Garmin Zümo XT/XT2: BirdEyes

BirdsEye on the Garmin Zümo XT/XT2

BirdsEye on the XT/XT2 provides detailed satellite images of a specific area, especially useful for off-road driving when not all roads are mapped. You can overlay these images on the map as a map layer, toggling them on or off.

To download a BirdsEye area (via Apps to BirdsEye Direct), select a point on the map and then choose the width/height (only a square can be chosen). For an area of 100 x 100 km, you'll need almost 2 GB of data, so if you plan to download a large area, you'll quickly need an additional micro SD card (€ 10) for the XT/XT2. Downloading BirdsEye data can be slow, so it's crucial to keep the area as small as possible by selecting smart points. On the other hand, choosing BirdsEyes on the XT/XT2 is not very user-friendly, so I have created a tool for this: BirdEyes Generator.

Create Points of Interest (POIs) with the BirdEyes Generator

• Open Google Maps and choose a position to the upper left of the area you want to download
• Right-click and select the coordinates from the menu
• Open BirdEyes Generator, and copy the coordinates
• Adjust the settings if needed (at least the maximum size, depending on whether you have an XT or XT2)
• Generate the .gpx and check on the map below if your entire area is included; if not, adjust the settings accordingly
• Download the GPX file when you're satisfied
• Import the GPX file to your XT/XT2 with Explore/Thread

Download BirdsEyes with Zümo XT/XT2

• Navigate from the home screen to 'Apps' and then select the 'BirdsEye Direct' app
• Click on the download icon (top left)
• Click on 'Location'
• Scroll down to 'Garmin Explore waypoint'

• Search for 'qqq' (if you have added this to the name of your POIs)
• Click and 'select' a POI
• Click on 'Size' and adjust the size to the mentioned kilometers in the waypoint's name

• Check if 'microSD card' is selected under 'Save to'
• Click 'Download'
• Click 'OK' (optionally modify the name)

• Repeat this for all 'qqq' POIs (and connect the XT to the charger, as this may take some time)

NOTE: The XT2 can have a maximum of 5 BirdsEyes in the download/pending queue. If you have more than 5 BirdsEyes, wait until they are finished before adding the next 5 to the download queue.

Check the result

• Go to the main screen, view the map, and activate the BirdsEye map layer
• Slide and zoom the map to the area for which you downloaded them and verify that the entire area is visible as a satellite image
• Set the collection of waypoints to 'not visible' or delete it

Next step: Enhance the POIs on your routes with nice icons using my POI2PIC tool!