My handheld GPS unit only shows major highways and train tracks. Can I download free street maps for it?

Question

It's a Magellan 500.

Answer 1

It is possible, but rather technical.  And I say this as someone who works with geographic information systems and digital maps for a living.  It involves getting road centerlines in a format called shapefiles and using a program called MobileMapper to do some conversions, or something along those lines.  The instructions were long and I lost interest.  I doubt these maps would be routeable either - you wouldn't be able to get turn-by-turn directions from them on the receiver.

The easiest solution is to buy MapSend DirectRoute v2 for about $70 for your unit.  There is a v3 version, but the maps aren't much newer and in some cases don't work as well as the v2 maps.