Uploading GPX files to a Garmin Zumo XT is a popular question on motorcycle forums. Some plug their Garmin XT into their PC, while others use Bluetooth. Some say to avoid Garmin Drive, while others love it.
Having worked out that an Apple MAC I once had didn’t support the MTP driver that the Garmin XT needed and so wouldn’t connect via a USB cable, I switched to Bluetooth and Garmin Drive and haven’t had an issue since.
So, at the risk of being that annoying person who doesn’t understand the problem, here is how we transfer GPX files to our Garmin XT units.
The Short Version
Below are the seven steps – based around MyRouteApp (MRA) – that I use to upload GPX files. The process should work for any route planner providing it can export/download a GPX file to your phone.
- Design a route using MRA
- Open the route using the MRA mobile app
- Select the Download button and choose GPX 1.1 format
- When the pop-up appears, select Export.
- Export automatically triggers Garmin Drive and the prompt “File Received…Would you like to send it to your Garmin device?”
- Select Send, and the file is transferred to the Garmin XT.
- When complete, select Apps on the Zumo XT >> Trip Planner >> Saved Trips; your uploaded GPX file will be shown in the list.
What follows is a more detailed description of the process above.
I need a GPX File
At the risk of stating the obvious, the first thing required is a GPX file to transfer. There are two versions of GPX files in everyday use, 1.1 and 1.2.
The Garmin XT will happily use either format. The difference – which is lost on me – is that GPX 1.1 files contain Via and Shaping points, while with GPX 1.2 format files, the first and last Shaping points are omitted. I’m sure there is a good reason for that, although I can’t think of one.
I stick with GPX 1.1, as the first shaping point – the entry point to the route – isn’t where I start riding from, and I need to get there to start the ride. The last shaping point is typically where I’m going, so it seems odd that it would be missing.
Whichever format GPX file you use … You are going to need one, and if you don’t have one, you can download them for free from our Free Touring Routes page.
Route Planning Software
There is a wide selection of route planning software available, and the one for you is the one that fits with the way you do things. For me, that is MyRouteApp. For others, it is BaseCamp, Google Maps or any number of similar programs.
As most route planning apps are internet based, the key feature required is the ability to download a GPX file, preferably to your phone.
Middleman
I use my phone as the middleman between route planning software and the Garmin XT. I could you the same thing with a laptop – either via Bluetooth or with a cable – but my phone is something I typically have with me, and it is portable. Dragging a laptop and cables everywhere I go doesn’t really appeal.
For Garmin Drive to work, the phone and the Garmin XT need to be Bluetooth Paired. Pairing the Garmin XT is the same as most other Bluetooth devices. Make your phone visible to other Bluetooth devices, and then on the Garmin XT, go to Settings >> Wireless Networks and then select Search For Devices and select your phone.
GPX Transfer with Garmin Drive
If you don’t already have Garmin Drive installed on your phone, it can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play. There are links to both on the official Garmin Drive Page – Garmin Drive™ App | GARMIN (GB)
Power on the Garmin XT and wait a few moments to ensure the two devices are synced. There is a Garmin Drive symbol on the XT that shows when it is connected to the phone.
Open your preferred route planner on your phone, select your route and then select download. With MRA, it then asks me if I want to Share or Open the file, Open is the option to choose.
Downloading or Opening the GPX file on the phone should trigger the phone to prompt you to choose an application to use; select Garmin Drive.
With the phone connected to the Garmin XT, when Garmin Drive opens a GPX file, it should ask if you would like to send the GPX file to the XT. This is the only part of the transfer that ever gives me the occasional issue.
Perhaps it is impatience on my part – it is worth waiting for a second or two between each button press while the two devices communicate – but occasionally, I’ve had to download and send the GPX file a second time before the transfer would complete. It is a minor frustration, but the GPX file will transfer.
The display on the Garmin XT will show a progress counter and, when complete, show you that a new route has been received. When the display says complete, you will find your freshly transferred route on the Garmin XT under Apps >> Trip Planner >> Saved Trips.
Route Calculation
When you open the route on the Garmin XT – or any other GPS unit or program – it reads the Via and Shaping points listed in the GPX file and calculates a route between them. The options and preferences set on the GPS influence the route the GPS decides to use.
If these are set differently from those used when planning the route on your computer, the two routes may be different.
Hopefully, there are enough shaping points in the GPX file to limit deviation from the desired route, but this doesn’t always happen.
I’ve been taken on a few magical mystery tours by my GPS, including detours through housing estates, asked to turn into roads that didn’t exist and, my personal favourite, asked to ride through someone’s house.
I’ve always ended up at my destination, which for a small box of consumer electronics that shows me the route on a moving map, gives me turn-by-turn instructions and alerts me to speed cameras and traffic congestion; that’s impressive.
Why Garmin XT and not my Phone?
If I’m using my phone to transfer the GPX file to my Garmin XT, why don’t I use my phone to navigate?
The MRA Navigation app is excellent and removes the need for downloading and transferring GPX files between devices. The routes I design on my laptop are available in my saved routes on the MRA server, which my phone is also connected to. No downloading or transferring is required; click and go. Simples.
I did that for quite a while until I dropped my phone and cracked the screen. Not only had I lost my GPS, but I’d also lost the ability to communicate and pay for things. Our dependency on mobile phones for things we do several times a day is almost frightening.
Having bought a replacement phone, I got the original repaired, and now if I’m not riding my own bike, which has the cradle for the Garmin XT wired into the bike’s battery, I use MyRouteApp Navigation and the old phone.
Phones and a GPS App outstrip a dedicated GPS for functionality. You can’t run additional apps, such as the magnificent CamSam Speed Camera App, on a dedicated GPS. Finding things using Google or Google Maps is also simpler than almost anything else.
But phones are not all rainbows and unicorns. I’ve had mine shut down in summer because it was too hot, and the vibration of a motorcycle can break cameras. Typically, we put them in a case to protect them and then have difficulty getting the touch screens to respond through the case’s cover and our gloves.
They are all first-world problems but have frustrated the digestive waste product out of me at one time or another, hence the Garmin XT.
Perhaps the perfect solution is Android Auto or Apple Carplay, but the phone app has to be designed to work with them. It isn’t automatic.
In a few weeks, we have Honda’s NT1100 coming back on long-term loan. The NT1100 supports Android Auto, so we’ll point Dave at somewhere remote and see how he gets on without a dedicated GPS.
