I have a Garmin GPS using Mapsource software.  I'd like to share some waypoints with my friend who a Lowrance which uses Mapcreate software.  Can I send the waypoints in a format so he won't have to enter all the co-ordinates himself?  Surely this is possible, but I can't figure it out.  Thanks for the input.

Welcome to the forum Lynj

Just swipe the coordinates to highlight all the digits,

then simply copy-and-paste them to the desired location.

This is far safer than keying-in each digit

because it eliminates the chance to make typos (i.e. accumulation of error).

Roger

Is there a way for him to just open my file in his software and the waypoints appear on his map?  Can you save a file with just waypoints ?  The manuals are not very clear on this and since I don't have his software I can't check it out.

Is there a way for him to just open my file in his software and the waypoints appear on his map? Can you save a file with just waypoints ? The manuals are not very clear on this and since I don't have his software I can't check it out.

You're right, the manuals are not very clear, what's worse, there's one manual for the hardware and another for the software :

That's a great question by the way, I'm really amazed that I never seen it here before.

If you've purchased the little pre-programmed card, you will have a problem with data transfer

because the cards are copy-protected and cannot be viewed on the PC. but only on the host unit (GPS).

If you've bought the big DVD disk then it should be a piece of cake,

because the data belongs to you and may be viewed on both the GPS and PC.

If you wish, you can transfer the whole lake file and send it to a friend.

Select what you wish to send by clicking the "Recieve From Device" button,

then check or uncheck the components that you want included: "Maps" - "Waypoints" - "Routes" - "Tracks"

Rename the file, save it to your attachment folder, zip it up, then shoot it out

Roger

Thanks, Roger,

Since the two different softwares have different extensions for files, how do I save it so he can open it in his software?  Is there a common file that all software can recognize?  I know that would work if we used the same software.

Here is a piece of software that converts almost every kind of GPS data to another kind of GPS

http://www.gpsbabel.org/

for example magellan to lowrance. Magellan to garmin, garmin to lowrance.

check it out

Is there a common file that all software can recognize? I know that would work if we used the same software.

That's another good question, and unfortunately, Garmin's parade of extensions is not without a glitch.

The default extension, and the one I've been using for years is ".gdb" (i.e. Garmin DataBase).

One day I was making aggressive changes to the software, when suddenly the program failed to recognize

my mapsource files, I was totally out-of-commission! After trying several things, I ended up tricking the software

by switching to the ".mps" extension, then switching back to ".gdb". My files have been operative every since.

For the record, Garmin also uses other extensions which may be involved in Universal Recognition,

some of Garmin's other extensions include: ".gpx", ".dxf" and of course ".txt".

Roger