Garmin City Navigator NT Europe 2009 is out

cormie · 24-10-2008 11:00pm

What's this mapsource malarky and how would it benefit Garmin users?

coylemj · 24-10-2008 11:09pm

Mapsource is a PC program which allows you to read and write to and from the Garmin GPS unit, you can save your favourites (waypoints) on the PC and you can create new favourites and routes and write them to the Garmin eTrex or Nuvi.

The most basic version of Mapsource is on a CD called 'Trips and Waypoint manager' which used to come free with Garmin GPS units but is now sold seperately. If the map upgrade process detects a copy of Mapsource on your PC while upgrading an attached GPS it will store a copy of the new maps on your PC.

cormie · 24-10-2008 11:52pm

you can do all that with the unit itself though, right? Is it just to have the interface on your pc?

coylemj · 25-10-2008 12:02am

Yes but it's a helluva lot easier to store new waypoints by clicking on the map on the PC, then storing them into the unit. On the Nuvi 2xx series you can't modify an existing waypoint, you can really only edit the name and symbol but if you have Mapsource on the PC you can upload all your waypoints, edit them to your hearts content and then save them back to the unit.

cormie · 25-10-2008 12:10am

When you say waypoint, do you mean, a stop off on route to a destination?

As in Dublin - Kildare - Cork, Kildare is the waypoint? Or are they all waypoints? :pac: Never had the need to need to edit them myself, I just create routes as I need them. One thing I haven't needed to do yet is go to several destinations in order of which is closest, I'm pretty sure it's possible with my nuvi 260, but have never seen the option.

coylemj · 25-10-2008 12:23am

On the original Garmin eTrex units a location that you stored was known as a waypoint, the intention being that you would take a route that involved going from one waypoint to the next and so on until you reached the last waypoint which was your destination, all this was before the units had the capability to do the navigation for you. On the auto models a waypoint is called a favourite, it's just terminology.

cormie · 25-10-2008 12:31am

Thanks

Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything that would greatly improve ease of navigating/planning routes, but with the nuvi 760, don't think I really am..

Alun · 25-10-2008 11:09am

coylemj wrote: »

Just finished upgrading my friend's Nuvi 250 to 2009 maps and it also installed the upgrade to my laptop version of Mapsource - woohoo!

Donations please to the following bank account ....

Big downside - it upgraded Mapsource to 6.14.1 which looks nice (3D effect) but is a complete dog on performance. Fortunately I have the 6.13.7 upgrader so am going to go back as soon as I'm brave enough, there's a small risk that 6.13.7 won't be able to handle the 2009 maps, any opinions on this?

Well, one of Garmin's suggestions as to why I couldn't install the 2009 maps to my existing Mapsource 6.13.7 installation was that I needed the latest version to be able to read them. Make of that what you will.

In any case I 've just built a brand new 3.0GHz Core2Duo machine with 4Gb memory, and installed 6.14.1 on it, so can't (don't want to) test downgrading 6.13.7 onto it as it performs quite nicely on that machine

.

Can't see much additional stuff in 2009 maps, Gorey bypass is in, Carlow bypass is not, M6 westbound now goes to Kilbeggan instead of Tyrellspass - it actually now goes to Athlone - but didn't expect that to be updated.

Yes, a little disappointing altogether. You do get all the (partly wrong!) speed limits I mentioned in a previous post which is something I suppose.

One rather annoying thing is that literally days after the new release coming out, I've been bombarded (well, not quite!) with emails from Navteq informing me that the errors I'd reported back in December 2007 have finally been approved for inclusion in the next set of maps :cool:

cormie · 25-10-2008 11:21am

I wonder have the new maps corrected some of the errors of sending you down one way/inaccessable streets in Dublin City? I got sent arseways yesterday from point 1 to 2 here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=53.332232000000005,-6.264514+(1)&daddr=53.348112,-6.262003+(2)&ie=UTF8&z=14 on my Nuvi 260.

