Lost Maps

 

I recently used a supplemental SD card for my Garmin device while I was overseas in Australia. After returning to the U.S., my Garmin tells me my North America map data isn't available. Garmin tells me I can simply re-load maps by purchasing their "lifetime" map updater for $90, but that seems ridiculous. Am I missing something here? Any other way to get my North America maps back?

Have you checked Tools -

Have you checked Tools - Settings - Maps - Map Info? Be sure North American map is checked.

Note: I have an old Nuvi 760. It may be under different menu if you have newer model.

Lost Maps

I would keep calling Garmin until I reached someone who knows what they are doing.

--
Alan-Garmin c340

Start here

chewbacca wrote:

Have you checked Tools - Settings - Maps - Map Info? Be sure North American map is checked.

Note: I have an old Nuvi 760. It may be under different menu if you have newer model.

slabman, this is absolutely what you need to check first.

similar experience on 3790 LMT

I have a Walmart refurb 3790 LMT. It was supposed to come with lifetime North American updates and I was surprised to notice that when I ran the update process it asked me whether I wanted the North American or the European update. So once I tried clicking the European button to see what would happen. The updater informed me that I didn't have enough room and would need a supplementary SD card if I wanted to do that. My curiosity piqued, I purchased an 8 gigabyte SD card, inserted it, and ran the update process selecting the European option when offered.

When all was done, I did indeed have European maps up on the GPS, but the mymaps page did not list the North American detailed maps, and the street resolution shown in my own neighborhood was that of the base map(which is to say useless for navigation).

Since I do own lifetime North American updates for the machine I was able to run the map update process again, this time selecting North America and not Europe, and was advised while running the update that it would put some essential files on the SD card.

Now I'm the back to normal operation with North American map showing on the mymaps page but the European maps do not show there anymore.

My guess is a your North American maps are still physically on the machine but there is a pointer or enable code somewhere set wrong to allow access to them. Good luck on whether Garmin or someone else will help you find a way to correct that without buying lifetime maps.

--
personal GPS user since 1992

Europe map

I too have a 3790LMT and after installing the NA 2013.30 I still have tons of room. The 3790 has 8GB of internal memory and there should be no reason to install any files on a SD card. UNLESS you still have the European maps in the GPS taking up space, my guess.

The NA 2013.30 map is only about 1.7GB in size and even if you have the large JCV file it is under 800MB.

--
Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

Hi there. I too, have a 760

Hi there. I too, have a 760 that I purchased about 4 yrs ago. Somehow, I lost my maps. I go to Settings-Maps-Map Info, and nothing is there. I go to View Map, and nothing is there. Not sure what happened. Crazy. I have a 1450, a 2460, and a 3790, all of which work great. I loved my 760. I will try to call Garmin. I am a teacher, so it is hard for me to contact them during the times they are open. I hooked it up on the computer to see what programs it had loaded, and it doesn't seem to be loaded. Hopefully, I can get in touch with Garmin. They have always been helpful to me in the past.

notes on space

As the matter of space has been mentioned, I'll just post current storage usage on my 3790LMT (the one that has been from North America to Europe, and back again), as displayed by Windows 7 Explorer.

Nuvi proper:
4.64 Gb used, 2.63 GB free
Add-on SD card
1.79 Gb used, 5.66 GB free

On quick review, it appears that I have some, but probably not all, the files for both Europe and North America (the clearest example is that the Nuvi JCV directory holds two JCV files of differing sizes but recent date).

There are some quite large space users in addition to the primary map file and the JCV file, for example:

.System/ASR directory holds 1.56 GB
.System/G2S 581 MB
gmapdem.img 594 MB
GMAP3D.IMG 183 MB

As I have only one gmapupdate.img (1.79 GB, on the SD card) it appears that my speculation that both Europe and NA are actually there, just with pointers or permissions missing, is probably incorrect. It appears that the primary map img file for Europe got deleted when I re-installed NA.

--
personal GPS user since 1992

Confirm It's Missing

bobshort1 wrote:

Hi there. I too, have a 760 that I purchased about 4 yrs ago. Somehow, I lost my maps. I go to Settings-Maps-Map Info, and nothing is there. I go to View Map, and nothing is there. Not sure what happened. Crazy. I have a 1450, a 2460, and a 3790, all of which work great. I loved my 760. I will try to call Garmin. I am a teacher, so it is hard for me to contact them during the times they are open. I hooked it up on the computer to see what programs it had loaded, and it doesn't seem to be loaded. Hopefully, I can get in touch with Garmin. They have always been helpful to me in the past.

When you connect to your PC you should see a file named "gmapprom.img" and another file named gmapprom.unl, the .unl file is the unlock code.
In Windows Explorer if you right click on the Garmin Drive and choose properties it will show you how much disk space is used and what remains.
If there is a large amount of space remaining, and you don't see the gmapprom.img file, that means it was somehow deleted.

--
Nuvi 2460LMT 2 Units

undisturbed space

As it happens, our family has a second 3790LMT, recently purchased, with no appreciable extras installed, and no map other than the North American one as shipped and one update.

I'm labelling this post "undisturbed" to distinguish it from the unit on which I attempted and failed to achieve a dual Europe, North America installation.

That one as of today shows in Windows as having 4.64 GB of space in use and 2.64 free. What with JCV file, primary map file, and possibly other support stuff, I don't think it is clear at all that there should have been room to ADD Europe maps without an SD card. At the least, there would have been very little space to spare.

--
personal GPS user since 1992