HOW TO: Make course line easier to see

In the end it comes down to personal preference (and variations in users eyesight / color perception) so it is good to have choice. I think Garmin got it "right" with their pinkish calculated line used for non-route navigation (to a location / saved point) and "calculated route line but this gets hidden by the "magenta" line when you follow a course. The extra width of the calculated pink line (about 40% ) makes a big difference to visibility as does the non-black line boarders.

What I am attempting (achieving?) is to replicate this line as much as possible even if slightly slimmer. Would be "nice" if the "scale" parameter in the Theme XML worked on Edges (does on garmin car nav devices) then I could get the extra width.

Any way I am satisfied with my pink route line now and can even put up with the chevrons as the price to pay for them (needing v8+) but it would be nice to have a option to disable them too

PS I have been off on v7.10 for a few months so have not had chevrons and I was going to drop in a new screenshot of the chevrons on a two way v9,30 pink route but when I started I noticed the previous  each way chevrons are only one way now? Seems some developer also thought they were a "bit much", pity they did not do a disable switch at the same time, maybe next release?

Screenshots below same loaded route being followed (on the "smart" trainer, grossly optimistic speed), (*I wonder what happens at the turn around point, do the arrows for the "back" direction appear and the other disappear? Must give it a try)

PPS Actually not that straight forward, seems to relate to how far away the turn around point is, the arrows can get very confusing, sometimes two way arrows and sometimes one way, will have to test more and get more screenshots but not impressed, would still prefer to have a disable option

Version 8.?? (arrows both out & back)       v9.30 (one way),                             v9.30 (2 way),
                                                                  turnaround point 15kms away         turn 5 km away   

Big Lampar said:

There is no other way to distinguish the direction of the route

??? Doesn't "Turn Guidance" or at least "Course Points" work on your Garmin? These appear at the point you have to turn but not uselessly every 100m along the course. My "eyes" are nearly 70 years old, certainly out of warranty and really needing a 1040 size screen but they work enough to follow a 300km+ route, day / night / rain / hail / shine.

I have come to accept that only I "hate" the chevrons (I must be "special") and I have got over it and moved on (with the help of my new visible pink route.

Thanks, this is great. Here's a complete version that includes the styles for the high contrast blue cursor ("vehicle"). It should not replace the existing Classic.kmtf but be saved as a new file, e.g. ClassicPink.kmtf.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<garmin_map_theme>
    <metadata>
        <title>CLASSIC PINK RTE</title>
        <description>Classic with PINK Route Line and HC Blue Cursor</description>
        <category>0</category>
    </metadata>
    <stylelist>
        <style field="MPM_ACTV_CRS_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ffff00ff" night="#ffff00ff"/>
                <secondary day="#ffff00ff" night="#ffff00ff"/>
            </color>
        </style>
        <style field="MPM_VEHICLE_BRDR_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ff000000" night="#ff000000"/>
                <secondary day="#ff000000" night="#ff000000"/>
            </color>
        </style>
        <style field="MPM_VEHICLE_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ff000000" night="#ff000000"/>
                <secondary day="#ff000000" night="#ff000000"/>
            </color>
        </style>
        <style field="MPM_VEHICLE_LEFT_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ff00a8f8" night="#ff00a8f8"/>
                <secondary day="#ff00a8f8" night="#ff00a8f8"/>
            </color>
        </style>
        <style field="MPM_VEHICLE_RGHT_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ff00a8f8" night="#ff00a8f8"/>
                <secondary day="#ff00a8f8" night="#ff00a8f8"/>
            </color>
        </style>
        <style field="MPM_VEHICLE_BACK_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ff00a8f8" night="#ff00a8f8"/>
                <secondary day="#ff00a8f8" night="#ff00a8f8"/>
            </color>
        </style>
        <style field="MPM_VHCL_HGLT_CLR">
            <color>
                <primary day="#ff000000" night="#ff000000"/>
                <secondary day="#ff000000" night="#ff000000"/>
            </color>
        </style>
    </stylelist>
</garmin_map_theme>

Thank you.

I gave this a try today.

Made a copy of Classic.kmtf and and renamed it.

Rather than find my editing program on the computer, thought I would just use Notepad and opened the renamed copy,

Deleted all the contents and then pasted in the new version.

Opened it up, selected the new theme and tried a course and it worked perfect.

What I also found was, regardless of how far zoomed in or out the map is, I can only see two chevrons on the route, that I find odd because I always found that on my 530 they was always 50 metres apart and the number of them varied and i liked to use them for interval training, now the distance between them varies depending on the level of zoom.

Also, I noticed on the "Turn by Turn" navigation map, the white arrow is a lot smaller which makes it better.

Neither of those things was apparent up to modding the Classic.kmtf file and I cannot see why it has happened to bring this on.

But, the "Pink" colour when I tested it at home with yellow tinted lenses just does not work, it changes to a muddy brown colour and looks like a road and unfollowable so for anyone who uses yellow lenses would need a different route colour all together. I discovered this years ago and stopped using yellow lenses on a night when the Garmin would change to the "Pink" colour.

Overall, though, its an excellent improvement and thanks for doing something that should have been done years ago right back to the "800".

Tried it out and yes it worked also but i can't tell what's the difference between this modified pinkie and the normal pink route in Classic.kmtf.

If you're following a course then the default line is pink, but thin. If you actively navigate to a point (ie to the start of a course) then you get a chunky magenta line which is easy to follow. This is what this modification aims to duplicate.

You may find that yellow with a black border is also effective if struggling with magenta (like the Hammerhead Karoo which has the clearest maps of any device at the moment).

I really liked the ability to change the route line and other map colors but during a few weeks of using software 9.30 the arrow / chevrons so annoyed me together with a return of  frequent dropouts while using the smart trainer that, in a moment of frustration, I reverted back to 7.10 (again) so now have no chevrons or dropouts but also no customising MAP-THEME colors  If Garmin provide a chevron disable switch in a future update and fix the dropouts I will give it another go.

I tried it with the yellow - nice ! The yellow inner with magenta outer line does stand out quite a bit, it definitly is able to highlight the route when there's brown colored highways next to it. The line is thin though - u don't get the thick magenta line like when it takes u to  the start of the route. Would be nice if it can also be bolded ?- is there a setting to bold the line ?

Big Lampar said:

is there a setting to bold the line ?

Sort of but it does not appear to work on Edge devices

From a post on page 1 of this thread,

There appears to be no parameter for the actual wider calculated route line although the Fenix discussion mentions a "scale" & "border" parameter but these might only be implemented in Garmin CAR navigation devices

<style field="MPM_ACTV_CRS_CLR" scale = "2" border = "1.00">

forums.garmin.com/.../how-to-change-the-colour-of-navigation-course-follow-line-with-your-own-map-theme