I just tried the "get route" function on the link above and it's pretty much the direction I ended up taking, including U turns, which is brilliant compared to what the Nuvi told me to do. I don't think the Nuvi has ever had a U turn in a route for me

coylemj · 25-10-2008 11:22am

Alun wrote: »

One rather annoying thing is that literally days after the new release coming out, I've been bombarded (well, not quite!) with emails from Navteq informing me that the errors I'd reported back in December 2007 have finally been approved for inclusion in the next set of maps :cool:

Yes, I reported a closed filling station to Navteq in Feb 2008 and they acknowledged it in July but it's still in the 2009 maps. We're not talking about one of the filling stations that closed in the past couple of years, this is a place that stopped selling petrol nearly 10 years ago - Windsor Motors in Deansgrange, now selling cars only.

coylemj · 25-10-2008 11:24am

cormie wrote: »

I just tried the "get route" function on the link above and it's pretty much the direction I ended up taking, including U turns, which is brilliant compared to what the Nuvi told me to do. I don't think the Nuvi has ever had a U turn in a route for me

Check the 'Navigation' settings in the Nuvi and then click on 'Avoidances', you'll see that 'U-Turns' is ticked by default so it will not give you a route that involves a U-Turn unless you unselect that option.

cormie · 25-10-2008 11:44am

Didn't have U turns selected, had to double check to make sure and with U turns selected and not selected it sent me on a much longer route than the link above and it still gave me directions through inaccessible streets

Columba Rad · 25-10-2008 4:47pm

I have the Nüvi 310 and just bought the G/F the Nüvi 250 today. She got a 10% discount code, so I was gonna use it to buy the City Navigator® Europe NT 2009 Map Update for my Nüvi 310, but is it worth it?

It'll cost me € 68.08 with the 10% discount. I bought my Nüvi 310 in May 2007.

coylemj · 25-10-2008 5:59pm

Have you registered the 310 already? If not then you may be the user we're looking for, I can advise you how to make the unit look like it was first used last week and you'll then qualify for ta free upgrade.

Let me know if you have already registered it on the Garmin website.

Columba Rad · 25-10-2008 6:06pm

I registered the 310 last year.

coylemj · 25-10-2008 6:22pm

Doh!

ian_m · 25-10-2008 9:35pm

The differences I noticed after upgrading were the N6 motorway upgrade and the Gorey by-pass. Not much around Dublin. M50 seems the same.

Do-more · 25-10-2008 10:13pm

Columba Ra'd wrote: »

I have the Nüvi 310 and just bought the G/F the Nüvi 250 today. She got a 10% discount code, so I was gonna use it to buy the City Navigator® Europe NT 2009 Map Update for my Nüvi 310, but is it worth it?

It'll cost me € 68.08 with the 10% discount. I bought my Nüvi 310 in May 2007.

Might be better to use the discount code for the new lifetime maps if you intend keeping your 310 for a few years.

Garmin are completing their map offering with the "Lifetime Maps" program announced at the Mondial 2008 car show in Paris today. It is due to launch on October 15th and for $119 (€119 in Europe), subscribers will be able to download quarterly updates for their GPS system as long as they own it."

coylemj · 27-10-2008 11:36pm

coylemj wrote: »

Good thinking Robin, I did just that and this is what happened.

The unit was first used on August 23rd, I changed this to Sept 20th. I plugged the unit into my laptop and edited the XML file in place. I then went straight to the Garmin website and registered the unit. It recognised the unit and said that I was entitled to a free upgrade up to Nov 20th, it didn't actually acknowledge the 'first fix' date it read from the device.

Aug. 23rd (real date) to Nov. 20th is 89 days
Sept. 20th (doctored date) to Nov. 20th is 61 days

So I'd say the edit worked but we'd need to find out if someone with a unit that was just over 61 days got rejected in order to be sure.

I just checked on myGarmin and when I click on myProducts and then my friends Nuvi 250, it says "First Satellite Acquired: Sep 21, 2008" so the doctoring trick with the xml editor worked!

dabbler2004 · 28-10-2008 3:54pm

coylemj wrote: »

I just checked on myGarmin and when I click on myProducts and then my friends Nuvi 250, it says "First Satellite Acquired: Sep 21, 2008" so the doctoring trick with the xml editor worked!

