Basecamp help Please?

[Bumpkin]

Will it sometimes make 'mistakes', routing bods left right left through a town, when the most logical route is to go up to the roundabout and turn left. It missed out the roundabout route, prefering the left right left, as both routes could be conducted on 30 mile an hour roads, the left, right, left being simply 200 yards shorter (and maybe even more direct, in strict terms) than going up to the roundabout and turning left, so to the dumb device it satisfied both the quickest and most direct criteria.

That the left right left took you through an industrial estate, or busy shopping street, with umpteen pedestrian lights all on red is not its fault. It does not know, east Helsinki any better than you do. But it got you there, from your front door, via Rome and Leipzig, all down great twisty roads, mate. So, don't be so tough on it, it's probably cleverer than you.... Most of the time.

Exactly; Expecting it to take every traffic light, give way, sharp bend in the road into account is expecting too much. especially across a route traversing distances of hundreds of miles. Adding any such additional data to the mapping would result in further massive file size bloat, slower route calculation and be a continual update nightmare for Navteq. People will be asking for potholes to be added next and then complain when they've been filled in and remain on the mapping data. We're spoiled enough as it is that it looks at speed limit data and bases its calculations on that.

My one observation is that the ETA is pretty consistently optimistic, especially in the car. It could do with either tweaking downwards of have a setting in the menus where you could enter a factor to compensate for your type of use. I can only assume that in the US, with it's simplified and generally straightened road network, the ETA calculation is more accurate. I'm aware that changes can be made in Mapsource and Basecamp but these settings are not transferred to the GPS when you load a route. Additionally, some claim that the GPS learns your riding/driving habits, IMHO it's not that clever.

 

[Wapping]

The ETA observation is an interesting one.

I have two Nav V's, both running the same maps, indentical software, with identical preferences, receiving the same routes from the same computer.

One I use regularly, the other occasionally. Both will import and display the route mileage and ETA differently. The total mileage will be diferent (sometimes by several miles on say a 250 mile day) and the ETA's often significantly different, the under used device being far more pessimistic in its initial predictions. The device I use most often is far better in its predictions and really not too bad at all.

Quite why they differ I have no idea, on the simple face of it they should be indentical.

I did though read on a Garmin or BMW website (as opposed to a forum) that the Nav V would adjust estimated travel times to match in with 'average' useage. I guess that if the device 'knows' that my average MPH over a day is day 55 MPH, as opposed to a national average of say 45, then it will estimate shorter journey times, the ETA being reduced the longer the route. That might explain the difference between the two devices' predictions.... Or it's bollox.... Either way, I think it's not that clever.

The only way for me to find out is to see if by using the lesser used device more often, it will come closer in its predictions. It still won't explain why the total distances for two identical routes might differ. There again, I saw that happen a lot in Mapsouce, total mileages on the PC being much longer than those shown on the device. Quite why, I never did manage to fathom.

 

[Greg Masters]

I did though read on a Garmin or BMW website (as opposed to a forum) that the Nav V would adjust estimated travel times to match in with 'average' useage. I guess that if the device 'knows' that my average MPH over a day is day 55 MPH, as opposed to a national average of say 45, then it will estimate shorter journey times, the ETA being reduced the longer the route. That might explain the difference between the two devices' predictions.... Or it's bollox.... Either way, I think it's not that clever.

I believe that to be true.

The top-end Garmin units 'learn' your driving/riding pace and adjust routes and ETAs accordingly.

 

[Wapping]

I believe that to be true.

The top-end Garmin units 'learn' your driving/riding pace and adjust routes and ETAs accordingly.

Feck me, the default 'average' rider must be feckin' slow.

 

[Bumpkin]

Maybe smarter than I thought then.

Feck me, the default 'average' rider must be feckin' slow.

They obviously didn't have me as a test pilot then

That's Mach 3+ Granted the average is a bit pedestrian...

 

[The Grey One]

Yes, StreetView is excellent - even to the point of looking at signposts when in doubt as to which route to take. Takes extra time though which should not be necessary!
Google Maps routing is much better too.

You should try Google maps here in Austria! They can't get place names in the right position and often the "map" shows something completely different from reality. It to several years of contacting Google on a monthly basis to get them to remove the road thedhad running through our terrace.

John

 

[Micky]

Micky,

You can of course still use the traditional point by point by point method in BaseCamp, if you want to.

Thanks guys ...

I just started my route at my start point ... clever eh Clicked on my finish point and let Basecamp plot the route THEN dragged the route across to where I wanted it to take me ... so I can now see the fundamental flaws and risks as outlined in the previous posts ... ta.

