How to get FREE maps for your Garmin GPS

How to get FREE maps for your Garmin GPS
Commercial maps are expensive and can get out of date real fast. And who wants to spring for a whole country map if they're just going on holiday for a week? This Instructable shows how to get pre-compiled FREE maps from OpenStreetMap onto your Garmin GPS.

OpenStreetMap is a global wiki map (think "Wikipedia for maps"). The wiki nerds have produced Garmin-compatible extracts that are available for free. Here's how to enjoy fresh free wiki maps on your GPS.

You will need:

  • An expandable Garmin GPS (one with 'x' in its name or a fancy-pants new model like the ForeRunners or Colorado).
  • A micro-SD memory card.
  • Either a USB connector and Garmin driver software, or a card reader.
 
Remove these adsRemove these ads by Signing Up
 

Step 1Get Maps!

There are lots of places where you can download free, regularly-updated Garmin maps made from OpenStreetMap data. Here are three:

Map company Cloudmade do the whole world. Go to http://downloads.cloudmade.com/ and browse for the region you're interested in. Let's say we're flying to Barbados on holiday: http://downloads.cloudmade.com/north_america/barbados - download the IMG file and unzip it.

The OpenStreetMap project has their own download page here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin. There are lots to choose from including different regions, levels of detail, and styling. Fill your boots, it's all free.

My own Garmin map, which is a routable UK & Eire with extra contour lines (thanks NASA!) updated weekly, is here: http://ravenfamily.org/andyg/maps.

When you've downloaded your map, you should have one file with a .IMG extension.
« Previous StepDownload PDFView All StepsNext Step »
7 comments
Apr 28, 2010. 12:10 PMThe Insomniac says:
 Awesome! I use a Garmin 60csx all the time, but I hate the price Garmin charges for map. But.....
How do you load more than one map at a time? Do I merge the foiles or something? I want to put New Mexico and Colorado topo maps on my GPS. Thanks in advance!
May 18, 2010. 4:10 PMThe Insomniac says:
 Finally got them all on my GPS, but I have to say I never figured out how to properly do it with the Cloudmade ones. For some reason, the files I downloaded from Cloudmade weren't showing up on mapsource.
I ended up using the site www.gpsfiledepot.com
They have very detailed maps that have their own executables also. I used BaseCamp to put them over.
Sep 10, 2009. 5:39 PMItsTheHobbs says:
Awesome! I think mine should be compatible. Those maps are expensive! Like, $70 is what I saw.
Feb 24, 2010. 4:54 PMwbaumgardner says:
Do you happen to know if there are similar web sites where topo maps can be downloaded for use on an eTrex???
Thanx in advance....

Pro

Get More Out of Instructables

Already have an Account?

close

All Steps Viewing
View all steps of an Instructable on the same page when you're a Pro Member.

Upgrade to Pro today!
2
Followers
2
Author:andygates