Basecamp for complete Numpties

[Bumpkin]

Off the topic - if you guys are new to going abroad guided by such devices - I'd deffo recommend a GTM-12 traffic alert unit.

Someone of this parish posted last year about these being sold on eBay for around £10, I snapped one up and now finally have a use for it. Going for £40-£50 currently and TBH, given we're on bikes, seems like a lot to pay to be alerted to traffic that we can filter though.

Traffic subscription for UK and France included.

But did you know that filtering in France is illegal This is countered by a very bike aware and sympathetic motoring public who warn you about speed traps and and move aside to let you past if there is a queue. I have filtered in France every time I've been and never had any problems with the law, might be different in Paris and big cities but I try to avoid these or at least pass though them at non busy times of day.

 

[Bumpkin]

OK, so you're saying get in to the habit of using basecamp without the unit plugged in and then transfer the route to the unit after?

Well I don't rely on having the unit plugged in, easier that way. However, if it works and it sounds like you're short on time to sort out the mapping then use this method.

How do I avoid motorways and re-route? Do I have to make the change under the 'motorcycle' profile or can I do it on a 'per route' basis?

You can do this on the GPS within the current profile but would be best to replicate this in Basecamp just to ensure that you're singing from the same song sheet as it were. The avoidances on the Zumo aren't quite as comprehensive as those in Basecamp but the basic ones you need are on both.

Changing the profile in Basecamp seems to recalculate all routes in the database that use that profile, you should see the changes straight away.

A bit late for my trip tomorrow

Are you off on tour tomorrow, good luck with the Zumo. I sincerely hope it'll do as you expect, but as someone new to route plotting for Garmin you may have to expect this to be a voyage of discovery with a few teething problems along the way.

Enjoy your trip

 

[Stonker]

Well I don't rely on having the unit plugged in, easier that way. However, if it works and it sounds like you're short on time to sort out the mapping then use this method.

OK, I'll play around

You can do this on the GPS within the current profile but would be best to replicate this in Basecamp just to ensure that you're singing from the same song sheet as it were. The avoidances on the Zumo aren't quite as comprehensive as those in Basecamp but the basic ones you need are on both.

Changing the profile in Basecamp seems to recalculate all routes in the database that use that profile, you should see the changes straight away.

OK, for this route, I want to avoid motorways so I'll change the motorcycle profile in basecamp for now. I think you really need to be able to do this on a per route basis

Are you off on tour tomorrow, good luck with the Zumo. I sincerely hope it'll do as you expect, but as someone new to route plotting for Garmin you may have to expect this to be a voyage of discovery with a few teething problems along the way.

Enjoy your trip

Only a long weekend. We are meeting with some German and Belgiun friends until Sunday and then we will go somewhere else for a couple of days. I could easily do it with maps, post it's & experience so it's an opportunity to learn how to use it.

 

[Stonker]

OK, I've reset the profile and now have a cross country route. There are lots of black dots or diamonds all over the map. What are they?

 

[Bumpkin]

OK, I've reset the profile and now have a cross country route. There are lots of black dots or diamonds all over the map. What are they?

You have your detail turned up too high, these are towns and villages. The detail drop down menu at top right in Basecamp should be adjusted to a setting that you're visually comfortable with (i.e. screen too crowded with detail) and is reasonably fast to redraw on your PC (faster PC = faster redraw). I tend to keep mine on medium but switch it to high or highest when I need fine detail but only when zoomed in.

EDIT: Sorry, it's top right on my copy. You have to enable this in Basecamp; 'View' > 'Toolbars' > 'Detail level' and then move it in the toolbar to where you want it.

Shouldn't you be packing or changing your oil or something

 

[Stonker]

Thanks. Sorted that now.

The bike only had it's first service last week. Not too much packing to do just for a weekend either but yes, I do need to go out and put the cradle on the bike this afternoon.....

 

[cookie]

i calculate the route in basecamp including motorways. this give me an idea of where a "normal" route would take me. i then drag the route onto the roads i actually want to use, this adds via points that the zumo will have to include when it recalculates the route.

often motorways, especially in france, can take great oxbow loops out of the way because it was the best/easiest place to build them. dragging the route into a more direct path is often very beneficial.

 

[Bumpkin]

If you need to get there fast then motorways/autoroutes, even toll paying ones, are a necessary evil. For our trips abroad we tend to use them for the first day to get into the good bits. Thereafter we stick to the N and D roads.

I tend to do much the same as you cookie, drag nodes away from autoroutes and onto the lesser, but more interesting, road network.

For planning, and on-the-road grand overview, I use the Michelin regional (orange cover) series maps. Green edged roads, supposedly scenic routes, tend to make excellent biking roads.

