You need the Map Source topo program as a source for the data. You buy an SD card, choose the topo information in your area of interest, no more than 1,224 (about) maps, and transfer the data to the SD card inserted in the 696 with the provided cable. Now you have topo data displayed on your 696. You can customize the level of detail in "map set-up" on the 696.
There is a bug, whereby routes created on the Map Source program that come over as "map" waypoints don't act properly on the flight plan page of the 696, but work fine if you create user waypoints instead of "map" waypoints. We have been discussing this with Garmin.