gps, garmin, google-mapsCan I get an offline version of Google Maps on my Garmin Nuvi GPS? I am having a non-blue tooth version of the GPS.
The maps are kinda outdated and I am not keen on paying Garmin to update my maps on a device that is no longer supported by Garmin.
How would a Garmin read an exported version of a Google Map? GPS devices do not have full blown OSs on them. I've looked into hacking GPS's back in the day and little to no work was being made on it. About the only thing people were doing was putting Open Source maps on them so you didn't have to pay, but then you lose out on all kinds of features and functionality. Its probably not worth your time.
My recommendation would be to get an iPhone or Android phone and use it as your GPS. Maps will always be updated then. If those are too expensive or you just cant do it, then go on Ebay and get a Windows Mobile (WinMo) phone and run Android on it. That would be cheap and give you a similar experience. Keep in mind that you would still need to activate to make use of those services on the phone.
But if you didn't activate it, you could still use WiFi to download apps and you could install offline Google Map apps that would allow you to map things out have some functionality without a cell connection.
Check out XDA Forums for WinMo devices that can run Android, find one that uses your carrier, and then have at it.
Nuvis can only display Garmin map format, IMG files. So even if you managed to get an offline version of Google Maps data, you would have to convert that to Garmin IMG format.
However, if free Garmin IMG maps is what you're looking for, you might want to visit the following site http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/
Also wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download might be useful.
Which Garmin Nuvi model are you using?
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