 

[Stonker]

If you need to get there fast then motorways/autoroutes, even toll paying ones, are a necessary evil. For our trips abroad we tend to use them for the first day to get into the good bits. Thereafter we stick to the N and D roads.

I tend to do much the same as you cookie, drag nodes away from autoroutes and onto the lesser, but more interesting, road network.

For planning, and on-the-road grand overview, I use the Michelin regional (orange cover) series maps. Green edged roads, supposedly scenic routes, tend to make excellent biking roads.

I agree about the autoroutes. I generally only use them on te first & last days if I can help it.

OK, I've got the mount on the bike and look set to go. To get the route onto the unit, I assume I just drag and drop the route on to the device within basemap? How do I then choose the route on the device, is it 'custom routes,?

 

[Bumpkin]

I assume I just drag and drop the route on to the device within basemap? How do I then choose the route on the device, is it 'custom routes,?

Within Basecamp, yes, drag route to Zumo itself (all data) or to the memory card if you have one installed.

Once the route is on the GPS it should prompt you on boot that it's found new data and give you the opportunity to import it. Otherwise go 'Tools' > 'Data' > 'Import Routes'.

Once imported, you can have a maximum of 20 in the menu at any one time (but 1000s on the GPS if you like), you access them by going 'Where To' > 'Custom Routes' or 'Tools' > 'Custom Routes'.

 

[Stonker]

OK, done that. I've also imported the 2 waypoints. How do I navigate to them if needed?

 

[Bumpkin]

OK, done that. I've also imported the 2 waypoints. How do I navigate to them if needed?

To navigate to way-points directly use 'Where To' > 'Favourites', you should find them in there (hopefully you've named them in an identifiable way), just select and press 'Go'. Obviously your Zumo will decide how you're going to get there if you want to avoid motorways or tolls then select these in the avoidances for the current profile.

 

[Stonker]

To navigate to way-points directly use 'Where To' > 'Favourites', you should find them in there (hopefully you've named them in an identifiable way), just select and press 'Go'. Obviously your Zumo will decide how you're going to get there if you want to avoid motorways or tolls then select these in the avoidances for the current profile.

Cool. Well at least I'm on the road. Thanks for that. I'm sure I'll have more questions....

 

[mr_magicfingers]

This morning I was planning a route on basecamp. I put in the road I was searching for but it didn't come up. Strangely, I could zoom right in on the map and click on the road, which then gave me house numbers next to the click point. Tried searching again, centered on the road itself and it still didn't find it. I created a waypoint on the road and it gave me the correct address etc in the waypoint data box.

Couldn't figure out why the find command wouldn't find the street. Any ideas?

 

[Bumpkin]

Couldn't figure out why the find command wouldn't find the street. Any ideas?

It does seem to prefer proximity, maybe they intend you to narrow it down by finding City then street

I tried a few and they did seem to locate OK, found Manchester when centred in NE France and then from there found an obscure side street. The street level search only seems to have a small search radius before it gives up, 10 or so miles.

Seems to work a little better than the search functionality in Mapsource, not too hard , but nowhere as good as, say, Google Maps.

 

[trebor]

Searching for addresses is much easier in Mapsource, at least you can search on post codes, something that Basecamp doesn't appear to be able to do and has been the subject of much discussion on the Zumo forums
(If the facility is there, it is not intuitive.)

A few years ago Mapsource was terrible to use, but they finally developed it into a useful, useable, program then abandon it for Basecamp.

I can use both programs, but at the moment prefer to use Mapsource. Once they have improved the ability of Basecamp to search for addresses (as well as Mapsource can) I'll probably switch to it.

By the way Chas, I do like your video tutorials

Bob

 

[Bumpkin]

Postcode search would be useful. Apparently it's on the agenda for Basecamp but when is the question...

The actual address searching is better than the very clunky method in Mapsource but you need to search for city first then a further 2nd search for street.

Searching in both Mapsource and Basecamp are flawed, just in slightly different ways.

I do admit that some attention from the Garmin developers in this respect would help make Basecamp much better.

 

[ghiribizzo]

Garmin should hire you Bumpkin to oversee how-it-should-be...
I wonder when - if at all - they will send a reply e-mail about the inability to fit the full mapping on for that matter how to do it once a micro-SD card is fitted.
Thankfully we have you and other guys to call upon.

 

[mr_magicfingers]

I found the problem: Basecamp had reverted to the global map database rather than the CityNavigator database. Once I loaded that it worked fine. *headdesk*

 

[Stonker]

OK, reporting back after my trip to Belgium and Germany, things went pretty well. However, when I needed fuel, I looked for a filling station on my 660 and afterwards needed to get beck on my route. When I selected the route, it asked me if I wanted to start from the beginning. Clearly I didn't want to do this. Can you re-join a route from the nearest point?