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Viewing Trip Logs in MapSource for Automotive Devices

Trip logs are points automatically stored when the GPS device is locked onto a satellite signal and moving. It is the electronic equivalent of laying down a "breadcrumb trail" to mark the path that has been traveled.

An automotive device can store 10,000 points before it begins the process of archiving additional logs. Beyond 10,000 points the device moves the oldest trip data into an internal archive file. Up to 20 archive files can be stored internally on the device. This means, depending on space available, the device can store over 200,000 points of trip data.

Archived trip log information is not visible on the device itself but can be used and seen with Garmin's MapSource program.

NOTE: MapSource will not install without a previous version of MapSource mapping already installed to the computer. If mapping software is not available, BaseCamp would be the application to use. Not all devices are compatible with BaseCamp.  See Automotive Devices Compatible with Receiving Routes Transferred from BaseCamp for compatible devices.

To Open and View Individual Archives:

  1. Open the Garmin drive
    • Windows: Press the Windows key + E on the keyboard, (then click This PC in the left column on Windows 10)
    • Mac: Located on the Desktop
  2. Open the Internal Storage folder
    • Skip this step on some devices
  3. Open the Garmin folder
    • Skip this step on some devices
  4. Open the GPX folder
  5. Open the Archive folder

Each archived GPX file can be opened in MapSource.


These can Also be Opened as Individual Archives From Within MapSource by Following These Steps:

  1. Connect the device to the computer
  2. Open the MapSource program
  3. Click on Transfer
  4. Click Receive from Device
  5. Click OK if prompted
  6. Select Tracks and click Receive
  7. Click Ok
  8. Select the Tracks tab
  9. Double-Click on an active log
  10. Click Show On Map