Introduction
Mapping software is changing the way people plan routes. When combined with a GPS, it can make navigation so much
easier, in the same way that sat-nav has done for in car navigation. You can plan a route, or download one
from the internet, upload it to your GPS, and be able to follow nice easy directions*. That's the theory anyway. Sadly it's not quite so
simple. There are many different software packages available. Most have their own propietary file formats. In fact there's a
whole alphabet soup of them out there.
We've tried to support the most popular formats in use, which isn't always easy, as the software manufacturers don't often document the
file format. We also support a format called GPX, which is something of a de-facto standard, with many of the most common software packages supporting this
format. If all else fails, there is a programme called GPSBabel which will solve most conversion format nightmares.
Supported Formats
Here's a list of commonly used mapping software packages, and the recommended format to use to download routes with:
Remember, if all else fails, GPSbabel may help, and if that doesn't work, you can always download the route as comma separated values (CSV), and import that. If that still doesn't
work, might we suggest purchasing some other mapping software?
Other software such as Autoroute, will work if you download a .CSV file and then import it.
* We're said it before, and we'll say it again: Don't rely solely on GPS for navigation. They don't work very well under tree cover,
batteries run out, and the level of detail even the best one show, is poor compared to a map.