Garmin Basecamp Software
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The Grey One
Registered user
I will carry on (to) spend more time moaning on.
Is what you meant
I prefer continuing to add to the debate, especially in a thread started by a question as to which is the best software. Or would you prefer to carry on belittling someone who disagrees with you (use of the term moaning on) and to stifle such debate
I have never said that everyone should follow my lead in continuing using Mapsource. It is a pity that some Basecamp advocates appear unable to give others the same respect-
John
Lighten up, old boy. You'll blow a gasket 
The Grey One
Registered user
Whilst Basil Fawlty fumes, let's see if we can help you out.
OK, when you say "It takes hours" what do you mean? What are you trying to do precisely and how? Are you using a PC or a Mac? What GPS device are you working with?
With most Garmin devices, BaseCamp (or Garmin Express, I forget which) will detect that there is new data on the connected device and ask if you'd like to import it. Click yes and over it will come, in moments.
Are you creating separate routes for each day, which you are looking to colour differenly? For instance, colouring all of day one blue, then all of day two red, then green for day three etc..... How are you doing the colouring? I frequently colour routes in BaseCamp (and did so in Mapsource) with no problems, so it must be easy to do.
The only logical reason for a route to suddenly vanish is if you remove a crucial shaping or waypoint. What are you doing in the colouring process that might cause the route to vanish?
OK, when you say "It takes hours" what do you mean? What are you trying to do precisely and how? Are you using a PC or a Mac? What GPS device are you working with?
With most Garmin devices, BaseCamp (or Garmin Express, I forget which) will detect that there is new data on the connected device and ask if you'd like to import it. Click yes and over it will come, in moments.
Are you creating separate routes for each day, which you are looking to colour differenly? For instance, colouring all of day one blue, then all of day two red, then green for day three etc..... How are you doing the colouring? I frequently colour routes in BaseCamp (and did so in Mapsource) with no problems, so it must be easy to do.
The only logical reason for a route to suddenly vanish is if you remove a crucial shaping or waypoint. What are you doing in the colouring process that might cause the route to vanish?
The Grey One
Registered user
And now you are presumptuous, not a lot of fuming here actually, amused yes, angry no. Why would I be. I don't have the problem and Basil is my hero!
You offer help well bully for you, just remember you are not the only one to do so. If you look back you will see I have offered help too, even on Basecamp issues.
I do admire you and others for coming to grips with Basecamp but I am hardly alone in preferring to stick with Mapsource and, with or without your approval, I will continue to post on the subject. You have my permission to ignore such posts.
John
You have to remember that young Wapping only uses Basecamp 'cos he has little choice since he has one of those excellent Apple thingies..
When he was able to use Mapsource he loved it.. I'm fortunate, I'm able (and can) use both programs, but do honestly prefer Mapsource, finding it much quicker and a whole lot less pissing about with clicking on various icons to achieve a result.
The Grey One
Registered user
Tomcat
Registered user
I think the issue comes when advising folk who are new to Garmin to forget about Basecamp as it is too different/too difficult/doesn't work/etc etc. Sure, you can still make routes in Mapsource and transfer them to latest generation Garmin satnavs but irritating things happen if you do. A while back on the Zumo forums some Americans worked themselves into a frenzy over the 'black flags' that appeared at shaping points, and the fact that shaping points were announced like upcoming turns in the Zumo 550 - and it's because the routes were created in Mapsource, and that's the way it shows shaping points. In Basecamp you have the facility to firstly check which points will be announced and then to turn off the announcement if it isn't going to be useful.
If someone is new to Garmin then they're best advised to invest their time learning Basecamp. Why bother to learn Mapsource when it became unsupported years ago? It takes the same amount of time to plot a route in Basecamp as it does in Mapsource, and to my mind it is easier in some respects - you can use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out, and the alt key plus 'hand' to insert a shaping point. Moreover, Basecamp has one massive advantage over Mapsource: you can have all of your routes, tracks and waypoints in one database, instantly available. No more buggering about opening multiple instances of Mapsource in order to cut and paste sections of route/waypoint/tracks for use on a new journey.
