How to Update Garmin Maps?

Todays’ article is about how to update Garmin maps. To get the Garmin Map Updates, use the Garmin Express application. Through the Garmin Express, one can easily update the Garmin Map whenever they are available. From the Garmin website, one can easily download the software.

1. To begin the process, attach your Garmin device with your system with the help of USB cable.
2. After this, the Garmin device will show the Garmin logo and indicates that the connection has got established successfully.
3. Sometimes, the system requires rebooting before installing the new Garmin Map Updates.
4. After the rebooting gets completed, then double click on the Garmin Agent icon in the computer system.
5. Now, the available Garmin Map Updates will appear on the screen.
6. The users can also see the firmware Garmin GPS update.
7. According to the requirement, select the Garmin Map update package.
8. Once after selecting the map, the user will be redirected to the Garmin Map download page showing the product key for the Garmin GPS update.
9. Now click on the download button and download the latest available Garmin software update for the device.
10. After this, install the latest Garmin update available for the device.
11. At last, unplug the cable and disconnect the device from the system.
12. Installing free maps on Garmin GPS
13. Once your map is downloaded and installed, you’re all set to install them on your GPS unit.
14. Connect your Garmin GPS unit to your computer and make sure it’s on. Give it a minute or two to load and register with the computer.
15. Load the Garmin MapInstall application. It should show your GPS unit in the top box. Hit continue.
16. MapInstall will show you what maps you have installed already (if any), what’s on your computer, and how much room you have on your device (at the bottom). Click on the maps you want to install while watching the space on your device. My eTrex 20x has 3.7gb of internal memory, no need to add a MicroSD card. Click “send maps.”
17. Now you wait. It can take a while for the maps to load onto your device. Don’t do this if you’re in a rush.
18. Now confirm that the maps are loaded. Go into your settings for maps and poke around. The process is different for different units, but you should be able to see something like this. Boom! Maps! Enjoy the maps on your Garmin GPS. And if there is too much detail or the map rendering seems slow, go to settings and try decreasing the detail level.

Installing free Garmin maps on the computer

1. First is a 7z extractor. The map downloads are in 7z format, which is a fancy compressed ZIP file. Download and install this program. There are also other free and paid 7z options in the Mac App Store.
2. Then download the free Garmin MapInstall and MapManager programs. They make installing the maps easy and non-technical.
3. Once you download the map file, open it with your 7z application. It will unzip the files and put them into a folder.
4. After unzipping, you’ll have a few files in the folder. Double-click on the large file with the “gmap” extension on the end.
5. That should launch Garmin MapManager, which will ask you if you want to install the maps. Hit “yes” and it will copy the maps into your Garmin directory. When you’re finished, delete the map download and the unzipped folder.

How to Install New Garmin GPS Device on Mac?

So Garmin changed the way that GPS devices communicate with computers. If you have Windows, you should be all good (see below). If you have Mac, there’s a wrinkle.

Garmin switched to the MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) to transfer files, which makes the Garmin appear as a “media device.” And of course, Apple doesn’t support it. But I’ve found a solution. It’s not the most graceful one in the world, but it works (confirmed on a Fenix 5x Plus).

1. Get your maps from here: https://garmin.com/
2. The site will send you an email with a download link.
3. Download the ZIP file that is described as a “Compressed file that contains a single image that can be placed directly onto the SD-card of the GPS.”
4. Unzip the file. You should have a file with a “.img” extension.
5. Now we need to connect the Garmin to the computer. Download the free Android File Transfer program from Google. Install it on your machine as per the instructions.
6. If you have Garmin Express running, make sure it’s not running and you have disabled any “automatically launch when the device is connected” settings.
7. Plugin your Garmin to the computer and launch the Android File Transfer program.
8. Simply drag the “.img” file that you downloaded into the Garmin folder. You might want to rename the “.img” file to make sure it doesn’t whack any maps already on there.
9. Go to your map settings and turn the OSM map on and off.

So, these were the steps involved in the updation of the Garmin GPS map.