[Dan Foster]

ExpertGPS 3.75 has two big changes for owners of newer Garmin GPS receivers. I've added a bunch of new fields to waypoints, to support street addresses and phone numbers in waypoints/favorites from newer Garmin nuvis. ExpertGPS will fill in these fields if you use the Go to Address command.

Currently the Edit Waypoint dialog doesn't show this data - it's overcrowded already. You can use F2 editing in the Waypoint List to change the address, phone number, city, etc.

The other big change is that when sending GPX files to Garmin GPS receivers, ExpertGPS now uses the GPX 1.1 spec, rather than the older GPX 1.0 spec. If data stops showing up on your USB Garmin GPS, please let me know!

Here's a full list of the changes from 3.74:

http://www.expertgps.com/changes.asp

ExpertGPS 3.75
Added Address, City, State, and Phone Number fields to waypoints (for Garmin nuvi and Go to Address command)
Added Calories, Activity Type to TCX support.
Added "Browse for Layer" dialog when layer file is moved or deleted
Disable Send Tracks to GPS when GPS receiver doesn't record tracks.
Fixed TCX import for Garmin Edge, fitness GPS during Receive from GPS.
Fixed crash with the Average Waypoint command in some lists
Fixed Sweden's RT 90 datum and projection
Fixed scanned maps reverting to Equirectangular projection for some projection types

[Carl L Hurst]

Dan,

I made up a gpx file with benchmarks in a specific area. Green symbol for found ones and red symbol for un-found ones.
With the new v 3.75 I "only" highlighted the Red symbol waypoints in the waypoint list and then went to GPS, then"Send to GPS.............Everything in the list was sent.......highlighted red, and unhighlighted green.
Went to a file Oregon\Garmin\GPX\Send to GPS_1_14_2010_8_43_38_AM
(Garmin Oregon 550)

Also, in addition to the above needed fix, I would still request that, when downloading, EGPS "look" in Oregon\Garmin\GPX and download ALL GPX file data in that folder ...not just specifically unit created. Problem example: In the case above, that file is now invisible to EGPS (for download purposes). If I "find" a BM in the field and change it's symbol on the unit, In a separate second operation, I would still have to go to File, Import Data, highlight the file and ,Open........to get the changed data back to my PC.

If they would be helpful, I attached two files. I did a standard "Receive from GPS" download (all options checked) and then a separate Import Data transfer (with all GPX files highlighted (not Current Folder))

Thanks,
Carl

Attached File(s)

•  3.75DL.gpx (134.77K)
  Number of downloads: 1
•  3.75_Import_Data.gpx (105.7K)
  Number of downloads: 1

[Dan Foster]

Carl, Send to GPS (the one the brings up the Send to GPS dialog, with checkboxes next to Waypoints, Routes, and Tracks) has always sent all of the visible data to the GPS, highlighted or otherwise. Send Selected to GPS, or right-click, Send Waypoints to GPS, sends the selected data only. Of course, it's possible I've broken something, so if you're seeing truly new behavior, let me know.


What do others think about the second question? Should ExpertGPS be retrieving all of the data from the GPX folder on the Garmin GPS, or just the stuff that was created by the GPS itself? I've switched back to retrieving all of the data for the next release of ExpertGPS - we'll see what happens.

[Carl L Hurst]

Dan.
You are correct, it's working correctly....as you described.

I usually use right click, but earlier I must have mis-clicked on "send" instead of "send selected"....which is exactly how I described my actions. I don't think there's any hope for me..... sorry.

Thanks for the other action. It sure helps to keep data sequence and changes straight when downloading, and more closely simulates "standard" downloads from previous GPSs.

[Troy Almeida]

Dan Foster, on Jan 14 2010, 01:58 PM, said:

What do others think about the second question? Should ExpertGPS be retrieving all of the data from the GPX folder on the Garmin GPS, or just the stuff that was created by the GPS itself? I've switched back to retrieving all of the data for the next release of ExpertGPS - we'll see what happens.

I would vote for "retrieve all data"

-Troy

[Carl L Hurst]

Dan,
I assume that Garmin's "Basecamp" is the direction that they are trending toward with future data interaction with their devices.

Basecamp recognizes when a Garmin USB device is connected , lists that device as a "drive" and if the device also has a memory card installed , lists that card as a separate drive also.

When either is highlighted, all GPX data (for that specific drive) is listed for viewing. (Not transferred, just listed) Even the contents of the separate Current folder is listed. Then the user has the option to highlight any specific item, several items, or all items , and copy and paste (their download) to a folder or (s).

"Retreiving all data" will very closely approximate that.

Having all the data present and visible in one list sure makes it easier to decide where and how it needs to be separated and edited.

[Dan Foster]

This change is now available in ExpertGPS 3.76.

http://www.expertgps.com/latest.asp

ExpertGPS 3.76
Receive from GPS now retrieves all files from Garmin GPX-based GPS receivers, even if they were created by MapSource or ExpertGPS
Fixed Import Polyline Shapefiles dialog - was missing North/South hemisphere selector for UTM coordinates.
Added better error message when opening an empty GPX file.
Added better error message for placing calibration points on scanned maps.
Disabled Export Data on Map command when no data on map.
Changed how map commands are enabled/disabled when list view is active, and vice versa. Please let me know if you encounter menu commands that aren't enabled or disabled when they should be.
Fixed bug: when copying and pasting a geotagged photo into a new file, the geotag location was lost.
Fixed error when importing CSV data with missing latitudes or longitudes.

[Troy Almeida]

My wife has a nuvi 855. If she adds a waypoint by address from the GPS itself, that address info shows up on-screen when viewing the new waypoint in the address book.

But if I create a waypoint in ExpertGPS, and use the F2 approach to manually add the street & phone data, I only see the name in the address book. Nothing else is displayed.

