Garmin Nuvi 2597LMT Maps

Hello, can anyone step me through the process of downloading the maps to the Nuvi 2597LMT please.
I have downloaded the zip for Austria as a trial.
Here is what I have done:I have unzip the file and saved in mydocs ( windows 10 ).
It comes up as a CD disc image file ?? however it is gmapsupp.img.
I then sent it to the GPS directly by selecting send…it apperaed to load it directly the Nuvi…
But I can’t see where ???

I have only Australian and New Zealand maps installed.
Trying to install the Austrian and UK maps.
Thanks in Advance,
Laurie

Yes, the gmapsupp.img is the right file, don’t need to click on it, windows does not know what kind of format this is and calls it CD image file.
You have to store it a folder called Map on your device or on SD card.

Hello ligfietser,
thanks for the reply.
here’s what I have done…
I have sent the file to the nuvi.
opened the nuvi and found the maps file.
Internal Storage- Themes File - Maps file .
The .img file is now in the Maps folder.
This folder has a lot of KTMF. files including one for Austria, but they look very small indeed , only 10.7 KB.
So its sitting there and now what ?
It is not in my maps , so must be another step to open it on the actual unit and use it to navigate.
Unfortunately I don’t have a mini SD card, but will have to go buy one if this doesn’t work.
I’m retired and don’t have a lot of time left, 1-35 years.
And not interested in paying out lots of money for a map.
I can almost buy a new or good used GPS from UK or Europe with maps installed for the same price ( or less )
Thanks again in advance helping a raw beginner, but I do like to persevere and learn new stuff.
Laurie

I am not familiar with that nuvi but I think the maps don’t belong in the themes/maps folder.
They need to be stored in a folder called map and not in that subfolder of the themes (ktmf files are themes files that can be used to change the map appearance, you can ignore those).

Hope this will help! I posted it on a trucker’s forum… it may seem a bit simpiistic but follow it and all will be fine.

OSM maps use in Garmin satnav

Postby jessejazza » Mon Feb 12, 2018 2:52 am
[Pics will have to be by direct link - Photobucket seems to be having problems again despite the ‘fix’ add-on].

Using OSM maps (OpenStreet map data http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/)) I think I should explain that this is a community project and folk all over the world contribute to updating maps. These are checked by area reps in different countries - Garmin and TomTom would claim their maps are better… and that’s why you pay for them! Being a Linux Xubuntu user (last used windows in 2007) I tend to believe in community projects and OSM will not disappoint. I think they are only available for Garmin but if you have a TomTom device with an sd-card slot then it may work. These maps are for a car satnav. You could try the maps on a truck satnav (in car mode) using the sd-card as below but I’ve not tried it.

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 52LM in 2014 (have tried a later model but had to send it back with a faulty power button and so stayed with the old faithful) when I started van driving, and could not update maps as I was not a windows user. A friend updated the maps on his windows laptop for me and it took about 4 hours with the Garmin Express programme. What a pain and then I found out about OSM - downloaded the map, installed it on an sd-card, took about 30 mins and little hassle. The procedure below will not over write any orignal Garmin data/operating system - as you are only putting a map on the sd-card which the device kindly reads FIRST and loads before looking at the maps on the device. You could put several countries maps on the sd-card (but rename the different maps - I just leave mine as it is gmapsupp.img as I have only used the UK map. You can add POI but I don’t bother. For multi-drop I find the Garmin excellent with the 2D plan view selected rather than 3D as it is useful to look at the surrounding road names… but I have the truck satnav app on the phone for route planning, bridges and weight limits.

So follow the procedure below and I hope you find it worthwhile. Certainly save you time compared with Garmin Express and you can update monthly (25th of each month approx they are available).

  • make a directory on the PC for downloading the map zip file to - I use satnav-zip… and a sub directory for each months download date e.g. 31jan18. I keep the previous month there just in case the new download is corrupted somehow and I’ve got to reload (but never been the case).
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/ekMnXp9OlRDLAvFl2

  • take the micro sd-card in the adaptor and format it in the card reader on the PC to FAT32. Afterwards create a directory ‘garmin’ - in lower case (because the maps on the device are stored in ‘Garmin’) and you want the device to load the sd-card map. I use an older sd-card that’s only 4gb but if you are buying new you’ll probably have to have a larger 32gb+ as that’s all that’s available now. Even if new I’d recommend formatting to check for errors.

  • place the sd-card in the garmin and plug in to the PC. You should get similar to the following in your file directory. The Garmin hard drive mounted and the sd-card aswell. You can see the file structure of the device but I wouldn’t meddle with the directory content.
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/Cx14Ukzj66exQ7Ar2
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/1gbkeQIGZ7W8iUyt1

  • to select the map go to http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/ and you should see
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/wiNN6BlnrhpGPW6z2

There is a choice of Generic routable and Generic routable (new style). I use the former as I have an older device. I did try the ‘new style’ and it didn’t work as well. With a newer device it may be better.

Select Generic routable, from Europe pull down select UK, and then ‘download map now!’ (don’t select TYP or anything else)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZBL0R72IeKz25KqF2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8xHk3UKTdFrrkkwR2

select osm_generic_gmapsupp.img to download to satnav-zip/31jan18 directory. Best early morning w/e as evenings can be slow. Extract to the same directory and you have your map ‘gmapsupp.img’.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jkHy9c0ysOonT6s52

  • copy ‘gmapsupp.img’ to the sd-card directory ‘garmin’ and all ready to use. Unmount the device directories and remove Garmin from PC.

Sorry if this seems “long winded” but I don’t want anyone to mess up their device. For following months I just delete the old file using the File Manager with Edit->Delete (not the keyboard ‘delete’ key as this does delete but also creates a trash file on the sd-card which you don’t want), and copy over the new gmapsupp.img. About once a year I format the sd-card just to check for errors. In multi-drop jobs doing 30-40 drops per day - OSM has never let me down except for new build areas which haven’t had road names or postcodes assigned.