So what's not to like? I started using Mapsource in 2006 with a Quest and became pretty good with it. I stuck with Mapsource when I had a 550 but when that was replaced with a 220 I realised that it was time to move to Basecamp. I'm now using a Nav V and I'm convinced that Basecamp is the right choice from reading all the posts on here from people that have problems with Nav Vs or 590s or 340s or whatever, as most of the time they're creating routes in Tyre or Mapsource or some other app. Then some other dinosaur will appear to explain how to get around these problems using some convoluted method simply to avoid putting a couple of hours of effort into understanding Basecamp.
Try it out, persevere - not everything that is new is crap.
Exactly
When i first came to bike sat nav i bought a 660 and the only option open to me that I was aware of was basecamp
I spent some time learning with no pr conceived ideas or prejudice and guess what
It works and has never failed me.
Easy to create routes and easy to transfer to device, Easy to update.
The Grey One
Registered user
Just like to point out I don't get the issues you talk about. I create all my routes in Mapsource and now use a modern car Garmin in the car as well as the 390 on the bike. . Both devices cope perfectly well with via points, as well as waypoints. These days I tend to only use waypoints for places I really want to go to. Waypoints get announced the via points don't so I am puzzled as to what I am doing wrong!
I think the point is that this dinosaur does not have a convoluted method. Basically I plot my start and end points, allow Mapsource to come up with a route, then I simply drag the route to the roads I want and it creates via points as it goes. That's it, connect device and transfer using Mapsource. I have just done that very thing for a trip to South Shields next weekend. Start point, lunch stop and end points as waypoints, 11 via points along the route. Transferred to the car device (we are taking the mother in law with us) where it looks exactly as planned. If I press go it shows the lunch stop as the first destination and takes me along my planned route to that point.
I find the way Basecamp keeps all my routes to itself does not suite me so I end up saving them elsewhere anyway
I take your point about new users. I am sure if I had bought my first device recently and not over 13 years ago I would learn how to use Basecamp. However there are plenty out there who, like me are, comfortable with Mapsource. I can't really speak for others but until it causes problems I will continue using Mapsource. I do sometimes wonder why that is seen by some a a kind of sin.
I would venture to say that I have more experience of transferring routes to a wide variety of devices than most. If a route is properly constructed with the via points in appropriate places then it matters little where it was made or even which map version. I found that one use of Basecamp was to import my Mapsource created route and have Basecamp recalculate it. Given that the preferences are correct then if Basecamp comes up with a different route you need to adjust the route to prevent this.
John
Spot on.
Now, where's the bod who is struggling for hours to 'get a trip' from his GPS device and losing entire routes when he does some route colouring? I have started a fresh thread, just for him.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...-and-losing-routes-when-colouring-in-BaseCamp
I Use both Mapsource and Basecamp, neither are perfect but what is, i also use google maps for its search function as its easier than the other two, i also use lots of other progs for different map related tasks, there is no one prog that is the be all to end all, its whatever you get along with until that piece of software no longer works for you and you then have to move on to the next one. i suspect that this will happen with mapsource because eventually there new units will not work with it at all, so people will have to move on to basecamp or whatever else there is.
The keyboard shortcuts help get around that (I agree the icon clicking is a bore). The most useful are probably: H (Hand/Pan), Z (Zoom), I (Insert), M (Move), R (Route), S (Select), W (waypoint)
Leedude has it right, too.
You only need to look at how many routes he's created (and generously shared here) to know that he's as comfortable in BaseCamp as he is in Mapsource and visa-versa. With a reasonably small bit of effort anyone can do the same,
With similar excellent results.
You only need to look at how many routes he's created (and generously shared here) to know that he's as comfortable in BaseCamp as he is in Mapsource and visa-versa. With a reasonably small bit of effort anyone can do the same,
With similar excellent results.
