Useful things I have learned today using BaseCamp on a Mac

[Wapping]

Activity modes

I like to plot my own routes. I have no real use in allowing a dumb (but sometimes overly clever) device to take me the way it choses from A to D via B and C. In short, I want to use the device as a conventional map with what is in affect a simple magenta line displayed, just as if i had highlighted roads on a paper map and stuck it in the window of my tank bag.

I hated the way BaseCamp would decide which roads I would want to ride down, depending whether it was in car or motorcycle 'activity' mode.

I hated the way that BaseCamp would completely recalculate and alter a route (often leaving a mess of roads, U-turns) when switching from car to motorcycle 'activity' modes.

I hated the way an otherwise perfect route would recalculate itself on my Nav V, for apparently no good reason.

With help from assorted threads in UKGSer and Google, I found the solution. The key is to undo all the functions Garmin built into BaseCamp's software pretences. I used this simple video as a guide:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Tf31DO7B438" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The fellow is using a PC but it's little different on a Mac.

• Click on the activity button
  
• Click on manage activities, a menu will popup
  
• Highlight Motorcycling
  
• Click on edit
  
• Click on Edit Route Preferences
  
• Untick as many of the boxes as you like

Do the same in the car mode and any of the other mode choices you fancy. This will stop 99% of the nonsense.

On the Nav 5, make sure your preferences match.

• Turn on the device
  
• Click Settings
  
• Click Navigation
  
• Click Avoidances

Untick the boxes, preferably making them the same as your Mac. Job done.

TWO TIPS:

(1) Take care selecting or deselecting 'Avoid U-Turns' or at least remember what you chose. The device / software can read some very sharp hairpins as U-turns and WILL (if you have asked it to miss them out) plot routes to avoid them. Why? Because it is a dumb machine and is only doing what you have ordered it to do. This will be very frustrating when you really want to go over the Grossglockner but the device sends you three hundred miles out of your way to avoid it.

(2) Take care selecting or deselecting 'Seasonal closures'. The device may know that col XYZ is closed in winter but it may not know that you are currently enjoying a holiday in the heat of August. It will probably create route you around the col or pass; very frustrating.

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

Thanks

 

[Wapping]

(B) Routes transferred in from a PC running Mapsource

I have hundreds of routes stored on a PC, running Mapsource

This morning I copied one file with three simple routes on it, from the PC to my Mac, via a memory stick.

The routes opened up fine in BaseCamp.

I then traced over the routes in BaseCamp, making some simple changes. This effectively creates a fresh new route in BaseCamp. I then sent the routes to my Nav V. The routes refused point blank to display on the device. I then created a very small route in the same file and transferred it to the device. This displayed perfectly. I have no idea why the traced over routes refused to display. I have tried umpteen different ways of doing it, each time with a complete failure.

 

[stolzy]

I can explain this.

Garmin stuff is shit (UKGSer, this section, passim)

 

[iand46]

(B) Routes transferred in from a PC running Mapsource

I have hundreds of routes stored on a PC, running Mapsource

This morning I copied one file with three simple routes on it, from the PC to my Mac, via a memory stick.

The routes opened up fine in BaseCamp.

I then traced over the routes in BaseCamp, making some simple changes. This effectively creates a fresh new route in BaseCamp. I then sent the routes to my Nav V. The routes refused point blank to display on the device. I then created a very small route in the same file and transferred it to the device. This displayed perfectly. I have no idea why the traced over routes refused to display. I have tried umpteen different ways of doing it, each time with a complete failure.

Does MapSource use a different type of file compared to BaseCamp?

 

[iand46]

http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tf31DO7B438?feature=oembed

Set up my Garmin avoidances after watching this Video made by Bumpkin. If I created a route in car mode it automatically changes to motorcycle mode when you plug it into the bike mount & recalculates the route.

 

[stolzy]

If they spent more time on the fundamentals of mapping and routing and less on frivolities such as 'activities', 'trips' and 'adventures' we'd all be better off.

 

[Wapping]

Does MapSource use a different type of file compared to BaseCamp?

Yup, it does.

That's the answer.

 

[Wapping]

If they spent more time on the fundamentals of mapping and routing and less on frivolities such as 'activities', 'trips' and 'adventures' we'd all be better off.

Having spent the better part of the day seeing how it all works, interrupted only by watching Ireland crack up the points against Italy, I am getting to like it more and more.

Yes, it's quirky but so was Mapsource until I got to find my way around it. On a big screen Mac it seems to work a doddle.

