Google Earth Satellite Imagery on Fenix 5x

I've noticed that quite a few people have looked at this thread so imagine there's others interested.

As an update, I've talked with multiple Garmin reps and we haven't come up with a good solution yet. One added that some are experiencing lower than desired image quality on the 5X using Garmin's BirdsEye Satellite imagery, likely due to the low resolution of the 5X vs the plethora of Garmin's handheld color screened GPS's.

Here is some material I've found so for future perusers it might reduce the amount of Googling you might find yourself doing.

Garmin Support: Transfer Paper or Electronic Maps to Your Device
http://www.garmin.com/us/products/onthetrail/custommaps

Garmin Support: General guidelines for creating Garmin Custom Maps
https://support.garmin.com/faqSearch/en-US/faq/content/UcO3cFueS12IwCnizrJjeA

The portion of these Garmin forums in regards to creating custom maps
https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?205-Creating-Garmin-Custom-Maps

Maybe one day we'll figure this out!

I've searched through forums and Google and can't find a solution to the Fenix 5X showing extremely low resolution satellite imagery.

Using Google Earth to create a KMZ to load on Basecamp to transfer to Garmin devices is something I've done with Oregon's over the years with no issue. When I load the same image that looks fine on my Oregon 550T on my Fenix 5X it is incredibly pixelated likely due to the low resolution of the screen.

Has anyone either:
A. Found a solution (save the jpg overlay with a certain program / resolution to load in Google Earth, create a KMZ, open in Basecamp and transfer)

Or

B. Know of another program to create overlays that can be loaded into the CustomMaps folder on the Fenix 5X

Satellite Imagery



There you go Garmin Birdseye imagery works well with the Fenix 5x
Easy to use and can overlay other maps on top for more detail

There you go Garmin Birdseye imagery works well with the Fenix 5x
Easy to use and can overlay other maps on top for more detail

I presume many people owning the fenix 5X would want to do this. So can you please write a more detailed tutorial in this thread describing how you get one of those Google Earth images into your fenix 5 X?:cool:

I presume many people owning the fenix 5X would want to do this. So can you please write a more detailed tutorial in this thread describing how you get one of those Google Earth images into your fenix 5 X?:cool:

I think they are Garmin Birdseye images, you can buy them from Garmin.

Garmin Birdseye Satellite Imagery

Hi,
heres a link to my youtube video explaining how the Garmin Birdseye satellite imagery works, and how it looks on the Fenix 5X screen:
https://youtu.be/5QGY-lx9DJg

I figured out how to get google earth overlays working on my Fenix 5X and I wrote a guide since many guides out there are very outdated.
The downside to this approach is you are limited to a single 1024x1024 snapshot per KMZ, without a tool to re-slice larger images. But this is useful enough for things like skiing and its 100% free :)

https://blog.sb1.io/how-to-add-custom-maps-from-google-earth-to-a-garmin-fenix-5x/

Hi, good work.

I think we are missing what should be the size (area, zoom) of each GE image in order to get a good final resolution let's say at 50ft on Fenix5x.
I see in your tutorial you got the hole Cooper Mountain area.
When zooming in for sure it´s gonna get a poor resolution.
Maybe split this area in 4 tiles would give us a better image.
Based on the 1024x1024 Garmin limit, what would be an ideal square area in order to have a good resolution @50ft zoom in the watch?
We use to have a very very good program for that called MOBAC (Mobile Atlas Creator) https://mobac.sourceforge.io/index.html but it is no longer working.

best regards,