This section provides suggestions, background information, and hints to help you get more from DirectRoute and your Magellan GPS receiver.

Defining, Uploading, and Managing Map Regions
Working with SD Cards
Techniques for Searching DirectRoute Data
Installing and Working with MapSend on the PC

DEFINING, UPLOADING, AND MANAGING MAP REGIONS

Working with multiple Regions

Magellan SD carded units are capable of working with multiple mapped regions that you define in DirectRoute and most other MapSend products. It requires an SD card reader/writer connected to your PC. Your GPS receiver should also be connected to your PC and powered up.

Pre-process and store the map areas on your hard drive-

1. Define the regions you want to use, in MapSend, and name them with easy to remember names e.g., Boston, SOCAL, etc. If you need, you can rename a region or change its size or shape by right clicking on the region in the Data Window.
2. Select the first region to upload. Click the upload button on the Toolbar. In the next dialog window, Select the option to upload to the hard drive.
3. Follow the upload steps to format and save the first map image. This process encodes the file with your GPS receiver’s serial number, among other things. The easy way to do that is to have the unit connected to the PC’s serial port.
4. Repeat the upload to hard drive steps for the other regions.

Now the maps you want to use are saved on your hard drive, and each one has the region name you picked, followed by a .img extension. One easy way to locate them is to click the Windows Start button, and search for files named *.img. (Disregard any files of the same name having an .mgn extension.)

Once you have the files in view-

1. Put your SD card in the card reader/writer.
2. From My Computer, click on the card reader/writer drive
3. Make sure you have enough room on the card. You can erase files from the SD card, but don’t use the reader/writer to format the card. See Formatting SD cards in Tips and Tricks for more info on that.
4. Now drag and drop the .img files onto the SD card window. Give the reader/writer plenty of time to write the files to the SD card. It may still be finishing the write process for a while after the PC reports that the files are copied.

When you're done, put the card in the Meridian and power it up. Push the MENU button. Select Card Utilities, then select Detailed Map. You will see a list of the maps you saved. Select the detailed map you want to use, save and exit. When you want to change maps, use the same process. Only one detail map can be active at a time. You can't route between detailed maps in DirectRoute.

WORKING WITH SD CARDS

Formatting SD Cards
It is seldom necessary to format SD cards, whether you buy Magellan SD cards or another brand. However, if you encounter and unreadable or corrupted card that you want to use in your Magellan GPS receiver, you should format it in the receiver. To do this, put the card in the receiver, Press MENU, select Card Utilities, and select Format Card. (We recommend this approach because we’ve found that a few brands of SD card programmers use a formatting scheme that the Magellan receiver won’t read.)

Don’t format SD cards pre-authorized for MapSend BlueNav use – unless you don’t want to use them for BlueNav any more. Formatting deletes the pre-authorization code from these cards.

TECHNIQUES FOR SEARCHING DIRECTROUTE DATA

Customizing DirectRoute guidance alarms and pop-up screens
You have some control over the audio beeps and the maneuver pop-up messages in DirectRoute.

Most users find the audio guidance alarm “beeps” a necessary part of guidance. Since DirectRoute does not automatically re-route you if you miss a turn, the audio beeps are an important cue to keep you from missing a turn. The default is to have them on, but you can turn all alarms and beeps off, and that includes the DirectRoute guidance beeps.

To generically turn alarms and other tones off or on
· Press the MENU key, select Setup, Alarms, and choose the option that suits you.

Pop-up visual messages are provided in the Map Screen during DirectRoute guidance. The default rules for displaying these are that they pop up at a distance from the intersection that is sensible, based on your rate of speed. So, if you are going 65mph, the turn instruction will pop farther from the intersection than if you are going 20mph. The minimum distance at which the pop up appears is defaulted to 250 feet from the turn. The minimum distance can be set – and it is added to the speed based interval. Basically, you will be setting the overall distance before turns that pop ups appear.