I bought my nuvi200 in September and registered online in October, the first satellite acquired date (in mygarmin) is the day I registered online and not when the unit was first used...I didn't edit any xml files as I was entitled to the upgrade anyway.

coylemj · 28-10-2008 7:15pm

dabbler2004 wrote: »

I bought my nuvi200 in September and registered online in October, the first satellite acquired date (in mygarmin) is the day I registered online and not when the unit was first used...I didn't edit any xml files as I was entitled to the upgrade anyway.

Was the unit connected to your PC when you were registering? If you have the Communicator plugin installed and the unit connected up then it's able to read the first fix date direct from the unit. If you didn't have the unit connected then it probably just takes the registration date as the date of first fix.

eirman · 28-10-2008 8:45pm

I checked the Garmin/navteq websites and it appears that the M1 from north of Dundalk to just south of Newry is not on the 2009 maps. Could someone with the 2009 maps comfirm this. Thanks

If it is not there I will definitely wait for the lifetime mapping option.

Alun · 28-10-2008 8:50pm

eirman wrote: »

I checked the Garmin/navteq websites and it appears that the M1 from north of Dundalk to just south of Newry is not on the 2009 maps. Could someone with the 2009 maps comfirm this. Thanks

If it is not there I will definitely wait for the lifetime mapping option.

It's there alright, except it's not the M1, but the N1 from that point on (still 120km/h though).

eirman · 28-10-2008 9:32pm

Are you sure it's there? Have a look at http://maps.google.com - You will see that the M1 is a new motorway running almost parallel to the old newry-dundalk road (the N1). It's marked as the M1 all the way into NI until it joins the A1 just south of Newry.

To confuse matters there is another M1 running west from Belfast !!!

coylemj · 28-10-2008 11:29pm

It's a fair point, the new main road north of Dundalk is marked as the N1 on the Garmin 2009 maps, the old road was called the N1 on the 2008 maps but on the 2009 version is now the R132.

The old main road used to become the A1 north of the border but now it's called the B113.

If the road is called the M1 on Google maps it's probably because the minister has signed the order changing the speed limit to 120 kph. The same thing happened with the Kilbeggan to Athlone stretch of the M6, it originally opened as a brand new stretch of motorway with blue motorway signage but with 100 kph speed limit signs. After about two months the minister signed an order increasing the speed limit to 120 kph.

I suspect the Garmin 2009 maps went to press after the N1 opened but before the speed limit was increased to 120 kph and that's why it's marked as the N1 instead of the M1.

Bottom Line: the 2009 maps have the new road but it's marked as the N1.

eirman · 28-10-2008 11:41pm

You're missing my main point - The N1 is still there as it has been for many years - The M1 is brand new and runs alongside the N1

There are now two roads from dundalk to newry

I want to know if they are both on the latest Navteq Maps

Alun · 29-10-2008 10:55am

eirman wrote: »

You're missing my main point - The N1 is still there as it has been for many years - The M1 is brand new and runs alongside the N1

There are now two roads from dundalk to newry

I want to know if they are both on the latest Navteq Maps

YES, although they're marked as the N1 and R132 (A1 B113 north of the border).

coylemj · 29-10-2008 11:31am

N1 and A1 being the new road and the old N1/A1 is now the R132/B113.

eirman · 29-10-2008 2:05pm

So google have it wrong! - Thanks for clarifying that

dabbler2004 · 29-10-2008 3:52pm

coylemj wrote: »

Was the unit connected to your PC when you were registering? If you have the Communicator plugin installed and the unit connected up then it's able to read the first fix date direct from the unit. If you didn't have the unit connected then it probably just takes the registration date as the date of first fix.

I don't think I connected the unit till after I had registered but am not 100% sure......I didn't add any plugins what exactly is the Communicator plug in used for?

Garmin City Navigator NT Europe 2009 is out

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