MapShare without InReach?

From the explanation in the Android Explore app for MapShare it suggests that this feature works when my Garmin Explore app has a data connection.

Are there instructions anywhere as to how this works?

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Garmin-Andrew over 3 years ago +2 verified

SpikySimonW To clarify how it's supposed to work, per the article "Setting Up MapShare for Instinct" that I linked previously:

"Unlike when using inReach devices, MapShare does not display…

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0 twolpert over 3 years ago in reply to carleson

The mobile version of MapShare does have limitations. I am no longer sure what the limitations are, but they have always been annoying. And the desktop version is almost unusable on a phone because of screen size.

I doubt that GCM has anything to do with anything. Except for providing a crutch for registering a device with the Explore app, it really has no function in the Explore universe.

I'm out of ideas. I'd suggest that you open a support ticket.

+1 Garmin-Andrew over 3 years ago

SpikySimonW To clarify how it's supposed to work, per the article "Setting Up MapShare for Instinct" that I linked previously:

"Unlike when using inReach devices, MapShare does not display tracking in real-time and any shared data must be synced through the Garmin Explore App or created on the Garmin Explore Website to be displayed on the MapShare."

You can set previously recorded activities, waypoints, etc. to be displayed on MapShare, but nothing beyond that. So even if you have Sync Current Activity enabled, it will only display on MapShare after the activity is stopped, saved, and fully synced.

I double checked and the content of this article hasn't changed in the last four months since I posted it. An inReach device with an active subscription is required to share tracking data in real time. If it worked before as carleson described, it technically wasn't supposed to, or there may have been a workaround on a previous version of Explore App that is no longer available in the current version. I'm sorry for any confusion this has caused.

If you need to share tracking data in real time with a non-inReach device, you can use LiveTrack in the Garmin Connect App which is effectively very similar to how Mapshare works for inReach devices.

This article has steps for using LiveTrack in Garmin Connect: How to Use the LiveTrack Feature in the Garmin Connect App

Again, I'm sorry for any confusion.

0 carleson over 3 years ago in reply to Garmin-Andrew

I concur and was about to write up my findings from this afternoon but don't have much to add now to what Andrew wrote. I just got back from an activity, and I was checking MapShare as I went along and there were no updates to my mapshare page. After I finished and hit Stop on the watch it started Syncing in the app and does show up on the mapshare page. Last Fall I can't tell for sure but maybe when I looked at mapshare it was when I was done so of course the map was there. When I was checking the collections on the app I noticed that the one I'm using is now marked "<!>" with the size warning so I started a new collection with no Activities and after changing the MapShare setting include that Collection then my activity displayed as expected when I was done.

0 SpikySimonW over 3 years ago in reply to Garmin-Andrew

Thanks Garmin-Andrew for clarifying, much appreciated.

Suggestion/feedback:

The wording within the Garmin Explorer app needs to be tidied up: as-is it very much suggests this *IS* possible.
Completely get that an InReach is the designed-for-this-purpose device, indeed why I've bought one - all I was attempting to do is become familiar with the system before activating my InReach subscription (not so great value while still under COVID lockdown!).
I also am very familiar with LiveTrack - use it quite a bit with your fitness products - sadly what it shows is the current incohesion across the various Garmin product lines/backends/ecosystems - again I get where this is come from (different development teams, third party acquisitions etc) however while.a reasonable excuse from Day 1 I think, now a few years down the line, you can forgive your customers for being a little frustrated by the seemingly continued stove-pipped development silos and functionality overlap.

My principle Garmin products I use are a fenix 5 Plus and Edge 1030 (both top-of-the-line at the time of purchase), as well as a whole host of additional Garmin products for the very reason of keeping everything within the same ecosystem - generally I find it's often better to do this vs. go for the "best of breed" across each device class but end up with your data all over the place and disconnected. Case in point: when going for a new GPS handheld, I researched not the best available but the most appropriate for me Garmin available.

Sadly, I'm not finding this benefit fully realised with Garmin at the moment. It used to be the same across the fenix/forerunner and Edge lines however most of this has been sorted out over the past 18 months (ie. weigh myself on Garmin scales and my weight on fenix and Edge is updated, set a new power FTP on one device and other devices are updated, record some steps on a Garmin fitness tracker and these then show up, usually, on the fenix, create a course and this is then available across my products that support nav, and so) - seems like the Garmin Connect side of the fence has matured - while also seeming like within the Garmin recreational handheld GPS arena there's still quite a way to go (indeed within itself, even before merging with the wider Garmin!).

Look forward to this hopefully coming to fruition sooner rather than later.

0 Garmin-Andrew over 3 years ago in reply to SpikySimonW

Thank you for your feedback SpikySimonW, I have relayed this information to the proper team for potential improvements.