making your own background maps

I thought I was going crazy with making your own maps using MapSource.It took me one hour to map a route from virginia beach up to Orient Point Long Island. I loaded it into my garmin 7200 with no trouble. I went out to the car and loaded the file up using my data files which I found with no trouble. I thought I was home free. When It started the GPS seemed to be playing in a simulated mode. No voice commands just an overlay of what you just described. I spent three hours trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.Thank God I,am retired. After three hours of fooling with it I said this is not for me. Thanks for clearing my head now I don,t feel like an idiot just a fool.

PS Why the hell would someone spend all that time for an over view When it would take two minutes to punch in the address numbers and the GPS would take you there with voice commands. Whats the purpose of MapSource. Am I missing something? Scooter2

There is an option in MapSource to transfer maps without routing data. You may have selected this by mistake.

Normally maps from MapSource include data needed to create routes that follow roads. This is different than maps from the article I mentioned at the start of this discussion topic.

Some history about MapSource . . .

A couple years ago, most nav systems required you to load maps from your PC. The amount of memory in the GPS usually wasn't enough to hold maps for the entire USA.

A primary feature of MapSource was to let you plan longer trips and download detailed maps into your GPS for areas along the route. With preloaded maps, this really isn't required.

Still, some users like using MapSource to create routes that pass through particular places along the way. MapSource also lets you manage waypoints and track logs for some GPS models.

JM

No I double checked.There were four options.
Maps Routes

Waypoints Tracks

There was a check mark in the Waypoints and Routes

The Maps and Tracks were grayed out

Scooter2

hmm -- out of suggestions on at this point.

Like you, I normally just punch the destination address into the GPS and go.

JM

The only thing I can think of is why the tracks & Maps were grayed out.I know if you highlight the Regions as you layout the routes it uses a lot more memory.Thats why I didn,t use it. The tracks, I,am at a loss for. Well back to the drawing board. Hey Jim, Thanks for your thoughts. I,am really greatfull. Just a side note, How about a spell checker on the board? Just Kidding
Scooter2

I think maps might be gray because your GPS already has pre-loaded maps. I imagine it might not be grayed out if you had MapSource data for areas outside the US/Canada.

Spell check is a good idea. I'll have to see if it's available as an add-on for POI Factory's web platform. I had Miss poi switch to Firefox 2.0 because it spell checks as you type. (We also have quite a few Firefox users on the site, so I wanted one of us to be using it on a daily basis.)

JM

Thanks for the intput

Scooter2

This is a very interesting article and has added to my GPS knowledge. However, the author does not list the C550 Street Pilot as a model that can use the image files that are provided. On the other hand, the Garmin MapSource CD is mentioned as the tool used for loading the maps.

By the way, I enjoyed reading this thread and in particular the post about spending hours trying to make a map that a Garmin GPS unit would not fully utilize.