No street level detail with Mapsource on laptop

I don't have MapSource handy so I can't tell you exactly where it is, but somewhere on the View menu I think is a "Map Detail" option, or something like that. Make sure it is set to the maximum detail. See if that helps.

Hi groundhog,

Just a guess...

Are you zooming-in far enough to view the street level?

Regards,

Tailspin

Nüvi 670 & 880
Mac Pro & OS 10.5.7

My first thought is that you have installed the software but haven't told it which maps are "unlocked". Thus, it won't show anything but top level detail.

Go ahead and connect your Garmin to the laptop and open mapsource. Then, select download from GPS and make sure "maps" is checked. This should only take a few seconds as I don't recall it actually copying the entire map. It only checks the GPS to see what maps are unlocked and then the unlocked areas will show in the mapsource software in full detail.

You should be able to tell this by looking in the lower right hand corner of the mapsource software. If it says "Locked" or something like that, then what I said about the mapsource software needing to have the maps unlocked is correct.

Of course, you have to actually have the map set installed on the laptop to be able to see them anyway. If the maps are installed, they should be located at "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Maps" (for XP computers). If you see a city navigator folder in there, then you have the maps installed. If not, then you need to install the maps to the laptop. That is another long post...so let me know if that is the case.

Jeff

Try pressing CRTL G.

You are very close in understanding my problem, and making sense of it all. The map is exactly where you said the map would be on my XP desktop computer. Taking up 1.56 gigs of space. I tried to "send" the 'map' from my Garmin to my laptop using Mapsource. All it did was send (transfer) the route from NC to MN I configed using my desktop computer. Then, when I tried it again (selecting "map") I got a message saying that there wasnt any maps on the Garmin. I looked on my laptop. There is no map on it at all. I dont know what happened. I ran the 2.2 gig file just like I did on the desktop, when transferring the files to the 765t several days ago. Except, on the laptop I aborted it right before it was about to send it to my Garmin, since the updated map was already on the Garmin. Another caveat to the whole thing. My desktop maching is XP, and my laptop is Vista. So, I dont know where the map is suppose to be on Vista machine since the file structure are different. I do have a \users\user\Documents\My Garmin\ folder. The only folder there is one called "custom waypoints symbols". So, whatcha think. Should I try to blindly copy my map of the 1.56 gig map from my desktop to "My Garmin" folder on the laptop? Or you reckon there is some registry change that took place too? I am new to Vista (new laptop), so dont know where it should go, the root of \My Garmin\ or what? I could just uninstall everything (garmin stuff)off the laptop. Then reinstall from scratch, but I am nervous about copying over my already updated data on my Garmin 765t. But that seems like that is what I might have to do. So much red tape to contend with. Any more help is appreciated. Jeff, you were on the right track. Much thanks for getting me to understand it a little better. I did wonder where the 'real map' was. Hey, any help is appreciated, from anyone, especially knowing where the map is suppose to go on the Vista machine.

I opened MapSource on my WinXP PC and looked under the Utilities>Manage Map Products... menu. On the Map Product Information tab, it said my 2010.2 maps were installed in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Maps\City Navigator North America NT 2010.20.gmap\Product1

The map is there, but broken up across 137 sub-folders in individual .GMP files. It doesn't appear to be one large file like it is when installed on the Garmin. Is that what you were looking for?

It sounds like you installed the map update on your computer before you installed MapSource. If this is the case, you just need to run the map update again on your laptop. This will install a copy of the map files into MapSource. If you run the map update on a computer that doesn't already have MapSource installed, it just skips that step and sends the new map to the Nuvi. I may be misinterpreting the order in which you tried this. But this has worked well for me. I have MapSource as well as the full maps installed on a desktop computer as well as on my laptop. One map update, one license code, one Nuvi, two computers with MapSource and the maps.

Thanks for the advise. Before purchasing the Nuvi 765t, I had no Garmin software of any kind on my desktop machine. No Mapsource, no nothing. I just went to Garmin and got my free map upgrade (new unit). It went through the whole process, givin me the map update to my Garmin, Mapsource for the desktop, and map in my Application Data folder. The whole nine yards. I went through the same thing on my laptop, but since I didnt want to install it on my Garmin again, I stopped it before it went in my Garmin again. So, in order to get the maps installed on my laptop, do I have to let the install load to the Garmin AGAIN also? I just didnt want to take a chance of losing anything I have saved on my Garmin. The update program wouldnt continue unless I had my Garmin attached to the USB port. Maybe I am just not comprehending what is going on exactly (with me, sometimes the sun rises slowly ), and why I have to have my Garmin attached via USB again. My Garmin works great, so dont want to overewrite files on it that might screw up the trip routes I have already created! Thanks!

