Garmin Base Camp - Creating Routes

[Markh]

I recently purchased my first GPS and need help.  My device is a Garmin Oregon 450.  I'm getting familiar with the Garmin Base Camp software and have been trying unsuccessfully to create Routes that follow roadways.  I've downloaded a number of the topo maps from this website, and are using these with Base Camp.  I viewed a toutorial that showed how to create roadway Routes by selecting the Automotive profile, however no matter which profile I select, the resulted route is always Direct from point A to point B.  I'm unable to create Routes that follow roadways on my GPS unit as well.
markh

[Seldom]

Unless you have a routable map you can't create a route that follows roads. BaseCamp's background map is not routable.

Examples of routable maps you'll need to pay for are City Navigator, Garmin 24k topos.  Routable maps you can get for free are available at garmin.openstreetmap.nl.  If you are in the southwestern US, I have several routable maps here at GPSfileDepot.

[Markh]

Karma -
Thanks for the advice.  Now I have more questions.  Is there a way to download (and purchase) Garmin's City Navigator US so that it will overlay all of the topo maps that I've downloaded from this site, essentially rendering them routable?  If this is not practical, I believe one logical step for me would be to purchase Garmin's 24K topo maps for states that I'd like the routable feature.  Looks like these sell for ~100 for  ~5 or 6 state coverage.
Markh

[Boyd]

"It depends". Maps have a draw priority from 0 to 31 where the higher numbered map covers up lower numbered maps. City Navigator has a priority of 30, so unless the author of the topo you want has used a priority setting of 31, City Navigator will hide their map. Typically, priority defaults to 25 unless a map author changes it. I do this on my maps, but don't think many other people do. Also note that using Basecamp/Mapsource on your computer you can only use one map at a time. On the GPS itself, you can enable multiple maps.

Yes, the Garmin 24k maps are routable.

[Seldom]

Boyd's got the City Navigator angle pretty much nailed.  And for driving I doubt you can beat CNNA.  If you want routable trails, you can get some from Garmin 24k maps or from the free maps at garmin.openstreetmap.nl. They won't have topo on them, however.  The other thing you can do with City Navigator is find "transparent" topos and overlay them on top of your CNNA.