To customize the approximate distance before turns that DirectRoute popups appear
* Press the MENU key, select Alarms/Msg., select Proximity, and choose the duration you prefer. FYI, the other alarm settings in here are not for street routing – they are for point to point routing and other functions.

Deciding Between Nearest To and Alphabetic Searches
The choice of these two search strategies is found in various search initiation windows on the GPS receiver – for example, it appears under the list of search options when you press GOTO and select Street Route. Use the cursor key to arrow left or right between these options before proceeding with a search. Then highlight the type of search you want to do in the list, and proceed.

“Nearest to” searching limits the search to map features nearby your current fix, a city, or other criterion you choose. Nearest to is helpful in DirectRoute when searching for a very common street name, like Main, in a detail map that has lots of cities in it. It’s also the right approach when you don’t know the name of a gas station, but you just want to route to one that’s close.

Alphabetic searching brings up the keypad screen. You don’t have to spell the whole feature or street name here – as you add letters, the first match in the stored list appears in a box below the input field. Once you are close, just accept it and pick the right choice from the list of results.

Searching for Addresses
First, decide if Nearest To or Alphabetic is the best tactic for the search. You will still have to enter the street name, either way.

Keep in mind that DirectRoute expects you to enter the street name, not including the prefix. Enter Magnolia if the address is on West Magnolia Street, for example. If you can’t find Camino del Cruz Blanca, try Cruz instead of Camino.

Streets are listed in DirectRoute by street name, starting with matching streets having no type, e.g. “Main” would be listed first, Then any “Main Ave” streets, then “Main Street”, etc.

When you select a street, the next screen calls for input of the address number. The range of acceptable address numbers is shown, if available in the data for that street.

Routing to Previous Destinations and User Waypoints
When you push GOTO and select Street Route, the first 3 options are to specify the destination by Address, User Waypoint, or Previous Destination. New users tend to use Address search most often, but the latter two are very powerful, once you understand the reasoning behind them.

Setting up waypoints is very easy, and a great approach for building a quick list of destinations that you need to street route to repeatedly from different start points. The simple way to set one is to move the cursor to the position on the map screen, press and hold the GOTO key, and respond to the dialog boxes that follow. It’s important to name your waypoints so they will be easy to identify later. How does it help in street routing? An example: you stay in a hotel in an unfamiliar city, and you will be making several day trips around the area. Make a waypoint for the hotel. Now, wherever you venture each day, when it’s time to get back to the hotel, just press GOTO, select Street Route, User Waypoints, and the Hotel waypoint.

The Previous Destinations list holds up to the 10 most recent routing destinations you picked – except any User Waypoint destinations. The thinking on that: since it’s really fast to route to Waypoints anyway, it isn’t necessary to buffer them in the Previous list, too. Previous Destinations lists past addresses and Points of Interest by address or POI name, respectively. If you street route to a cursor location on a street, the destination will be held in the Previous Destinations list by the name of the street.

Using Waypoints as an Address Book
You can convert previous destinations to waypoints. When you do, if the previous destination was an address or street name, the address or street name will display in a box under the Waypoint List when you highlight the Waypoint in the list. To convert previous address destinations to waypoints –

1. Press the MENU key
2. Select Database
3. Select Previous Destinations
4. Select the previous address destination you want to convert to Waypoint
5. Press Enter, Name the waypoint, and Save

This method will put the address text in the comments space – but if you overwrite this comment with other text instead, it will show whatever you wrote.

INSTALLING AND WORKING WITH MAPSEND ON THE PC

Full Install Or Typical Install

Choosing to fully install DirectRoute copies all the street data to your hard drive. Even if you do a full installation, you will still need to put the Data CD in the drive, because DirectRoute checks it to ensure a valid copy of the data is in use. However, a full install will typically load faster and enable smoother operation of DirectRoute, especially in areas of dense, urban streets and Point of Interest.