I know where the map is on my XP machine. I was wanting to know where the maps are suppose to be on my Vista laptop. Just wanted to know the route directory that I could try copying them to, to see if I could get Mapsource to access them there.

I have MapSource installed on a Vista laptop. My 2010 maps are in C:\ProgramData\Garmin

The MapSource Utilities>Manage Map Products shows the location as Gary A says.

I doubt that just copying the map folders over from your XP desktop would work. Registry entries are probably made during the map install. You probably need to run the update install and maybe the Garmin Unlock Wizard.

In MapSource, what is listed when you go to View > Switch to Product?

And in the View Menu (about halfway down) does it read "Hide GPS Map Detail" or "Show GPS Map Detail"?

I did it the same way. Installed everything to the desktop computer and updated the Nuvi. On the second install to the laptop, I let it install to the computer first. Then when it said it was going to update the Nuvi, I stopped it since the Nuvi had already been updated. The only difference in my case is that I had MapSource already installed and had been using it for 6 months before the map updates came out. And I purchased the map update on DVD instead of downloading it.

In MapSource, there is a drop-down menu to select which map to use. My drop-down shows both 2008 and 2009 maps. So installing the 2009 update did not overwrite the 2008 maps on the computer. It did on the Nuvi, of course. The drop-down did not automatically update to 2009 Maps after installing the update. I had to change it myself the next time I ran MapSource.

Do you have any options to select in that drop-down menu in your MapSource?

Okay...sounds like something happened to delete or overwrite the map files.

You could run the installer again to add the map set back to the computer or, like you said, you could copy the map data from the Vista machine. I do not have Mapsource installed on a Vista machine, but my assumption is that the map data on it would be located in C:\appdata\garmin. Appdata is a hidden folder so you may have to enable 'show hidden files and folder' to see it.

Once you get the mapset back in the c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\garmin\ folder, then open Mapsource and go to Utilities > Manage map products. On the first tab (Map product information), it will list the installed maps and show their status: locked or unlocked. If it shows locked, or doesn't show the map set at all, then the map files need to be unlocked.

To unlock the map, go to the 'Unlock regions' tab, and click 'add'. Paste in your unlock code for your map set and then click 'ok'. You can retrieve your unlock code from the my.garmin.com site.

If the Garmin site doesn't list your map unlock code under the map details for your device, then there is another way to unlock the maps but this is not something that I will post how to do on an open forum. The public answer to this would be to call Garmin.

Once the maps are reloaded and unlocked, you should be able to see the full details, depending of course, on the show/hide map detail setting that Motorcycle Mama mentioned.

Jeff

Fixed it. I went back and installed it all over again. For some reason the map didnt get copied, I guess because I aborted it right before going in the Garmin. The 2.2 gig install file which I burnt to DVD installed the maps on the laptop, and overwrote the files on the Garmin. I kinda hated doinfg the Garmin again. Anyway, the short of it, all is working. I have my detailed maps on the laptop now. My 765t Nuvi is working good. My planned map routes, to and from Cottage Grove, MN are there. So, thanks for all the help from everyone.

So, well King, this case is closed.

I love it. This does date you, you know. I wonder how many folks reading this have a clue. Anyone who once "owned" a square inch of The Yukon will know.

On King--On you huskies!

Then again, we baby boomers might also remember that the phrase "Plunk your Magic Twanger, Froggie" isn't dirty at all, too.

Fixed it! Wow, Jeff, you were of special great help. The maps just never got installed on the laptop in the first place. Duh, on my part. I havent had my Garmin, or learned enough about (locked/unlock) and how all of this stuff works. I didnt know about going into "Utilities" and doing all of that stuff. Real glad you showed me all of that. So, not to be a bore. Thanks very much for the help!!

Yea, now this dates you too. I never, ever say the quote: "Well King, this case is closed". It just came to me. In my house back then, we only had about 3 TV channels, but it was far better TV than we have today. God bless!

Oh, you're referring to the TV show, not the radio series....