Using a TomTom map to plan a route.

[BrianO]

I would like to explore the south coast with my motor caravan plotting a list of caravan sites but the dear old AutoRoute so simple to use has been abandoned by Microsoft. As I have a TomTom GO 500 that was given me by my daughter who like so many younger people now use one of those magic phones I thought I would see if its possible to use a computer based map to plan my route. Is that possible and if so what sort of cost are they or are the free maps I saw on the Internet worth looking at?

 

[canderson]

You will want to use the MyDrive site at TomTom to work on either routes or Points of Interest for your GO 500. If you haven't already downloaded the MyDrive Connect software for your device, start here >> https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/mydrive-connect/
Scroll down a bit and you'll see download options for both Windows and Mac.

You will need to create an account for your GO 500; that will require an email address and a password of your choosing.

Once you have MyDrive connect up and running, you will find a tab called "MyDrive - Plan routes and view traffic". That will take you to the online web page where you will use the same login information that you used to create your GO 500 account.

From there, you can, among other things, load Point of Interest files to your device. I suggest this because there are such files already built for things like 'caravan sites', and those files can be directly installed on your GO 500. One site that offers such a file for caravan and similar sites is here >> https://www.gps-data-team.com. I am attaching a *.zip file of their UK offering to this message that contains the file. TomTom uses *.ov2 files for their Points of Interest.

From left side of the MyDrive web page, you can select the third icon from the top -- looks like a bubble with a face and arms? - then select POI Files and upload the attached caravan *.ov2 file. With your GO 500 unit connected, that data will transfer to it, and you will find under My Places on your 500 the full list of campsites that was included in the file.

Once you have that bit sorted, let me know and we'll talk about whether you need to prepare a route, or whether having access to the POI is enough to work with.

 

[BrianO]

Many thanks for that. I don't think I've seen a fuller reply.

 

[Arno]

You will need to create an account for your GO 500; that will require an email address and a password of your choosing.

CAUTION!

Brian,

If this was used by your daughter it will have a username and password associated with it already.
Unless your daughter does not need her old username and password any longer or, unless she already made changes for you, ask her to connect the device to her MyDrive Connect and make those changes for you.

 

[BrianO]

When I eventually got TomTom loaded about the first thing I discovered was that the map for the UK is £39.00 and I'm not prepared to pay that when I'm not able to decide if I want to use it so maybe a trip to Halfords will help. I also have the problem of not being able to find an activation code.

 

[Arno]

If the device had been used by your daughter before there will be a UK (Europe) map for it somewhere.
If it is a brand new unit, by all means, check with Halfords.

 

[canderson]

When I eventually got TomTom loaded about the first thing I discovered was that the map for the UK is £39.00 and I'm not prepared to pay that when I'm not able to decide if I want to use it so maybe a trip to Halfords will help. I also have the problem of not being able to find an activation code.

? They may be advertising a newer map than the one on the unit, but there must already be a map there somewhere on the unit. What happens when you turn it on? Do you eventually see a map, or ???

Are you connected with MyDrive Connect yet? Is that where you saw the advertised map?

 

[canderson]

Heck -- I forgot to attach the file that I promised! Here it is:

 

[BrianO]

I can't make Camp_UK England.zip run

 

[dhn]

Extract it with WinRAR or Unzip or the like.

 

[canderson]

Indeed. It doesn't 'run'. *.zip files are 'wrappers' for containing other files. In this case, it contains the campground *.ov2 file.