Quote, Wapping. (With a reasonably small bit of effort anyone can do the same,) and i guess that that is it in a nutshell, if you chose to buy a satnav in the first place you did so with the intention of using it to help you to go places, maybe just to get you from A to B using only its on board algorithms to get you there, and in that instance you would not need to use any of the above mentioned software and thats fine for that person, but if like most of us on this forum you want to plan and make use of all the available options we have with these devices then the least we can do is spend a little time to learn how to use them.
So many people pick fault with the device or the software, (it wont do this, it cant do that, its doing my head in and its going back.) and yes i agree that sometimes its very frustrating and as said above nothing is perfect, but with a little patience and a bit of help from the various people in this forum some of whom go to the Nth degree to help, you will eventually get there. So dont go on moaning about a particular type of device or software if you are not prepared to put a little effort in to learning how to get on with it, and if under the very rare case that what you are asking of the said item is impossible to do, then thats something you have to accept or move on to something else that will do the said task.
So many people pick fault with the device or the software, (it wont do this, it cant do that, its doing my head in and its going back.) and yes i agree that sometimes its very frustrating and as said above nothing is perfect, but with a little patience and a bit of help from the various people in this forum some of whom go to the Nth degree to help, you will eventually get there. So dont go on moaning about a particular type of device or software if you are not prepared to put a little effort in to learning how to get on with it, and if under the very rare case that what you are asking of the said item is impossible to do, then thats something you have to accept or move on to something else that will do the said task.
Ride magazine latest issue page 99 recommend an app :www.myrouteapp.com. I haven't tried it myself but they rate it highly and in they actually mention that "it's great for Tom Tom owners or Garmin users who struggle with the BaseCamp software".
This may be your answer ??
the big disadvantage with sites like the one above and infact any online resource is just that, you need to be online with a pc or a smart phone or tablet of some description, whereas with the garmin software it only needs to be installed on a little netbook or laptop, no internet needed as its a stand alone prog.
Use Bing Maps in conjunction with Basecamp and all becomes real easy.....
in Bing maps type in your target destination (either name / place / post code / town etc etc
>press enter and it creates a location flag on the map
>right click on the location flag
>choose option "Copy" from the coordinates section
>Go to Basecamp and click "Find" from the top menu bar
>click "locate Coordinates" (the bottom option)
>Highlight the coordinates in the box so it all goes blue and then right click and "Paste" your coordinates over from your clipboard
>Click "Recentre" - you can Skip this stage if you want and go straight to next stage
>Click Create Waypoint
> now right click the waypoint coordinates and rename it whatever you want and you can change the symbol - Press enter
NOW THE WAYPOINT IS SAVED IN BASECAMP AS WHATEVER YOU HAVE NAMED IT AS WITH WHATEVER ICON YOU CHOOSE AND CAN NOW BE USED TO CREATE A ROUTE FROM THE ROUTING TOOL.
SIMPLE.
Rik
in Bing maps type in your target destination (either name / place / post code / town etc etc
>press enter and it creates a location flag on the map
>right click on the location flag
>choose option "Copy" from the coordinates section
>Go to Basecamp and click "Find" from the top menu bar
>click "locate Coordinates" (the bottom option)
>Highlight the coordinates in the box so it all goes blue and then right click and "Paste" your coordinates over from your clipboard
>Click "Recentre" - you can Skip this stage if you want and go straight to next stage
>Click Create Waypoint
> now right click the waypoint coordinates and rename it whatever you want and you can change the symbol - Press enter
NOW THE WAYPOINT IS SAVED IN BASECAMP AS WHATEVER YOU HAVE NAMED IT AS WITH WHATEVER ICON YOU CHOOSE AND CAN NOW BE USED TO CREATE A ROUTE FROM THE ROUTING TOOL.
SIMPLE.
Rik
See the post above yours..
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