Mix US states + a few Europe countries in TomTom XL?

[banvetor]

Hi,

I have a TomTom XL with the full Europe map, and since the device has only 2Gb, I need to select Map Zones.

I will travel to California shortly, and I would like to bring my XL with me, with the US map, which I can buy. However, the US map is also almost 2gb, so obviously both my US and Europe zone map will not fit at the same time. The problem is that I would also like to use my device to guide me to the airport here in Italy... and at the same time, I just need the California map, not the full US map while there...

Does somebody knows if it is possible to mix and match these 2 maps? I know this is not officially supported, but maybe, after downloading the maps, I can manually copy some folders to the device, and therefore have everything that I need.

I will travel very shortly (i.e. next Saturday), so if anyway can help me soon, I would greatly appreciate. I don't want to rent a GPS in the US, mostly because I want to add some favorite locations before hand. Also, I will not bring my laptop with me, so buying the map, keeping it on the computer, and then transferring during the flight or something like that is also not an option...

Many thanks,
Leo.

 

[canderson]

You can't mix and match .. you get all or nothing for an individual map set, whether it's European zone or a U.S. map.

However, you can copy the European map folder off to your PC, delete it from your unit, and then install the U.S. map, and swap them back when you are done. If you look at your unit now, you should see a folder with a name similar to "Western_Europe" or similar on your device.

One way to be sure you have your European map backed up before you start on the U.S. map is to do a full backup of your unit, which we always recommend anyway. See details at this link >> https://www.tomtomforums.com/t17864-how-backup-contents-your-unit-computer-how-restore.html

Ideally, Home could be used to move maps back and forth, but we tend not to trust it, especially when the folder can be copied and deleted with relative ease using the PC's own file copy and delete methods. If you need additional info, let us know.

 

[banvetor]

Hi canderson, thanks for your reply.

That's just sad that you can't mix and match... stupid TomTom...

Seems like, if I don't want to spend 300 EUR on the World Traveller unit, I will just need to print all my desired locations from my Google Map and manually enter them when I arrive...

You'd have thought that at this day and age you could completely skip such a manual step! But no... even "offline Google maps" is useless, since it can download the map, but not my saved places (why!?!?!? God why!) and also not give directions when offline...

How I miss my old Nokia "smartphone" sometimes...ehehe

 

[canderson]

Well, not so stupid. The really large files integrate data from the whole map for a good reason, and you can't split those apart. If it were otherwise, they wouldn't have had to create zones for Europe due to size.

It's not much of a deal to copy your map folder to your PC. By rights, you should already have a decent backup of your entire unit "just in case" -- especially your MAP! That allows us to get you out of some pretty ugly ditches if anything ever goes wrong. Should your map data ever become corrupt or lost, you're in some expensive trouble.

So if you copy your Western_Europe map folder over to your PC and then delete it from your unit (be SURE it copies correctly first!), then you will have space for the U.S. map. When you get home, you copy the U.S. map to your PC and delete it from your unit, and copy the Western_Europe map folder back to your unit.

All you're doing is swapping one map folder for another due to size limitations.

 

[banvetor]

canderson, the problem is that I want to use the GPS both here in Europe, to go to the airport, and then also there in the USA, while in California.

They could also just sell maps by state (and by country in Europe...)

 

[dhn]

You can copy your Europe map to the computer. Then, once sure it has copied properly, delete it from the unit.

Then purchase the USA map and install on the unit. This one should work:
https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/shop/maps/#deviceSelected=19549&mapSelected=USA

Use the unit in the States. When you return to Italy, just reverse the process

 

[banvetor]

Hi guys, maybe I was not clear earlier...

I want to use it here in Europe to go to the airport, then in the US to drive around California. I will NOT have my notebook with me during the trip, so the suggestions about copying/deleting/copying do not really solve my problem.

Thanks,
Leo.

 

[canderson]

Ah - we understand now. Since that model doesn't have a uSD card slot, there's no way to play the 'swap the card' game, either. Your dilemma is one of the reasons that I purchased a very inexpensive and lightweight netbook a couple of years ago.

 

[banvetor]

Yes... I do have an Android tablet with an USB port, but I never tested to see if Android recognizes the TomTom internal memory... maybe that could work...

 

[Andy_P]

Sounds like a good solution to me. Let us know if it can see the TomTom and is able to copy files to it and back.

If so, you can swap maps when you get there.

 

[canderson]

The only way that an Android tablet is going to connect to another "client" device is by means of a USB OTG (On-the-Go) adapter cable. FWIW, I've heard that as of 3.1 (Honeycomb), Android, there's some support for a non-client mode in Android itself, but depending up on the device, it may have to be rooted first since the support isn't there from all of the tablet manufacturers to begin with.

Will be interested to hear how this goes. I've seen some demos of cameras and the like being connected to tablets to move photos back and forth, sometimes with considerable preparation effort.

 

[Andy_P]

Ah, is a tablet not seen as a "controller" (like a PC) then?

Must have a look at these "On the Go" cables... Taking things to extremes, could you use one of those to get data transferred between two USB memory sticks, with nothing else involved? :lol:

 

[canderson]

Some while back, the USB consortium realized that the traditional host/client approach to USB worked fine until you started to get involved with small devices that looked and felt like hosts (heck, darned near any smart phone behaves that way now) but were primarily expected to sync to a larger computer. They found many use models that required a peer to peer connection instead. So the 'USB On-the-Go' (OTG) standard was created to try to bridge that gap (literally and figuratively).

Few devices support OTG, even though the standard has been around for a while, but it can be very convenient when you are lucky enough have a pair of gadgets that can talk to each other.

Since OTG provides a device with a version of host-side ability, there have been all kinds of hacks to get these to talk to non-OTG devices in a more traditional host/client manner. The primary issue is that the cables are freaky, and there's always the issue of whether the peripheral device requires power to operate (like a USB stick, for example), and how much. It's all ill defined non-standard use of OTG in most cases, and sometimes even requires rooting the host side to get the capability enabled.

You'll even find some USB keyboards plugged into a few smart phones courtesy of hacks of this sort.

 

[canderson]

Taking things to extremes, could you use one of those to get data transferred between two USB memory sticks, with nothing else involved? :lol:

To answer that one specifically (for our larger audience), no. At least one side of the conversation has to be in charge of initiating the USB session and managing it, and a thumb drive can't do that. However, boxes have been built that are capable of initiating conversations between two client devices and moving data back and forth between them. Makes cloning USB thumb drives a snap, though it's just as easy to use a PC.