How to download free OSM maps for Garmin Edge – for ANY country

Need to download a free Garmin map for another country? No problem! A lot of people have found my video tutorial on how to install a free OSM map (open streetmap) on a Garmin edge bike computer. The example in my tutorial was for a UK map, but what if you live somewhere else? Maybe you’re going abroad and need a map for another country, or maybe you want to be selective about which regions you include, and which you exclude. This can affect the performance of the map, so it pays to keep file sizes small if you can.

How to download free OSM maps for virtually any country, for your Garmin Edge bike GPS.

All the magic happens here – http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

#Make sure you select “Routable Bicycle” from the top set of options (boxed in red, in the image below)

#Select which regions you want

You can either do this by choosing the dropdown lists from the continent lists, or by manually choosing which particular tiles you want. A tile is a square or rectangular chunk of the map. In the example below, I chose United Kingdom, from the “Europe” dropdown list, then ticked the box to manually select which tiles I wanted. Just click to select/de-select each tile. By de-selecting most of the UK tiles, I was able to narrow it down to the two tiles which cover 95% of my riding. This will keep the overall file size as small as possible.

#Type your email in the box and click the “Build my map” button

After you complete this step, you’ll get an email with a link to a status page. This page will tell you how long you’re going to have to wait. In my case, it was 4.6 hours, as there were 46 others in the queue before me. Sounds like my local Subway.

#When it’s done, download the gmapsupp.Zip file

The link in your email will take you to a page with several files, as in the shot below. Just click on the one that says “gmapsupp.zip” at the end of the filename, to download it to a place where you’ll be able to access it later, like your My Docs folder, or the desktop. Wherever… just remember where you put it.

Download the gmapsupp.img

Incidentally, if you use the Garmin Mapsource program, this download screen also includes a link to the MapSource installer for your free OSM map, so this could be useful to you. It also includes the link to the BaseCamp/RoadTrip files for Mac OSX users too.

#Extract the img file

You can’t just copy the zip file to the Garmin. The zip file contains the actual file you need. It’s like a big tupperware jar, sealing that fresh map inside. So, extract the img file to a convenient location, like your Desktop. Double clicking on the zip file should let you see the img file inside, and from there you should be able to copy or extract it. Try right-clicking on the zip file and seeing what options come up, if you’re not sure what to do. When I right-click on my zip file, it gives me the option to “Extract here”. This creates the gmapsupp.img file for you, alongside the zip file.

Extract the img file from the zip

#Rename the file if you already have maps on your card

This is important! If you already have a map on your card called gmapsupp.img, you would potentially overwrite it if you copied the new file over to the card. The solution is to rename it first. To do that, just right-click> Rename, or if you’re a keyboard shortcut kind of person, hit F2 with the file selected (on Windows anyway…). Keep the filename short and simple.

#Connect your Garmin via USB and transfer the img file to the SD card

Now that you have the img file ready to go, just connect your Edge unit via a USB data cable. When you plug it in, you should see two possible locations appear – one for the internal memory of the device, and one for the SD card. The internal memory will be the smaller of the two, at around 105Mb.  Navigate to the SD card and go into the folder called Garmin. Copy your new img file into this folder, either by copy/paste or just drag and drop it in there.

SD card & Garmin internal memory

 #Disconnect and restart your Garmin device

Once the file has copied over, disconnect the USB cable, then restart the unit. The boot up procedure will detect the new map on the card.

#Enable the map

To use the new map, you need to enable it.

Edge 800: go Spanner > System > Map > Map Information Select Map > then choose your map and click the Enable option Edge 810: Activity Profiles > Your profile name > Navigation > Map > Map Information Select Map > then choose your map and click the Enable option

#That’s it, now go and ride your bike!

The OSM map is fully routable and contains thousands of POI (points of interest) to navigate to. If you need help with how to navigate courses successfully using the Edge 800, you’re in the right place. Check out the ScarletFire FoolProof guide. It’s helped thousands of people and it’s FREE.

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