IMG maps and the file browserPro

Load a custom Garmin map from the Device page. A Garmin draws only the maps loaded on it, so INVIA's Garmin map builder turns your tracks into a Garmin .img file. The factory map thins out off pavement, which is why a map built from your own tracks shows the roads and trails you ride. The Device page writes that file onto the Garmin without you leaving the browser, so building a map and loading it stay one job at one screen.

What a .img file is#

A .img file is Garmin's native map format, which is why the Garmin treats a custom .img the same way it treats a purchased map:

• The Garmin draws it on its own screen.
• You turn it on and off in Map Setup, next to the maps the Garmin came with.
• It works with the routes you send, because the map and the routes sit on the same Garmin.

Load a map onto the device#

1. Connect the Garmin on the Device page.
2. Open the Maps panel, or open the Maps group in Advanced: Device files.
3. Choose Upload a map (.img) to the device.
4. Pick the .img file, and INVIA writes it to the device's map folder.
5. On the Garmin, open Map Setup and enable the map if it is not already on.

You do not pick the folder, because a Zumo, an XT and a Tread read user maps from the MAP folder on internal storage, and that is where INVIA writes.

The map name and its size appear in the Maps panel once the upload finishes, so you can confirm the file landed before you unplug the cable.

If a map does not land, INVIA names the file that failed with Upload failed for and the reason the Garmin gave, so you know which file to send again. Maps go over one at a time, which means one failure does not stop the rest, and the Uploaded N maps to device message that follows counts only the ones that landed. A map that failed never appears in the Maps panel, so there is nothing to undo and no cleanup step, and the fix is to upload that file again.

The map builder's Send to Garmin writes the same file directly, and INVIA re-reads the device afterwards to confirm the file is on it. That saves you a download and an upload, because the map never has to pass through your computer.

Maps already on the device#

The Maps panel is an inventory of every .img installed on the Garmin, each one listed with its size, so you can see what is on the device before you add another map.

The panel lists what is installed and does not draw it, because the web map cannot render Garmin's proprietary format. To see a custom map drawn, enable it in Map Setup on the Garmin.

Press Save a copy to your computer before you delete a map, so you can put that map back later without building it a second time.

After you delete a map:

• The map is no longer listed in the Maps panel.
• The Garmin no longer draws that map.
• The Garmin's other maps stay installed, and your INVIA routes, rides and waypoints are untouched, because the delete removes one file from the device and changes nothing in your library.
• To put the map back, upload the copy you saved to your computer.
• With no copy saved, build the riding area again in the Garmin map builder, which gives you the same kind of file to upload.

Advanced: Device files#

Advanced: Device files is a file manager for the Garmin, so you can reach files the Maps panel does not list, in any folder and at any depth. You can upload a file into any folder you have open, which is how a file goes somewhere the Maps panel does not cover.

Every file carries three actions, so you can deal with what you find without unplugging the Garmin:

• Import, labelled Import into your INVIA library, which appears on a GPX and on a FIT file and takes a GPX into your library.
• Download to computer, which saves the file as it is on the Garmin.
• Delete, which removes that file from the Garmin.

Import takes a GPX into your INVIA library and opens the usual save dialog, so the ride is yours to name and keep. Ask to import a FIT file and INVIA saves a copy to your computer instead and says Downloaded: with the file name, because a FIT file does not go into the library. A GPX that holds only saved places and no track goes straight into your waypoint library rather than opening the ride save dialog, so the places arrive without a ride attached.

The browser works the same across all three ways of connecting, WebUSB, Bridge and Drive, so the folders and the actions do not change when you connect the Garmin a different way.

What the panel says while you browse:

Deleting a waypoint file#

Garmin stores waypoints inside files rather than one at a time, so deleting a waypoint file from the device takes every waypoint in that file off the Garmin.

• The file is no longer listed in Advanced: Device files.
• Your INVIA waypoint library still holds every waypoint, because deleting a file on the device never deletes anything in INVIA.
• To put those waypoints back on the Garmin, send them to the device again from your INVIA waypoint library.