GPX Versions 1.1 vs 1.2 for Garmin Visually Explained

[Steve Jarrell]

@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!!

[Simon James Hancock]

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.

[Nick Carthew]

@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.

[Simon James Hancock]

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.

[Nick Carthew]

@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.

[Simon James Hancock]

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?

[Steve Jarrell]

@Nick-Carthew Exactly. I think we all learn that the hard way!

[Steve Jarrell]

@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."

[Simon James Hancock]

My route is saved as 1,2 and all od my points are via points.
I do not see the top right button.

[Steve Jarrell]

@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!

[Nick Carthew]

@Simon-James-Hancock I think @steve-jarrell has explained how to deal with a missed via point on a Garmin device. But to be clear about the positioning of your first waypoint. I’m not familiar with the hotel where the route starts from, but let’s say that you leave from where I have placed the red cross, this is clearly in front of waypoint 1 which is why you are sent back. Better to position the start point where waypoint 2 is.

[Steve Jarrell]

@Nick-Carthew Yes, and I would add for @simon-james-hancock's information.... there's absolutely no need for the Waypoint 2 (via point) in this route. A via point means to MRA and to the Garmin unit "I really want to stop here or go past this particular point", and that's clearly not the intent in this route.

If you're trying to force the route in a certain direction you should use a shaping point, not a via point. If you need help in understanding the differences there are a LOT of really good threads here, and help documents here that explain the differences and their pros and cons.

The bottom line is that this is a self-inflicted problem (I'm not criticizing.... I've done it myself) that can easily be avoided as @nick-carthew pointed out by the proper placement of the starting via point, and the proper use of via points vs shaping points.

The question shouldn't be "How do I skip my initial starting point after I skipped it?" but rather "Where should I place my initial starting point to avoid navigation issues?".