Builder: layers and inputs

A Garmin shows the map that is loaded on it. INVIA's map builder turns your routes into a custom Garmin .img map file, so the routes you planned are on the device itself.

The .img file is a transparent overlay, which means the Garmin draws it on top of its own map instead of replacing it, so you keep the device's roads and terrain underneath your tracks. INVIA sends the file to the Garmin from the browser, so nothing has to be installed on your computer first.

The builder lives under Maps, in the Map Library: Build custom maps from GPX tracks and send to your Garmin device.

One layer, one map file#

One layer becomes one map file on the Garmin. You show or hide each map file on the device, so the way you group tracks into layers decides what you can turn on and off out on the trail.

The builder states the model on screen: Each layer = one map file on your Garmin (show/hide it on the device). Put as many GPX tracks in a layer as you like. Where layers overlap, the higher layer draws on top. Each layer shows N trk → 1 map so you can see what it will produce before you build.

Drag a layer card up or down to change the stack order, because where two layers cover the same ground the higher one draws on top.

Which tracks get built#

A layer only becomes a map file when at least one track in it has its checkbox ticked, because the build takes the ticked tracks and leaves the rest out. A track you untick stays in your design and is left out of the build, so it is not drawn on the Garmin. A layer whose tracks are all unticked, or that holds no tracks at all, produces no map file, which means nothing for that layer reaches the Garmin.

Getting tracks in#

Four controls put content into a map design, and which one you reach for depends on where the tracks are now.

• Drop GPX or Garmin .img files here. Drag a file from your computer onto the builder.
• Library pulls in your saved Routes, Rides, Collections and Waypoints with Add to {layer}, so anything already in INVIA goes in without a file.
• Device lists the .img maps already on a connected Garmin under Maps on Device.
• Add Waypoint drops a named pin on the map. Drag a pin to move it, and click a pin to rename it.

Dropping a .img file#

A .img file you already have is decoded back into its tracks and waypoints. Both land in the builder, which is how you edit a map you built earlier rather than building the design a second time.

What Library brings with it#

Importing a route brings that route's waypoints, and importing a collection brings every member's waypoints and the collection's own pins, so your stops arrive with the lines rather than being added by hand.

Maps on Device#

Maps on Device lists the .img map files found on the connected Garmin, so you can work with the maps already on the device rather than only the design open in the builder.

• Load reads one map off the Garmin and adds its tracks and waypoints to your design, which is the way back into a map whose design you no longer have.
• The trash icon deletes that map file from the Garmin, so you can clear space for the next one.

Removing a map deletes the file from the Garmin, not from INVIA. INVIA asks you to confirm first, so nothing is deleted until you confirm. Once you do:

• The map disappears from the Maps on Device list.
• Your routes, rides, waypoints and saved map designs are still in INVIA.
• The Garmin's own base map is not touched, so the device still shows its roads and terrain.
• To put the map back, open its design in the Map Library and send it again.

Styling#

Set these three on a layer, so every track in that layer is drawn the same way.

• Style: Arrows, which draws chevrons along the line so you can read the direction of travel, or Solid, a plain line.
• Width: a number from 5 to 31, so the route you are following can be drawn heavier than the tracks around it.
• Direction: → Fwd or ← Rev, which turns the arrows the other way. Direction can also be set on a single track, for a track that runs against the rest of the layer.

A Garmin draws seven colors natively: Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. You choose from those seven, so what you pick is what the Garmin shows rather than the nearest color it can manage.

Select recolors many tracks at once, so a folder of imported tracks becomes readable in a few clicks. Every track you select takes the new color, and tracks you did not select keep the color they had.

Where two tracks in a layer share the same road, Color priority, top wins overlaps decides the color, because the Garmin can draw only one line along that stretch.

• The lower color is trimmed where the two tracks share the road, so you see one color there instead of two.
• Both tracks are still in the layer and both are still built.
• To change the winner, reorder the priority list.

Styling and options.

Options#

• Pins on map (.img) bakes your waypoints into the map file as pins with names, so there is no second file to send.
• Device GPX (real symbols) writes a companion waypoints file, which makes your pins real, searchable Garmin waypoints with proper symbols rather than marks drawn on the map.
• What's a Garmin map (.img)? opens a short explainer on the page.

Which map file the pins go in#

Baked pins are written into one map file only, the highest layer set to Arrows, so with several layers the pins arrive with that map and are missing from the others. Turn on Device GPX (real symbols) as well to get the pins as Garmin waypoints of their own, because that companion file loads them into the device rather than into one map.

When every layer being built is set to Solid, INVIA turns Pins on map (.img) off and greys the option out, because a solid line cannot carry the pins. The hint on the option reads Pins need the Arrows line style on at least one layer, so set one layer to Arrows to get the pins back.

Output#

• Download .img saves one layer to your computer, which is what you want when you are copying the file across yourself.
• Download N layers (.zip) saves several layers at once, plus the companion {name}_waypoints.gpx, so the pins go with the maps.
• Send to Garmin writes the map to the connected Garmin, so there is no file to move by hand.
• Save Map keeps the design in your Map Library, so the work survives closing the page.

What a send does#

A send runs four steps, and INVIA checks the result rather than leaving you to go looking for the file.

1. Choose internal storage or the SD card.
2. INVIA builds each layer.
3. INVIA writes the .img to the Garmin's map folder and the GPX to its GPX folder.
4. INVIA re-reads the Garmin and confirms every file landed: Sent "{name}" to {folder} on {storage}, confirmed.

What Save Map keeps#

Save Map keeps the layers, the tracks, the waypoints and the options, so opening the design later gives you the map you had rather than a fresh start. Built files are cached, which means resending an unchanged map is quick.

Outputs and limits.

Rules the builder enforces#

A layer holds at most 30 tracks#

A layer holds at most 30 tracks, so a layer holding more stops the build before anything is written. INVIA shows Layer "{name}" has N tracks (max 30 per layer). Split it into more layers.

The limit counts the ticked tracks only, because those are the ones that go into the map file. Unticking the tracks you do not need this time brings the layer under the limit, and splitting it does the same.

• No map file is built and nothing reaches the Garmin.
• Every layer, track and waypoint in your design is still there, so there is nothing to rebuild.
• Split the layer. Press + Add Layer and drag tracks into the new layer, then build again.

Every layer needs a name#

Name every layer before you build more than one, because each layer becomes its own map on the Garmin and the name is how you tell those maps apart on the device.

• INVIA stops the build and no map file is written.
• Your design is unchanged and every track is still in its layer.
• Type a name into each unnamed layer, then build again.

When the map service is unreachable#

Building and sending run on INVIA's map service, so when that service is unreachable a card replaces the builder and reads:

• Map builder unavailable
• The map-building service isn't reachable right now.
• Your saved maps are safe, try again in a bit.

Your saved map designs are not lost. They are still in your Map Library, and the maps you already sent still work, because a map on the Garmin does not need the service. Press Retry on the card to try the service again.

What is Pro#

Browsing, creating, editing and saving a map design are free on every account. You can put the whole design together and decide about Pro when you want the map file itself.

Three things are Pro, and on an account without it each one shows Offline maps are a Pro feature.

• Building the .img file.
• Downloading it.
• Sending it to the Garmin.

Your design is untouched when that message appears, so it stays in your Map Library and you can keep editing it.