Plotting specific routes

Former Member
Former Member
I hope I'm in the right place for this question. I have a NUVI 58 GPS and would like to program a route from my home in Illinois, over to Indiana and then get on US Route 41 and take it all the way to Ft. Myers Florida. Is there a way to do this? I've tried the Fastest, Shortest etc routes but none of them will do what I want done. Wife and I are retired and want to take this route to Florida where we are staying for the winter. Time is not that important to us and we want to stop in the little towns along the way to sightsee.
Thanks
Russ
  • While it can be done on the nuvi for routes like this it's often easier to use Basecamp. Having planned the route on your PC you can then transfer it to your nuvi.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    It looks like following US41 from IN to FL will require use of many "Stops" in the middle of the southbound (or 2-way) road lane, Otherwise the Nuvi will continue to route you onto the Interstate Limited Access highways. Suggest unchecking the U-Turn avoidance box and setting the Toll Road avoidance box to "Ask". Otherwise the Nuvi will continually recalculate and reroute you back to previous or next Freeway onramps without letting you know it is doing so.

    Enabling the U-Turn routing will at least let you know when the route is recalculating (according to a Nuvi using tourist in Ireland who posted on another forum, which I do not recall). With the Nuvi 29 waypoint limit, it may be necessary to create more than one route.
  • Viapoint limit shouldn't be an issue. You can use many more shaping points if you need to. In fact when creating routes I use shaping points throughout unless I specifically want to stop there.

    I believe the 58 will accept shaping points. If not then yes, break the route into two.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    My Nuvi 56 does permit Trip Planner Change Route "Skip Next Destination" and "Skip Next Shaping Point" when moving, so presumably hidden shaping point via coordinates can be included from a BaseCamp gpx file export. However, a 3rd party app may export gpx files with a different coordinate rte point naming scheme than BaseCamp and thus the Nuvi may either ignore Vias (shape points) altogether or convert them into "Destination" (Stop) coordinate points and create numerous 29 point contiguous routes in great detail.

    On the rare occasions that I actually get out on the road in a strange city, I have noticed that the Nuvi 56 with 2015 Garmin Here Maps in default mode will silently recalculate directions for an around the block U-turn when the satellite signal coordinates drift far enough from the route "snap to" road/route centerline to enable a recalculation. Merely passing through a mountain pass cut can cause track drift and recalculation on a parkway, as can passing the device to a back seat passenger on a tree lined street or urban canyon. As a passenger I did have a different hand held device running and recording simultaneous non-snapped track points, and thus was able to see the recalculation cause and effect later on a computer.

    My interest in the subject is no longer just for amusement, as I really appreciate text to speech route direction commands particularly after sunset and prefer that they at least be logically understandable if not always correct.