Help us continue our fight to preserve Backcountry Motorcycling Riding Opportunities
HOW TO USE GPS TRACKS
The GPS Tracks are a universal GPX file that can be used with nearly any GPS platform. This file has a large amount of track points and may need modifications to be loaded into your GPS unit. Any GPS unit capable of displaying 15 track logs with a minimum of 500 points each is suitable for use on a BDR. Please consult the manual of your GPS device for more information about its capabilities.
The information contained in the BDR GPX files is best viewed on your GPS unit as ‘TRACKS’ or ‘OFF- ROAD TRACKS’. Converting or importing this information to ‘ROUTES’ or ‘TRIPS’ will often result in a loss of accuracy and increased difficulty navigating the BDR.
To get the tracks onto most Garmin GPS units
- Download the BDR tracks for free from the BDR website from any of the Routes pages
- Find the BDR GPX file you just downloaded onto your computer and know its location
- Plug the GPS into your computer and open the device to view it as a removable drive
- Look for a folder labeled “GPX” and open it (sometimes it’s in another folder labeled Garmin/Zumo)
- Now drag or move the downloaded BDR GPX file from your computer into the GPX folder on your GPS device
- Unplug and power up the GPS unit, if it asks you to import new data be sure to import the BDR as ‘Off Road Tracks’
- Open the track manager on the GPS to make sure the BDR Tracks are present and set to ‘Show on Map’
- Consult your GPS manual if you have questions about this process
VIDEO: How to download BDR GPX tracks and upload to your GPS.
What’s the best way to navigate the BDR routes?
When scouting or riding the routes, the BDR team members prefer to use a GPS unit, like the Garmin Zumo XT, Garmin Montana, Trailtech Voyager, and others. Because we use GPS Tracks, not Routes, for navigating BDRs, any GPS unit capable of displaying 15 track logs with a minimum of 500 points each is suitable for use on a BDR.
In recent years, several third party smartphone apps have been introduced designed specifically for backcountry navigation. Some of the more popular apps for BDR navigation are:
- Gaia GPS
- Rever
- OsmAnd
- BackCountry Navigator TOPO GPS PRO
- onX Offroad
- Many others…
Make sure to download topographical maps of the entire area you wish to ride within the navigation app of your choice. It is necessary to do this before you leave, on Wi-Fi, as the map files are often quite large. Then, import the BDR GPS tracks (GPX file) into the smartphone app of your choice.
How do I navigate a BDR using GAIA?
GAIA GPS is a powerful and easy to use GPS navigational app that we can recommend for riders who plan to use a smart phone or a tablet for navigating the BDR’s.
Visit the Gaia GPS article for step by step instructing on using Gaia for BDR routing HERE
Click HERE for a discounted GAIA Premium Membership through BDR.
How do I download GPS tracks onto my phone?
GPS Tracks can be downloaded for free on the BDR website at https://ridebdr.com/gps-tracks/.
Click on the GPS Tracks, Download GPS Tracks button. Fill in contact information, agree to the terms, hit submit. A link will appear for you to download and save the GPS file on your computer/phone.
How do I display GPS tracks on my phone?
Choose an offline GPS app; there are several smartphone apps available to display GPS tracks (Rever, Gaia, OsmAnd, etc…)
Download offline maps for the area you intend to ride.
Import the GPX file into the offline GPS app of your choice.
Start navigating by following the BDR route line.
Can I use Google Maps to display BDR tracks?
There are some different options for backcountry navigation using a smartphone. Google Maps is not well suited for this purpose as it’s not designed to work with GPS tracks and waypoints that we use for the BDR routes.
How do I download GPS tracks onto my Garmin GPS?
GPS Tracks can be downloaded for free on the BDR website at https://ridebdr.com/gps-tracks/.
Click on the GPS Tracks, Download GPS Tracks button.
Fill in personal information, agree to the terms, hit submit.
Connect your Garmin to your PC or Mac via USB cable
Either:
Copy the downloaded GPX file into to the GPS device, inside the GPX folder
OR
Import the GPX file to Basecamp then use “Send to device” to transfer the GPX file
***Some GPS units require that you manually select to display each track on your device, such as the BMW Nav V and VI.
After loading the GPX file to your device, simply click on your tracks app where you can view all the loaded tracks. You must then select each track individually and choose to ‘show on map’. You can also change track colors in this screen.
PLEASE NOTE: Some units such as the Nav V and Nav VI and Zumo 396, only allow a maximum of 15 tracks to be displayed at any given time.
When you import our tracks, they are all loaded onto your device, but you have to manually select to ‘show on map’ the tracks you wish to see.
With this limitation, we suggest you only make visible to first half of the route, then when you finish those sections, turn those tracks ‘off’ and select the remaining tracks as ‘visible’ on map.
I am having issues uploading BDR tracks to my Garmin Zumo XT. What am I doing wrong?
The Garmin Zumo XT often has issues connecting to or being recognized by Mac computers.
If your XT is not being recognized when you plug it in, you can try a few things first:
- Download the BDR tracks on our website and install Garmin Basecamp to your computer.
- Import this .gpx file into Garmin Basecamp.
- Make sure you are using the supplied official Garmin USB cable that came with your gps unit.
- If your XT isn’t recognized, try turning the GPS unit on first, then plugging it into your computer.
- likely your XT will not be recognized as a drive for transferring, so rather you can open Garmin Basecamp, and see if your gps device is recognized there.
- If it is, select the BDR you wish to transfer from the collection list on the left, then at the top of the window select “TRANSFER>Send “xxxxtracks” to Device”
- The tracks will now be on your GPS unit. You may need to make each track ‘visible’ using the XT device.
