If you are using a Garmin GPS unit in your Vanagon or Vanagon Westy you might find this info of use. The current map update for North America, NT 2009.11, drops/deletes many, many small towns (and I don't know what other data, some side roads too that I have found) from the database. If you, like many one these list, prefer to drive the 'Blue Highways' you will find that many of the little towns, that frequently are attractions, are gone from your GPS. And, if you load the new version, 2009.11, you will not be able to 'go back' to the previous setup in any simple manner. The new file is actually bigger than the previous one so I assume there are more POIs in it but if finding banks and fast food restaurants is less than critical and actual road info and towns along the way are important to you I'd advise NOT upgrading to 209.11. How did I run into this? Well, about two months ago I acquired an Garmin Streetpilot 7200, the one with the big screen. And with the exception of the subject here and only using it on a couple of short trips, I like it so far. When you first get the unit there is a setup procedure using the supplied CD that loads mapping software onto your computer (Map Source) and a procedure in the setup that loads the detail maps onto the GPS unit. Then a registration and 'unlocking' procedure for the map. At that point Garmin offered a free update to 2009.11 which I downloaded and followed the procedure to load it onto the GPS unit and unlock it. All went well, no problems. But then I noticed on the mapping program on my computer that I now had both versions, 2009 and 2009.11 available, I could choose between them, one or the other. When I did I noticed a difference in the screen appearance, the little black dots for small towns were about half as dense in the new version. Zooming in and switching between the two version showed small towns missing. As a test I searched for a ghost town outside Parker, Az. that I'm familiar with, Swansea. I have used Swansea as a test in several GPS units and software packages, it's the kind of place I want to go to. It was there in the earlier map, gone in the new version. So I tried to repeat the initial setup hoping it would restore my GPS unit to the original. But to do that I was required to use a storage card thus eating up storage I wanted for POI files and music. This led me to some online research and search for support groups. I found zero discussion on the subject. So I joined a Garmin GPS Yahoo! group and posted my questions and concern there and got some response. Email to Garmin support produced useless and disappointing responses. But the moderator of the Yahoo! group jumped in, he is a Garmin vendor and had the right contacts. The result was a DVD from Garmin and instructions on how to get back to where I started. So, I'm all restored to the desired configuration and Swansea is once again on the map. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.