Activating an OpenStreetMap map on a Garmin drive

Help and support
1

Hello,
I have downloaded the South Korea map to my Garmin Drive and saved it on the microSD card. However, I can’t find it. Only the pre-installed maps can be found in “my maps”.
Garmin support can’t help either - they referred me here instead. Does anyone have any idea how I can activate this?
Thank you very much
Tina

2

Where and what did you downloaded?
What name you give the file on your Garmin.
See also: How To Install Free Maps on Garmin GPS (OpenStreetMap) - No Place Like Outside

1 Like
3

hi there,
Thank you for your reply.

I downloaded the South Korea map from this page.
https://garmin.opentopomap.org/#asia

I did not rename the file at all. On the memory card it can be seen under the name “otm-south-korea”, the name is “Data carrier image file” (Datenträgerdatei).

Basically, I proceeded intuitively as in the attached link. However, when I then go to the “Map display” and “My maps” directory, I only see the pre-installed CN Europe NTU maps.

4

You can try to change the map name into gmapsupp.img but normally it has to work, just try it out with a map from the site you where using.

5

Unfortunately no success. I tried another card, but this one is also not visible. No matter whether I copy it to the SD card or to the system.

6

What is the name of the pre-installed CN Europe NTU map ?

1 Like
7

There are four:

CN Europe NTU

2023.10 POIs

CN Europe NTU

2023.10 QALL South

CN Europe NTU

2023.10 ALL North

CN Europe NTU

2023.10 Fourthsquare

8

Do the map names end in .img?

1 Like
9

You mean the pre-installed maps? Strangely enough, they have no extension in the directory, but are named as KMTF files.
The downloaded (unzipped) files from garmin.opentopomap.org also have no extension.
Renaming with .img does not work.

10

There was something a bit different on my Garmin DriveSmart, but my memory is a bit fuzzy. The directory that it needs to go in is a ‘hidden’ directory, “.system” or something like that. Enable show hidden files in your file manager.

1 Like
11

Could not find any hidden files anyway. The only file where shown in my cards are those four Europe NTU cards.

Guess I have to navigate without Garmin in South Korea - leaving on monday :frowning:

12

Which GPS device do you have?

13

I’ve assumed a Garmin Drive of some sort.

14

I should have known that Garmin Drive is just a device name but was on the Google drive path…

Here somebody on a Garmin Drive with instructions:

  • Create a folder on your SD memory card called “GARMIN” and place the file gmapsupp.img into that directory. The filename is not important, so long as the “img” file extension is preserved. Multiple map files can be placed in this folder.
  • Insert the SD card into the Garmin device and hold the power button for 10 seconds to restart.
  • In the Garmin’s settings, choose “Maps” and enable all maps called OSM Generic Routable.
1 Like
15

That process sounds the same as for Garmin Nuvi devices (a previous series of Garmin sat-navs), and also the same as numerous other devices (many etrex and GPSMAP devices), so I strongly suspect that any instructions targetting those will also work for at least some Garmin Drive devices.