german dutch swedish spanish en francais italian polish portuguese russian finnish

Theme Editor 6.1

The most advanced Garmin Theme Editor changing maps on NUVI , ZUMO and Car models devices FAST!

Garmin's Recent new additions to a KMTF file

The latest Popularity Fields include settings for Background and Foreground width, ie BG_WIDTH and FG_WIDTH.

These affect the 'routing line' properties. It is unclear what the maximum values are and currently they are set to 200 but please contact us if this is incorrect.

You can add / remove BG/FG WIDTH properties by right clicking on an element which supports these features.

Themes on Fenix 6/7, Edge 530/830/1030 in Theme Editor 5

  • Garmin has modified the theme file structure for its latest devices.
  • They include new line and polygon types and add 2 day & night colours to polygons
  • Width is used in preference to scale
  • Zero Opacity is used to hide lines or borders
  • When using the Text Editor always ensure colours start with a 2 byte Opacity value '
  • Support for such themes (Classic,Mountain Biking,High Contrast,Popularity etc) , is available now.
    You can change the purple colour and thickness of your popular routes etc.
  • Always ensure backups are kept of original files
New Theme Format
Version 6.1 Showing New BG & FG Width

Theme Editor is a very popular Editor of Garmin Map Themes (kmtf files) used on many Nuvi , Zumo & Car devices.

It's FREE with no junk to untick!

Latest Version:

  • Fixed night 'code issues
  • Added support for Night Pointers/Arrows
  • Fixed night colours not showing correctly in Editor
Theme Editor 3
Theme Editor 3

Cars with built in Garmin GPS systems

If your car comes with a built in Garmin GPS and can update your maps via a USB (see car manual), you can also create a new theme and upload it to your car!

What you are not told is ...

When updating your map you can add your theme and even your POIs, like street cameras - see gpi format below.

The following applies to Hondas but should apply to other cars as well .

a) follow instructions on how to add a special garmin xml file so it recognises your car.

b) Use Garmin Express to download your map

c) Before reinserting your usb into your car's usb slot create a new directory called Themes within the 'Garmin' folder.

d) Drop your new theme and copies of your current themes into the Themes folder.

Changing a Highway's colour
garmin car sat nav on a Honda

WARNING !!! You must have copies of all your other themes and insert them into the themes folder as well!

If you don't , the device deletes all existing themes and you will only have a default one,called Garmin, and your new one !

If this happens, obtain the usual theme files and add them to the Themes folder, then reupdate your map in the car.

Picture also shows own style (with Beach, tracks etc) and a Speed Camera POI (48x48)

Warning - read this if your car has a built in Garmin SATnav!

Garmin many suddenly cancel your traffic information!!!

This is an email from Honda:

Honda and Garmin have reached an agreement not to have the traffic information available on some Honda models due to the quality of the information provided.
Additionally, our seniour colleagues have analysed the usage patterns of the function and have determined that most customers would use android auto/apple car play over the built-in navigation and that is why it has limited features.

Speed Cameras in Europe

speed camera Speed Cameras can be added as well

Download speed camera data for free no membership required!

Convert TYP files to Themes



TYPWiz 7 
  • converts themes to TYP files, enabling you to visualise your theme on Basecamp or Mapsource - see below.
  • In reverse, converts a TYP file to a kmtf file.
    Opentopo map (right) saved as a kmtf file..

 Available Free

 checked for viruses & malware

 Run as Administrator

 

Change colours of Polygons

no need to know the hex !

Currently the maximum 16 polygons can be changed depending on your device.

How to get OSM pois, like speed cameras on your Nuvi or Zumo .

Garmin used .gpi files for their POis . More on gpi file format.

OSM POIS on your Nuvi/Zumo

TIP

1) 'Arrow' colours : change 'RTE_ACTIV_LEG'

2)Traffic 'lines' are generated by Garmin and cannot be customised.

To make lines stand out, make your polygons and highways darker.

 

Railway Lines

Editing Railway Lines Day or Night
  Editing Railway Lines Day or Night

What it does

All themes have the extension .kmtf / On many Nuvis they are found in a Themes/Maps folder.

Maps contain a maximum of 5 'Presentations' ( categories)

Guidance, Browse, Traffic, Turn Preview, Route Preview and Pedestrian

This means you can have your guidance and traffic maps look differently etc.

Some default map themes have only one Presentation. With Theme Editor you can quickly select and add/remove a presentation.

  Garmin informed us:

  'I think that you can safely ignore all of the presentations but the “Guidance” presentation.  
  Late in development, we decided to change directions and make all presentations of map use
  the same base theme.'

LINES WITH BITMAPS

It appears that some lines have a bitmap although they cannot be altered by the user, ie

The notion of such lines having borders is somewhat confusing.

No point changing some Lines and Areas

There are quite a few lines and areas which are never rendered on your Sat Nav, ie contours,power lines,building shades.

This is because no such data is included in the City Navigator Maps.

Small waterways, rivers, always seem to have a default blue.and are not altered by MISC_WATER_LINE

Roundabouts

Roundabouts are not affected by a theme . Their size and colour are taken from the type of highway they represent.

Lines where border colors have no effect

Trails & Unpaved Roads

Picture left illustrates the difference between Trails and Unpaved Roads

They are normally barely visible on your nuvi but rendered as green and orange. Both have borders in the kmtf file but these are totally ignored!

Beaches are rendered orange as a polygon.

Taken from City Navigator Europe NTU 2019.2 - see below

How to convert kmtf to TYP

TYPWiz 7 converts kmtf files to TYP files enabling you to visualise your new style on Basecamp/Mapsource.

We converted the relevant ktmf files then added them to City Navigator Europe NTU 2019.2 using TYPWiz 7--> Tools,Add & Replace ...

Dutch Theme German Theme French Theme
Dutch Theme German Theme French Theme

Download Theme Editor

Theme Editor 6
 
Theme Editor setup 6.1
 
 Version requires a key - see below
 
 
 
 
 

 Secure Download Theme Editor manual

 
Windows 7/10/11 click here

 Registration details:

 Go Registration --> Add Key and enter

 theme_editor@pinns.co.uk

 13316080

 

Change colours of lines and borders of Highways and other lines .

Currently a maximum of 33 lines are available.,
Not all of them may be used by your device
- see below.

Add Registration  

FIT to GPX/TCX/CSV converter

Fit Converter
 
  • FIT Converter is a new FREE GUI for Windows.
  • It converts the latest FIT files including Strava Segments
  • Garmin prefers FIT files to GPX has they can contain additional information like hear rate, temperature,cadence etc
  • FIT files are more complex and cannot be read as a txt file.
  • More then likely , your device contains a FIT file.

GPI File Structure

GPI files contain data about the POIs used by sat-navs, such as speed cameras,petrol stations,supermarkets etc.

These are not text files ;information can be extracted to edit your POIS or even create new ones.

 

Check out more information >