Custom Waypoint Symbols

• Have you searched through all the pre-installed waypoint and POI symbols included with your Montana and wished something more was available?
• Do you find a particular symbol is not to your taste, or does not work for your map, and wish you could modify it somehow?
• Do you wish you could remove all those irritating blue pushpins displayed at every waypoint along each route?
• Maybe you just want to create your own custom waypoint symbols to impress your friends?

With the Montana, you can do all this, and more! Read the Garmin Custom Waypoint Symbols press release.

Required Software

Not much more than your favorite image editing software is needed to get you started! If you're on a PC, Paint.net is an outstanding choice!

Existing Symbols

• The Oregon Montana is preloaded with several dozen waypoint symbols grouped into nine categories.
• Some waypoint symbols may appear in more than one category.
• All user installed custom symbols will be displayed in an additional category titled 'Custom.'

	=.=		=.=		=.=
Civil		Transportation		Signs		POI
Outdoors		Hunting		Marine		Navaids
Markers						Custom

Guidelines

• Symbols MUST be saved to the GPSr (not the microSD) in the \Garmin\CustomSymbols\ directory.
• Waypoint symbols should be saved in a 24-bit Windows-style bitmap format (*.bmp).
• POI symbols should be saved in an 8-bit (paint.net LowColor plug-in) Windows-style bitmap format (*.bmp).
• Symbols should not exceed 32 pixels in width and height.
• Replacement symbols should be named using the <sym> element in the waypoint’s GPX file (i.e. “Flag, Blue.bmp”).
• New symbols can be given any other file name (i.e. “New Symbol.bmp”).
• Custom Symbols should be limited to 56 per device.
• To make a pixel transparent, set its color to magenta (RGB = 255, 0, 255).
• By default, a symbol drawn on the map will be centered on a waypoint. To adjust this “hot spot”, include the new center position offset from the upper-left corner in the file name (i.e. "Anchor.10x20.bmp" will be centered 10 pixels to the right and 20 pixels down from the top left corner).

Example

 

I found the geocache symbols Garmin included with the Montana were unnecessarily large, cluttering the map screen and obstructing other map information from view, so I created my own custom geocache symbols.

• Below is an example of our custom 'Traditional Cache' geocache symbol.
• Download our complete set of custom geocaching symbols.

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Traditional Cache Symbol Actual Size		Traditional Cache Symbol Zoomed 10x		Traditional Cache Symbol Displayed on Map screen

BaseCamp Synchronization

Configure BaseCamp and your GPSr to recognize and use the same custom symbols:

• Make two copies of each 24-bit *.bmp custom symbol, one for BaseCamp, and one for the GPSr.
• Name the BaseCamp symbols 001.bmp, 002.bmp, 003.bmp, 004.bmp, etc.
• Only symbol names from 000.bmp - 063.bmp are recognized.
• All BaseCamp symbol names are three digits, with leading zeros added when necessary.
• Name the corresponding GPSr symbols Custom 1.bmp, Custom 2.bmp, Custom 3.bmp, Custom 4.bmp, etc.
• All corresponding GPSr symbol names are prefixed with "Custom " and do not include any leading zeros.

Place the BaseCamp symbols in the specified directory on your computer:

• [PC] \My Documents\My Garmin\Custom Waypoint Symbols\
• [Mac] {user}\Library\Application Support\Garmin\Custom Waypoint Symbols\

Place the GPSr symbols in the [Montana]\Garmin\CustomSymbols\ directory:



Create a waypoint in BaseCamp and choose a custom symbol to display:



OPTION: Use your favorite text editor to manually configure custom symbol selections in existing {waypoint}.gpx files:



Waypoints sent from BaseCamp to your GPSr will be presented with the corresponding custom symbol:

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