GPX Versions 1.1 vs 1.2 for Garmin Visually Explained
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@Carl-Lee I'm not sure what's going on, but as I've said before, I personally take Tread and other intermediate apps out of the mix and get down to the basics that I can see and understand.... Directly upload the 1.2 .gpx file via USP to the Garmin's /.gpx folder, import it, then look at the results.
Using the 1.2 format, the Garmin (XT, XT2 or 3) should not be able to (will NOT in my testing) create a route that deviates from the route that you see in MRA as the Garmin route WILL be forced to follow the .gpx file's embeded track's "breadcrumb" to create the route and disregard the Garmin's own routing logic.
If you choose to use Tread, Drive, Basecamp, MRA or any other file transfer method other than a direct USB transfer to copy your .gpx file from your computer's hard drive to your Garmin device's /gpx folder, then you are choosing to accept the ambiguity of not knowing whether or not that the file was properly transferred to the device.
If you can't see that the .gpx file that's located on your local drive was successfully copied to the Garmin's /gpx folder YOU CANNOT know for certain that it has been transferred properly.
Before anyone slams me with "the xyz app has always worked perfectly for me" believe me..... I understand!
Even though you may not be having an issue with your particular configuration and apps (GREAT! keep doing what you're doing!), for anyone who is having issues this is where troubleshooting should begin. Eliminating variables one by one is the first step in troubleshooting a technical problem. Direct transfer of the .gpx file eliminates many of the variables. That's a fact!
@Steve-Jarrell I finally got around to playing with 1.2, and I'm impressed. Here is a screenshot of one of the most troublesome routes I've recently created, and it passed my 1.2 test perfectly:

It's a single very rural road that partially crosses the southernmost Sierra Nevada. It's a challenging road to route because it requires precisely positioned shaping points (using 1.1) to Import into a Garmin. I probably have more overall shaping points than needed, but 2 WPs in particular (23&24), as they are exactly placed, are absolutely necessary. It's a unique jog on the road that messes up recalculation on my Zumo otherwise.
Initially, it took a lot of iterative back-and-forth between MRA and my Zumo to finally solve the puzzle. I literally spend hours playing with different shaping point scenarios before solving the mystery. Now with 1.2, I can delete WPs 23&24 and the route recalculates on the Zumo correctly. I'm finally going to able to achieve "what you see on MRA is what you get in the Zomo".
1.2 is definitely going to make life easier for trickier situations like this.
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@Steve-Jarrell I finally got around to playing with 1.2, and I'm impressed. Here is a screenshot of one of the most troublesome routes I've recently created, and it passed my 1.2 test perfectly:

It's a single very rural road that partially crosses the southernmost Sierra Nevada. It's a challenging road to route because it requires precisely positioned shaping points (using 1.1) to Import into a Garmin. I probably have more overall shaping points than needed, but 2 WPs in particular (23&24), as they are exactly placed, are absolutely necessary. It's a unique jog on the road that messes up recalculation on my Zumo otherwise.
Initially, it took a lot of iterative back-and-forth between MRA and my Zumo to finally solve the puzzle. I literally spend hours playing with different shaping point scenarios before solving the mystery. Now with 1.2, I can delete WPs 23&24 and the route recalculates on the Zumo correctly. I'm finally going to able to achieve "what you see on MRA is what you get in the Zomo".
1.2 is definitely going to make life easier for trickier situations like this.
@John-S-Parry Yep, the concept behind 1.2 is brilliant.... include the track inside of the route information so that the Garmin has no choice but to follow it. I used to have to also include a LOT of shaping points to make my Garmin calculate its route match MRA's route, but no more!
Thanks for the information!!
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I have been reading up on all of your post and trying to lean as much as possible.
I created a route with all via points and when I set off it did not take me to via point 2 which is just a couple of hundred meters down the road from point 1, It kept trying to send me back to via point 1. Attached is a foto of the firts waypoints. Any help would be much appreciated. I saved the route as 1.2.
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I have been reading up on all of your post and trying to lean as much as possible.
I created a route with all via points and when I set off it did not take me to via point 2 which is just a couple of hundred meters down the road from point 1, It kept trying to send me back to via point 1. Attached is a foto of the firts waypoints. Any help would be much appreciated. I saved the route as 1.2.
@Simon-James-Hancock It is always advisable to position the first waypoint 100+ metres from the actual start point, this ensures that the first point is registered as being passed. You were being directed back because the first point was missed.
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Thanks Nick for all of your help and work.
Even when I passed the second via point it was sending me back to the first.
Will it always try and send me back to the first via poin regardless on how far down the route i am?
I would like to upload my GPX file for further inspection but I am still not allowed. -
Thanks Nick for all of your help and work.
Even when I passed the second via point it was sending me back to the first.
Will it always try and send me back to the first via poin regardless on how far down the route i am?
I would like to upload my GPX file for further inspection but I am still not allowed.@Simon-James-Hancock Yes, you’ll always be sent back to missed via points, via points are never automatically skipped you would need to manually skip a missed via point.
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How do I manually skip a missed via point.
In the situation I found myself was their anyway I could have carried on my route without having had to go back to the first via point? -
@Simon-James-Hancock It is always advisable to position the first waypoint 100+ metres from the actual start point, this ensures that the first point is registered as being passed. You were being directed back because the first point was missed.
@Nick-Carthew Exactly. I think we all learn that the hard way!

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How do I manually skip a missed via point.
In the situation I found myself was their anyway I could have carried on my route without having had to go back to the first via point?@Simon-James-Hancock Refer to this help page for this answer and many others...
"When navigating, you can skip a waypoint by clicking on the next waypoint (top right button - screen 4). When pressing briefly, you must confirm the choice; when pressed for a long time, it is skipped immediately;
You can also skip multiple waypoints by going to the list of waypoints (three dots at the bottom right - screen 4) and clicking on the waypoint where the navigation should go directly;
Just like when starting up, you can also hold down the waypoint/point on the route line during navigation on the map to navigate directly there." -
My route is saved as 1,2 and all od my points are via points.
I do not see the top right button. -
My route is saved as 1,2 and all od my points are via points.
I do not see the top right button.@Simon-James-Hancock I'm sorry.... I wasn't thinking. Those instructions are for the MRA app, not the Garmin. I need to pay closer attention!!
As @nick-carthew said, ideally you will avoid this situation by placing your starting location at least a couple of hundred yards/meters beyond where you actually want to start and that way you'll always past through your starting point. That will completely eliminate this issue in the future.
However, as a workaround you can try this.....
When you press "Go" to start a route in the Garmin, you're given three options as to where you want to start..... The beginning point, closest point (shaping point) or the destination. You had no doubt selected the beginning point and as far as I know there's no way to skip that once you've told the Garmin to go there
Since you don't have any shaping points in your route to select as your "closest" point, I THINK in this situation the only way to skip the beginning point if you had entered the route beyond it would be to stop the route in the Garmin, re-enter it and when asked where you want to start tell it the destination.
I'm not 100% sure that would work but I just created a test route of a couple of hundred miles from my house without any shaping points in MRA, saved the route in 1.2 format and imported it into my Garmin XT3 and told the Garmin to make the starting point the destination, and it followed my planned 1.2 route exactly as it was shown in MRA, so I'm fairly certain that will work.
I thought about suggesting turning off auto-recalculation, but since your starting point is a via point and you've told the Garmin that's where you want to start, I don't think that's going to work.
I'm sure there are others here with far more experience with MRA and Garmin than I have, so if there are other methods I'm sure they'll let us know and we'll all learn something new!

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