What good is the Mapsource DVD for 660/680

Honestly, other than playing around with it, I don't find it useful either. About the only functional thing I did with it was upload favorites from an older GPS, which wouldn't show as a drive so I couldn't access the file, to a newer non-routing Nuvi.

Just created a random route and sent it to the 680.
Wonder what it will do.

The nuvi 6xx series does not have the ability to store routes.

You can use MapSource to manage and backup your Favorites.

You can also use MapSource to send additional map sections/regions (beyond those that came preloaded) to your GPS unit.

Mapsource is sorta useless for me. I have two favorites Home and work. I use the favorites as a temp holding area. Anything I really want to save, I put in a POI file.

That's pretty much what I do, too. And, as for ZedRight trying to send a route to a non-routing capable 680, I'm interested as to the outcome as well. I'm surprised he didn't get an error message or something.

As waypoints 02, 05 etc.
So I can go to my favorites, select that and hit go.
In other words, its useless.

I see. I guess the only advantage is easier input with a computer keyboard vice the touch screen on the GPSr.

I am currently working on all the Bank of America's in the USA. I go into the BofA site, get the address, etc from their site, then go into MapSource, do a find on the address and it gives me the exact long and lat for that particular bank. It's invaluable for creating POI's.

I have a 680 and you can't upload to it from MapSource. The newer 7xx series can do it.

The outcome won't be pretty. Actually, it won't be anything. I have mapsource, and tried to load a route to a Nuvi 350. All went well - but, of course, the route never showed up. Until the 7XX series Nuvis, none were capable of routing. Consequently, mapsource is of little use (other than having your own personal copy of Mapquest) to the owners of the Nuvi series, except the 7XX series. With mapsource, however, you can "plot" a route and print it out. In essence, you are killing trees when Rand-McNally would have sufficed.

Joel

Maybe because I Used it so much with my Etex unit...But Mapsource is a great program. think of it as a big screen Nuvi. In simulation mode. You can surely make routes for NUVI , Buy finding the place you want to go then where you are Starting from. Then have it figure that route with only those 2 points.

Then if you want to Change the route you put a Mid Point where ever you want to change the route.
I also find it very useful to look at an area I am going. You can put " waypoints" anywhere and call them what you want.. a Waypoint is a POI file. then you just click the send to unit and the waypoints are moved to your unit.

I use it a lot. Key is you actually need a MapSource map to make it useful. On my PC, I have Topo 2008, World Map, BlueCharts (for plotting cruises) and a older City Navigator. I can download portions of Topo's & portions of the World Map to my nuvi. Without this, Europe and other countries would look like a blur on the nuvi. The Topos look very good on the nuvi, showing trails, streams, elevations, countours... As someone mentioned, MapSource is almost as good as a 19" nuvi. There, (on a pc) you can actually make routes, waypoints, find addresses... ... ...

MapSource is the sole way I made the So. Cal Mountains POI, all on the pc, using Topo 2008. It has lots of different units such as nautical miles, meters... It includes Celestial info for any day.

The key is you need to purchase a MapSource map.

I also use MapSource to backup my Favorites (waypoints) to my hard drive.

I did get the Garmin Map Update 2008 DVD City Nav NT for North Amarica for my nuvi 660 hoping I could load it on my pc. Can't be done, not able to view newer maps on the pc. Pretty sure I would have needed to buy a retail box to see those updated maps.

Like I said - a great little Mapquest. If you have mapsource on your computer, you can update it for free by going to the Help menu, and clicking on update. I still maintain that routing on mapsource is a great little tool, but not uploadable unless you have a 7XX series Nuvi. For non-7XX series Nuvi's, you can upload your favorites, and that is about all........

Joel

I just got my copy of MapSource yesterday. I thought for a while after I installed it that it was of little use also. Then I realized that the routing engine is the same as the Nuvi. I'm working on a trip to Glacier NP for next year. So by creating routes, I can see where the Nuvi would take me in advance. If I don't like it, I create a waypoint to force it to route me different. That will allow me to create a POI file that I can quickly pull up as a next destination while on the trip. Not exactly an uploadable route, but not bad either. I still won't travel without paper maps anyway, so I'll still have a lot of it marked off like I always have.

CaptNorm, you're loading Topo maps? I didn't know they were compatable. I just looked and they will work on the Nuvi. Woo Hoo! Now if it only did cookie trails! If space is an issue, I'm assuming that it'll use an SD card if its there?

Try here.

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/geocoder/

You can do a batch of several hundred at a time (I've used it to create several POIs). You can create a gpx file directly also if you want. The lat. and long. are reversed for creating a csv file. That tripped me up on my first csv POI.

I just got my copy today also and when loading it i need to us my unlock code. question is onec I use it will I have to get another one to put the dvd on my laptop. I haven;t entered the code yet.

Also I thought that you could use it for only way points and favorites. how do you use it to make poi files.

When I tried to create a custom route, it created multiple waypoints as favorites to my nüvi 370. However, you can only insert 1 via waypoint, so it's seems useless.

So that seems all fine. However when you try to use the same 'changed route' in your 6xx, it will not work unless you go from home to the first waypoint and the next waypoint etc, and then make the trip your way.
I wish there was a way to save it such that once you reached the first waypoint, it would automatically start navigating to the next on the route.

You can either punch in the same 25 key unlock code that came on the yellow paper, or even better when you plug the nuvi with the USB into the computer the mapsource will give you an option to copy the code from the unit, and that way there will be no typos.
Tech support suggested I put in codes of both units since I have a 660 and 680

Chuck,

A short time ago I took a few screen shots of old original topos & topo 2008. Click

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6867

Then scroll down to I think thr 8th message, which is also from me.

After using both, I noticed that the gpsvisualizer and the mapsource lats and long's were different so I did a test. I used the gpsvisualizer and it got me to the B of A intersection. The mapsource lat and long got me to the door. Anybody else seen this?