Routes via trails vs. "as the crow flies"

[Paul]

An embarrassingly newbie question:

I just purchased Garmin's Topo 24K map for the Southeast and was trying it out with my Oregon 600 in the neighborhood. What I discovered -- what I should have expected, had I given it more thought -- is that if you attempt to navigate to a waypoint, the GPS will take you there "as the crow flies," not via streets or trails. For example, the unit tried to send me through houses and other impassable objects. Clearly, a map like City Navigator doesn't do this; it knows the streets and highways and creates a route using them.

My question is: Am I correct in believing that a topo map like the Topo 24K will only be able to take you "as the crow flies" unless you create a "route" beforehand and have the GPS follow that route? This is probably a silly question, but I'd like to be sure.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

You are correct in your assumption, if you have a collection of waypoints on your GPS and select 'Goto a waypoint' you will be presented with an 'As the crow Flies' path to it. If you create a 'Track' on a computer program like Garmin Basecamp, the same will apply, i.e. the path between each waypoint in the 'Track' will be in a streight line. If however you create a 'Route' using Garmin Basecamp, even if the 'Route' only has a start and end point (i.e. only two waypoints), then when this route is downloaded to GPS unit, the path from 'Start' to 'End' will follow roads / foot paths etc. that are are part of the maps held on the GPS unit. It is worth noting that the maps used to create the 'Route' on the computer must be the same maps that are held on the GPS unit, if the maps are different, then the 'Route' presented to you on the GPS unit may also be different because a road / footpath on the computer maps may be missing from the maps on the GPS unit