The Zumo XT unit comes equipped with Bluetooth capabilities and can connect with your phone.
Another workaround for transferring our tracks to your Zumo XT and using additional features is as follows:
- If you do not need to modify the BDR tracks and wish to use them on your device as they come:
- download the Garmin Drive and Garmin Explore apps to your phone using the app store.
- make sure you pair your cell phone to your Zumo XT via Bluetooth.
- navigate to our website to download the BDR track file of your choosing using your cell phone.
- upon downloading the tracks, you should be given an option of where to open, save, or ‘send’ the .gpx file.
- when your phone gives you the option of where to save or download the file, select the Garmin Drive app. You may have to search for the app to select it.
- The Garmin Drive app should then open, confirming it has received the .gpx file.
- With your XT connected to your phone via Bluetooth, it should give you the option to ‘send’ the file to your XT.
- Now the tracks should appear on your Zumo XT, just like you transferred them via cable. You may need to make each track ‘visible’ using the XT device.
- If you need to modify the tracks to add waypoints or other tracks using Basecamp first, you can then use this method:
- download the Garmin Drive and Garmin Explore apps to your phone using the app store.
- make sure you pair your cell phone to your Zumo XT via Bluetooth.
- send an email to yourself (from your computer to your phone) with the BDR track file attached to the email.
- open this email on your phone, then select to ‘download’ the .gpx file that is attached by clicking on the attachment.
- next, when your phone gives you the option of where to open, save or send the file, select the Garmin Drive app. You may have to search for the app.
- The Garmin Drive app should then open, confirming it has received the .gpx file.
- With your XT connected to your phone via Bluetooth, it should give you the option to ‘send’ the file to your XT.
- Now the tracks should appear on your Zumo XT, just like you transferred them via cable. You may need to make each track ‘visible’ using the XT device.
Additionally, you can now use the Garmin Explore app to view the tracks on your phone, add or modify waypoints, change tracks colors, and more. All these changes will appear automatically on your XT the next time they are both turned on and synced via Bluetooth.
WAYPOINTS:
The Zumo XT should automatically display the waypoints on your map, however it does not have the option to display the name of the waypoint (just the icon).
The XT also refers to waypoints ‘favorites’.
If you aren’t seeing them visible on your map, you can try this:
True Garmin Waypoints (also referred to as Favorites in the XT) can be made to show up on the XT map using the following menu:
Settings->Map&Vehicle->Map Layers->Collections->Choose what you want to appear on the map.
For example if you downloaded the ORBDR tracks, you should see ‘ORBDR-Feb2023’ under collections and make sure you turn on that to make it visible.
I uploaded your tracks to my Navigator 6 via Basecamp and my riding buddy uploaded to Garmin XT via MapSource. The tracks look substantially different and not always the same as the original tracks on your interactive map. Why is there a discrepancy?
Make sure you both have the latest tracks – Aside from that, your GPS is most likely converting our tracks to a ’route’. Garmin software will also call this a “trip”. Displaying BDR Tracks as a ‘route’ or a ‘trip’ will definitely cause this issue. Converting a track into a route/trip will cause the track to recalculate to other roads that weren’t intended as part of the BDR. All BDR .gpx files contain each section as a track. Tracks are simply embedded colored lines that you follow, and do not provide any turn-by-turn navigation or routing. We do not recommend converting these tracks to routes or trips because although they may provide navigation, various devices often cause issues with unexpected re-routes and navigation issues. As a rule of thumb while using tracks, if you’re on the line, you’re on the right track.
The correct way to display tracks on the Zumo XT is Apps -> Tracks-> Select a track-> Gear Icon -> Show on Map. The method on other Garmin models can vary. Please review this page for further information.
All I have is an iPhone/iPad. How can I download tracks to my GPS?
Garmin has an app called Garmin Drive you can install on your iPad which allows you to transfer GPS tracks from your iPad to your Garmin device.
Here is a link to the how-to article Garmin has posted on their website:
How do I download tracks into my BMW Nav IV or other older GPS?
Because we use GPS Tracks, not Routes, for navigating BDRs, any GPS unit capable of displaying 15 track logs with a minimum of 500 points each is suitable for use on a BDR. Older devices supporting only GPS Routes would cause issues of re-routing you along unintended roads instead of providing a static path to follow along the BDR, as GPS Tracks do. GPS units that do not support tracks are unfortunately not supported for BDRs.
How do I get turn-by-turn directions using the BDR tracks?
GPS tracks are a static line to follow and aren’t designed to be turn-by-turn.
Do GPS tracks have a direction?
GPS tracks can be used in either direction.
What is the difference between a Waypoint, Track, and a Route?
Waypoints, or Points-of-interest (POI), are a static place such as a viewpoint, gas station, or hotel.
Tracks are a static line on a map – as your GPS position moves the idea is to follow this line.
Routes are dynamically calculated directions to connect a starting and ending point – they can change as you go.
How do I use maps on my phone if there isn’t cell service?
It is important to download offline maps before leaving internet service and have the BDR GPX file downloaded on your phone.
Tracks vs Routes
The Backcountry Discovery Routes are distributed as TRACKS which present themselves as a detailed list of data points that are all linked together in a specific order.
We use TRACKS rather than ROUTES because of the high density of data points and the ability for it to be locked rather than recalculated by the GPS unit. Most modern GPS units can display tracks and that is how we recommend navigating these trips. Garmin Basecamp is capable of converting a track to a route if your GPS unit is not capable of using tracks but we can’t guarantee any success with this process.
FOLLOW US!