Trouble is with this you need to zoom out, but then lose the bloody roads to move the route to

I rather liked the old fashioned way Wappers, of creating a route point by point, following the screen route on a good old fashioned map at my side

Totally totally forgot that I could still do it this way on Basecamp ... problem solved for future routing

Ta

 

[Wapping]

Take a bit of care if using a Mac, using the point by point by point method on a Mac.

When I do it, when I switch to the 'hand' to move the map around, it stops the route. It then commences a fresh route, when I go back to the point-by-point tool. No big deal, as it's quite easy to join routes together.

PS You can zoom out and bring the detail back up. Use the tool at the bottom of the screen. You can use the same tool to move the map around, removing the need to use the hand tool described above. This removes the start and stop route plotting proem, too.

 

[adventuredon]

Granted that it can occasionally shortcut down a less suitable Road but I disagree that it doesn't differentiate between different classes of road. That's why you'll see a difference between shortest and quickest route if you try both and recalculate.

There maybe some roads that aren't classified correctly though.

I use Google StreetView, where it's available, on bits of a route that I'm unsure about.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

I agree with the shortest very fastest that it does differentiate. Maybe check that the speeds set for different class roads are sufficiently different so that there is actually a time saving element. Mine has started doing this so I will now go see mine! Ps, I learnt that if you plan in basecamp and drag the routes to the sd card you can delete them from the device easier than if dragging them to the zumo itself.

 

[Bumpkin]

Maybe check that the speeds set for different class roads are sufficiently different so that there is actually a time saving element. Mine has started doing this so I will now go see mine!

Not sure about the Nav5 and the latest Zumos but on my 660 you can't adjust the road speeds. You can in Mapsource and Basecamp but this doesn't appear to be transferred with the route.

Ps, I learnt that if you plan in basecamp and drag the routes to the sd card you can delete them from the device easier than if dragging them to the zumo itself.

Yes, I do this a slightly different way by saving the file using the Export function in the file menu and save to the GPX folder (either on the device or SD card). Once you've imported the route though it will also exist in /garmin/gpx/current.gpx. You need to either remove the route from the menus or plug in the Zumo and copy this file to your PC and then delete it from the GPS. A new blank one will be created. This will remove all favourites and current tracks. I use Mapsource (it still has it's uses) to maintain a faves.gpx that I keep on my 660 (/garmin/gpx/faves.gpx on the SD card). This has all my useful favourites in it. I just reimport this once I've had this clear-out. This gets rid of all the route way-points that get automatically added as favourites every time you import a new route.

 

[adventuredon]

okay, that makes sense in a sort of way too. I didn't realise my Nuvi was not picking up the speed changes (as you rightly say, its a basecamp setting). I also didnt realise that I have to remove the current.gpx. thanks for the heads up. Pity, as I find that requires a lot more management of the device! I hate the duplicates and left overs. And then the "not there ones!"

 

[Micky]

Take a bit of care if using a Mac, using the point by point by point method on a Mac.

When I do it, when I switch to the 'hand' to move the map around, it stops the route. It then commences a fresh route, when I go back to the point-by-point tool. No big deal, as it's quite easy to join routes together.

PS You can zoom out and bring the detail back up. Use the tool at the bottom of the screen. You can use the same tool to move the map around, removing the need to use the hand tool described above. This removes the start and stop route plotting proem, too.

Owe you a pint Wappers

Found this out t'other night

BUT I used the up down left right keys to move the map before my very eyes, so thus not breaking my route planning expertise, and able to continue my point to point to point planning

I have to chuckle ... here we are trying to perfect this Star Wars Technology
If someone had said to me back in sixty three, riding an old 1957 BSA 350cc B31 that before I finished motorcycling I would be riding round the Continent with a 'thing' the size of a mobile phone (mobile phone? Eh!) that could take me, with a Post Code (Post Code? Eh!) to anywhere in Europe, with full mapping, down to housing estates .... I'd have told them to feckright off

We've never had it so good

 

[Bigdave]

Take a bit of care if using a Mac, using the point by point by point method on a Mac.

When I do it, when I switch to the 'hand' to move the map around, it stops the route. It then commences a fresh route, when I go back to the point-by-point tool. No big deal, as it's quite easy to join routes together.

PS You can zoom out and bring the detail back up. Use the tool at the bottom of the screen. You can use the same tool to move the map around, removing the need to use the hand tool described above. This removes the start and stop route plotting proem, too.

Hi Wapping,
I'm sure you know this by now but I thought I would add this tip to the end of this thread as it answers the - How do I extend or keep adding to a route in point to point when you've changed tools etc on a Mac.
Select the point to point tool and then press 'cmd' and 'I' together.
If your going back to an old route and want to add an extra few miles then click on the route first, then select the point to point tool, then cmd I.

 

[Wapping]

Thanks for the tip, Bigdave