Converting Google Map Routes to Garmin GPX files

Tried loading with POILoader and it said there was no valid data.

I use Mapquest to send routes to my 765T and it does it directly without having to save and transfer so it is easier.

Does the GPX file you create and install alter the route so the Garmin follows it exactly or will your Garmin try to calculate a new route when it locates the satelites based on the route options you have in your settings ex.(avoid highways, toll roads etc??) plus if Poi loader does not work how do you get GPX on your GPS..
I've always wanted to have the option to alter a route on Mapquest or Google, send it to my geepuss and have the 765T follow that instead of tring to recreate it.. If this works this is GREAT!!! Thanks..

You do exactly that in Mapquest, click on the blue route line and drag it where you rather go. You'll see a little red dot afterwords that you need to right click on and select "Make it a route stop".
Then just send to your GPS and it will follow the route.

If you see the correct route on Mapquest but your GPS goes a different route then you can drag the blue line a little and drop it right back where it was. Then it will show a red dot that you can then do the make it a route stop thing to force the route.

JimD1, I don't understand -

"Then you click on a link to the software you have in your "Favorites" list and you get a gpx file."

Can you explain?

Nevermind, I was reading to fast and far ahead and skipped the entire link a few sentenences earlier.

Google Map export did not work for me, Internet Explorer was blocking it numerous ways.

Mapquest "Send to GPS" worked fine. Now I have to drive the route and see how it works in the GPS.

On a 2nd try I did not right click and save the red dots as a waypoint. It still kept the route I drug the blue line to on the screen but sent the original route without the extra drag information. So you do have to save the red dots.

Thanks for the info.

Any success is purely by accident. You can lay out routes in any software you want but when your unit loads the route it recalculates it according to the rules in the unit and may or may not match the route you worked so hard on.

The only way to get it even close is through lots and lots of waypoints and even then it's a crap shoot.

I usually navigate to the start point of a scenic route and then just follow the road displaying position information on the screen. Routes seem to work fairly well as long as you are on the Interstates, but if you want to follow a secondary road it will do everything it can to get you back to an Interstate.

You don't want to use POI loader with this. It is not creating POIs, it is creating a route. They are different things. You just load up the GPX file in the memory of the Garmin and then tell your Garmin to initialize the route.

I don't have other software to do this so this works for me. If you have other software you like better that is fine by me. I like the way you create a route in Google, however. It gives you several options to start with in many cases. And then you can just drag the route to where you want it. You have your choice of maps including topographical. Maybe other software is as good but I think Google Maps is pretty good.

With respect to the need for extra waypoints I don't know. I've only done short routes with this and it worked fine to just create in Google and send to Garmin. My Garmin followed the route. If it did not, additional waypoints might solve it. You can simulate the drive first to see how well it works. The GPX file is an ascii file so you can edit it directly if you are good with this stuff. There is a detailed post on this at GPS Passion in the nuvi section. One of the administrators used this process to create routes for a multi day scooter drive over a pre-assigned route. It followed secondary roads nearly all the time. It worked.

My guess is you will not need additional waypoints most of the time - or you won't need many. I find Garmin routes to usually match Google routes. So the waypoints that force Google where you want should force Garmin too. Maybe.

Jim

The problem is when the unit initializes the route. It will take the route you created in Google (or any other program including MapSource) and recalculate it according to the rules coded within the unit's software. This has happened too many times to both me and other users.

I've been using a Streetpilot 2720 and creating my own routes using Mapsource for at least 4 years. Once the route is downloaded to the 2720 it's there. When you select the route and start it, the 2720 does not recalculate it. I've been all over the US using this mode with no problems at all and not once has the 2720 changed the route on me.

There's another difference between the Street Pilots and the Nuvi's.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know it could do that.

That is why a lot of people are asking for some of the old features to be put back in the nuvi gps.I wish garmin would add scenic routes to their gps.