The stuff of Kryton

An eclectic selection of technology with some cookery

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Project maintained by kryton-me Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

eTrex Maps

Having synced my old Garmin eTrex with modern fitness tracker apps. How do I get maps on it?

Needed equipment

• Garmin eTrex 20/30 or simular
• Apple iPad / iPhone
• Mac or Windows / Linux PC if using SD card.
• iPhone / some iPads: Lightning port to USB-A port adapter
• some iPads: USB-C to USB-A
• USB-A to USB-B Mini lead.
• sub 32GB SD card

set up eTrex (do this once)

Same as the sync process set up, no need to repeat.

• On your eTrex, press back until you get the main menu
• Confirm the following settings
• “Setup” -> “System” -> “USB Mode” -> Select “Garmin”
  • This enables access to the Garmin directory on the eTrex.

Check format of the SD card (do this once)

• 32GB or less
• FAT32 format
  • This is all you need the PC or Mac for.
  • FAT32 is “MS-DOS (FAT)” on a Mac.
• Has a directory in root called “GARMIN” or “garmin”
  • Appears to be case insensitive.

Download a map file

• a source of map Data for Garmin devices
  • Open Fiets Map Free to download cycle map based on Open street map.
  • Talky Toaster general map based on OSM & NASA. Pay for with free example map.
• In every case download the “GPS” format (.img) file not the basemap file.
• This will most likely be in a .zip file.
• Extract the zip file.
• The file will possible be called “gmapsupp.img”. This is important on older units but not for etrex20/30 or later.
• If you plan to have more than one map rename each file so they can be in the same directory.
• Copy the file to the “Garmin” directory of the GPS or the “GARMAN” directory of the SD card.
• Once copied eject & reboot the GPS unit.

Display map on GPS

• Open the map page.
• press Menu -> “Setup Map” -> “Map Information” -> “Select Map”
• Scroll to a map of intrest
• click on it, enable or diable it.
• press back to get back to the map.

/ license

Keywords: Garmin, OSM, eTrex