Am I misunderstanding the intent of the new street/phone fields, is the nuvi 855 not one of the "newer Garmin nuvis" that it is designed for, or is something possibly going on in EGPS itself?

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Troy

[Dan Foster]

Troy, send me the GPX file from ExpertGPS, as well as the following from your nuvi:

To see what's going wrong, I need the GPX folder from your GPS.
Connect your GPS to your computer's USB port. It should appear as a
removable drive, with a drive letter like G: Using Windows File
Explorer, open that drive, and open the Garmin folder. Send me the
GarminDevice.XML file, and the contents of the GPX folder. To send
the folder, right-click it, and click Send to Compressed File (.zip)
This will create GPX.zip

Send me GarminDevice.XML and GPX.zip as email attachments.

[Troy Almeida]

Dan, the fact that you're asking about GarminDevice.XML is very interesting to me. Here's why:

After I tried sending a waypoint to the device, and saw that it didn't work, I tried to receive all waypoints again. It failed, saying there were corrupt characters in that very file. I opened it up in a text editor, and saw that it had become corrupted and was essentially binary data at that point. [I have since found references to the same thing happening to another user on the forums, but I have no idea if the circumstances were the same.]

I then deleted that file and rebooted the nuvi, thinking it may be recreated at bootup. That was a bad idea for sure - the nuvi no longer had any concept of its registration info, and wouldn't display the maps that it shipped with. Next, I restored the file from a backup I had taken when I first got the nuvi. At that time, the firmware version was different from what was actually installed, and the firmware version is written to that file, so this didn't fix the problem either. I still had a mapless device.

At that point, I tried to manually edit that XML file, but to no avail. I even tried to reinstall the most recent map update, hoping that would do the trick, but the install process failed as well, for essentially the same reasons. As a last-ditch effort, I did a hard reset of the device, and that got things up and running again, so my maps are working again.

Is it possible that EGPS may have corrupted that file somehow, or was it just a freak thing that I happened to be in EGPS at the time? Any thoughts?

ALSO: I had deleted the contents of \Garmin\GPX, because I knew the general functionality of how files in that folder are handled by the device. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to be thus:

- Current.gpx is written out when the device is mounted in mass-storage mode, and is a dump of the internal address book database
- All other GPX files in that folder are merged into the internal database at boot time. Current.gpx would then be updated with those merged items the next time it is mounted via USB.

Are those 2 points correct?

I will send the XML file and the GPX folder to you via email. All of that data may be different than it was when I was testing yesterday, but I know for sure the unit itself is functional right now. I hesitate to perform any additional tests right now because the nuvi is required for an important drive on Monday & Tuesday, so I can't risk breaking it again.

Thanks,
Troy

[Dan Foster]

ExpertGPS reads, but never modifies, GarminDevice.xml. ExpertGPS never writes to or modifies any existing files on your GPS.

I believe your two points are correct.

[Randy T]

Dan, I am seeing the same thing with the addresses not displaying when entered using F2 from EGPS on my NUVI 255w. This is the same as what Troy is seeing on his 855. I just completed a test to confirm the results.

I am also seeing some other strange items after retrieving waypoints from my 255. Sometimes EGPS will show waypoints that have been deleted on the 255. After the transfer and one appears, it is not n the 255. I have opened a new file that is empty and retrieved them again with the same results. It doesn't do it every time, but about 50% of the time.

If I have a duplicate record in the nuvi and retrieve them from EGPS, sometimes I get both records and sometimes I don't. I'm still checking into this to make sure it is not something I am doing and to see if I can reproduce it.

I can see files you files if you want. Let me know.

Adding these receivers is a great addition. Thanks for your prompt support and updates.

[Troy Almeida]

Randy T, on Jan 17 2010, 10:34 PM, said:

Sometimes EGPS will show waypoints that have been deleted on the 255. After the transfer and one appears, it is not n the 255.

Randy - I think what's happening is the deleted waypoints still exist in Current.gpx, but not in the internal database of the nuvi. I've been seeing the same thing, but haven't figured out how to correct it.

In theory, Current.gpx should be regenerated each time the nuvi connects via USB. So, if you deleted all the files from \Garmin\GPX, rebooted the device, and then reconnected it via USB, you should get a clean copy of Current.gpx with only the waypoints actually in the DB.

I say "in theory," because that process hasn't been working on my 855. It's worth a shot, though ... just be aware that if that file is missing from the device, ExpertGPS won't download any waypoints at all. (It seems to pull from that file, not from the internal database.) So, rather than deleting the file(s) outright, it's probably better to just move them off your nuvi, and onto a directory on your local hard drive instead. Then you can restore them if necessary.

-Troy

[Carl L Hurst]

Troy & Dan,
Just purely FYI...don't mean to intrude.

The Nuvi (at least my 660) and the new Oregon each handle things differently.

You can see how your Nuvi works. Data appears to get loaded from "Current"

On the Oregon, the only thing in the xx\Garmin\GPX\Current (folder) is a single "Current.gpx" file which contains only the current track...... multiple tracks as segments but in only that one gpx file.
Essentially like the old "Active Log" track or when tracks were stored on the memory card.

Any data sent to the unit from EGPS , tracks saved by the unit, waypoints saved by the unit, are saved (and subsequently loaded from at boot up) in xx\Garmin\GPX in separate gpx files (by name or date or "sent to" date)
Nothing ever appears to get merged into "Current" (on the Oregon)
EX:
xx\Garmin\GPX has a Current Folder (with only 1 gpx track file )
a NAV Folder (mine's empty)
and multiple separate gpx files

POIs are in still a separate folder under Garmin in a poi.gpi file.

[Randy T]

Troy, Thanks for the insight on the nuvis. That will give me a few things to try.

Randy