 1450 LM, Nuvi 1300 LM, Nuvi 2595lmt, etc) it means that you can benefit from free lifetime map updates (the life of the device of course, or better yet the average usage duration of a Garmin Nuvi). Well now that we know we can take advantage of free maps for our satnav, what are the steps we should take to get them?
Let’s see below how easy we can get the latest free updates for Garmin Nuvi devices with Life Time Maps:
Step 1:
Turn on your PC (or laptop) and access your favorite web-browser. Then access the following link : Garmin official site
It will open a new tab where you can download Garmin Express , a little app that will deal with your Satnav’s updates. While the program is downloading connect the Garmin Nuvi GPS unit to the computer with the supplied cable . If you don’t have the cable at hand you can enter the serialnumber of the device in the box above the “enter your serial number” text on the same website above.
Another alternative where you can create an account and register your personal Nuvi GPS unit is: Garmin registration Here, in addition to the free map updates, you can also access and purchase other services (vehicles, voices, safety camera updates and more).
Step 2:
After downloading the Garmin Express (and having Nuvi unit connected to the PC ) install it in your computer. After installation the program will automatically detect the connected satnav and will access the free available updates for it (of course you need to have an Internet connection). Depending on the model, the program will detect updates for the software of the device as well as free updates for maps.
Step 3:
Now click the “Install all” orange button and the program will begin working. It will firstly update the navigation software of the Garmin Nuvi device and then it will proceed with the download of the latest available maps storing them in your computer temporary . The download process of the maps may take 2-3 hours depending on your Internet speed, the availability of the server and the size of the downloaded files.
Step 4:
After the new maps are fully downloaded, they will be copied in the memory of the Garmin Nuvi GPS device, which will take approximately 10-15 minutes. After copying the maps you will receive a confirmation message from the Garmin Express program: “All updates were successfully completed” and also “Your maps are up to date”.
With this we conclude the free updates for Garmin Nuvi regardless of the model. In the same app previously installed (Garmin Express), by pressing the Device button we can see the storage memory and how much of it has been taken by the new maps as well as the available space. You can also delete or change the sets of maps or you can make a backup of your navigation unit in your computer which is an extremely useful function.
Step 5:
Exit the Garmin Express app and disconnect the Garmin Nuvi GPS unit from the PC (for extra precautions use the Safely Remove Device from Windows).
After disconnecting it, the device will reset and a LOADINGmessage will appear on the screen which means that the new software and the update maps are loading in its memory. This process will take a couple of minutes and afterwards the regular menu of the device will load.
By tapping on Settings/ Manage Maps you can check if the new maps have been properly installed (check the coding of the Maps vs. what you saw in Garmin Express –ex 2014.40).
It might take some time until it acquires satellites for the first time after the update but don’t worry, after the initial adjustment there won’t be any problems.
This is everything you need to know and it isn’t very difficult. Basically, we can update maps on the Garmin Nuvi with Lifetime Maps easy without needing to have advanced knowledge of a computer, but simply by following some simple installation, connection, download and copy operations. Good luck!
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