Modify a route on the 1450 but save the original?

[Quicktrip]

My 1450 routinely directs me onto a dangerous stretch of congested interstate highway near my home. So I've laboriously created an alternative route, plugging in a variety of intersections, coordinates and addresses to avoid the nasty run on the interstate.

I intend to use my own route over and over again, modifying it each time to go to a different destination. But I would like to save my carefully constructed original as a separate template, copying it each time I want to modify it and leaving the original untouched. (It would be sort of like typing a form letter in Microsoft Word, and then making a copy each time I want to send it to a different addressee, just typing the fresh address on the copy along with any other changes I want.)

Is there any way to do this? I wish I could just hook the Garmin up to my computer, search for my self-built route and make a copy of it in the computer, but I can't find the route in the Garmin when I try to do that, even if I set up the computer to show hidden files.

Thanks.

[alanb]

It sounds like you are asking for a "Save As" type of function for Custom Routes. I don't think you can do that on a nuvi. When you select a custom route for edit, then save it, it replaces the original. The only thing I can think of is you could create your template in Mapsource, then transfer it to the nuvi for import. This will create a GPX file ready for import, so you would go to Tools - My Data - Import Route from file. You could then edit it to add your final destination and via's. If you leave the transferred GPX file on the nuvi, the next time you need a route, start with the Import route from file step, and you should get your template back as a starting point.

[t923347]

Using Mapsource requires the maps on the 1450 to be installed on the PC. If they are not there then purchasing a map update for the Nuvi would be required. Possibly you could accomplish what alanb suggests by using Garmin's BaseCamp software however, as it uses the maps on the Nuvi when the device is attached to your PC.

I'm wondering if another alternative would be to use Mapquest.com. You could create your template route there and send it to the Nuvi. You could also create any number of alternative routes for different destinations and send them to the Nuvi, all using separate names of course. All routes sent to the Nuvi would have to be "imported" once they got there (Tools - My Data - Import Routes).

The route that you have created currently will not be a separate file that you could see in Windows. It is in the Current.gpx file that you will find in the GPX folder on the 1450. That file also includes any saved favorites, tracks, etc.

[Quicktrip]

[Quicktrip]

Of course, I could just keep using my generic route, modifying it each time with a new end point and perhaps some additional waypoints. And (sigh) saving it under a new name that is descriptive of the new route.

One problem with that solution is that all waypoints based on coordinates are labeled simply "Coordinates" -- so if I have several coordinate-based waypoints, there's no way to distinguish one waypoint from another. That makes it real easy to inadvertently delete the wrong waypoint from a route when I'm modifying it.

If I could relabel each waypoint in the route with its own distinctive name, this wouldn't be a problem. But there doesn't seem to be any way to rename the waypoints once they're in the route.

An even more cumbersome solution might be to set up coordinate-based waypoints as addresses and save them under a distinctive name in Favorites (as in AvoidNasty 1, AvoidNasty 2 ...) Then I could build a new route each time I want to avoid the nasty, and grab the waypoints out of Favorites in the correct order.

As much as I love playing with my new Garmin, that probably ain't gonna happen.

[Boyd]

Basecamp reads any maps that are pre-loaded on your device as well as maps that were purchased on memory cards. It can be used for route planning, like Mapsource. See this for more info: http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=18480

[Quicktrip]

[nutcase]

[hcubed]

Not sure if this is what you want, or if your version can use it, but:

Using MapSource, (top of screen) Edit, Preferences, Routing, Advanced (under Try to Avoid), brings up Manage Route Avoidances.

From there, you can select areas that you want to avoid (intersections, streets, that "nasty stretch of interstate", etc).

From there, you should be able to create a route, and save it to the GPS.

According to what I've read, you need "Multiple Point Routing" to get a unit to accept a route from MapSource. My nuvi 1100 doesn't have it, but according to the Garmin website, the 1450 series does.

[alanb]

The OP has a nuvi 1450 which does support import of custom routes. The nuvi will preserve via's but not avoidances in routes transferred from Mapsource.

[hcubed]

[alanb]

I have read (in another thread in this forum) that the 7x0 models will preserve the Mapsource avoidances. I don't have a 7x0, so I can't confirm that. I can tell you that neither of my nuvi's (755T and 855) will preserve Mapsource avoidances.