Things left to learn include:

Chopping chunks out of routes and knitting them into other routes. This thread will be handy for that:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...ecamp-how-do-I&highlight=basecamp join routes I got pretty good at it in Maosource, using 'Route properties'.

Better use of the Search function. This gets easier with practice.

Better understanding of how the whole Trip and Adventure things work.

I see they are integrating BaseCamp to work with their video camera.

 

[Wapping]

If they spent more time on the fundamentals of mapping and routing and less on frivolities such as 'activities', 'trips' and 'adventures' we'd all be better off.

The odd thing is that lots of bods like to simply type two places and ask their GPS device to take them where it likes. There are lots of threads where fellows say they like that, 'It takes me down roads I would never have ridden, confident I can't get lost'.

Many threads in the Travel section demand routes full of twisty roads, no main roads, no motorways, so Garmin have given punters software that builds those demands in by default. The Nav V latest software update even has:

Added a route calculation mode for curvy roads.

Maps will be dead in a few years. A pity but there you go.

 

[Bryn]

Thanks for the info

 

[Sleepy]

Fortunately I have a proper computer, so don't have to rely on poxy Basecamp, (though I do know how to use it)...

 

[Wapping]

This is quite a handy site:

http://garminbasecamp.wikispaces.com/Data+Management

 

[adventuredon]

I used basecamp last night to make sure I found the start of the BikeSafe course. New thing happened(since last week). Once I had put a way point in basecamp, I got prompted to create a new trip (not a new route with the 2 boxes popping up asking for start and end waypoints - a new trip! It even created a new folder under My Collection!). So I obliged. It - for the first time created a route to the start, then another route back to my start point. It was a complete circular route, NOT a reversal of same route taken. Now from past experience, I know that basecamp hates to and from routes that retrace the points. So I guess they kinda upgraded something. Best was, it worked better than usual. A complete different software interface on the trip box (as opposed to the usual start/end route planner). Anyhow, it worked. Go figure! I have noticed though that a route planned in basecamp with x avoidances, then transferred to unit, assumes the units properties for avoidances/profile. And if you change avoidances on the device, the route gets modified. I guess that's what Wappings post refers to..Anyhow,....

 

[Wapping]

You are right about the device's preferences taking precedence. I guess it makes sense; bods would be v pee'd off if their device didn't calculate routes according to the owner's preferred routing choices.

I have been mucking around in the 'Trip planner' function.

http://garminbasecamp.wikispaces.com/Trip+Planner

It works quite well and will come into its own when planning jaunts over a longrr number of days, not least as it has a tidy calendar function. You can drop in your hotels, either from the POI lists, or create them manually, just like any other waypoint. The calendar also displays nicely on the Nav 5; really quite tidy.

Over the years I have got used to plotting routes patiently and manually, viapoint by viapoint. In BaseCamp it's easier to turn off all the optional avoidances, hit 'Take me from A to B' and then 'elastic band' the route to suit your chosen roads. Just zoom in and out a bit to make sure you haven't clicked on a dual carriage way and / or that it hasn't routed you down some bizarre back street in order to cut a corner needlessly.

The software is now good in that it clearly displays the time and distance between two points, quite useful. You can also build in departure times and stop-over times, which could be handy. As a test, I created a 'Trip plan' for an Easter break to Vianden. It's a route I know pretty well, knowing how long it usually takes us, where we stop and for how long. For instance, we usually stop for 90 minutes for lunch in Chimay and have two twenty minute fuel stops. I lobbed these in and the total overall estimated time was pretty accurate. The Nav 5 is good at displaying segmented route cards, handy when somebody asks "How long / far is it to J8 at Cambrai?" Take a bit of care when you set your viapoints and you'll have a pretty good idea as to when you'll expect to be somewhere.

Can you do it with a paper map and a bit of common sense? Yes, of course you can, providing you know the distance and your average speed between two or more known points. 250 miles a day down non-motorway roads will still be a decent schlep with a group, 350 with a chunk of motorway; everyone knows that.... Don't they?

There is a handy 'slider' which you can move along the route with, counting off miles and I think time, too. Useful if you want to stop after say two hours or 100 miles as you can see where the nearest town is.

I'm getting used to the Search function too. It found Chimay in a fraction of a second, Vianden, too.

My only lingering concern is whether it will export into Mapsource. I have got a nagging feeling that I might have to save the routes as tracks or into a .gpx format in order to share them, not least as I am obliged to use BaseCamp to create routes for my Nav V. I will play around with it, not least as I can always send routes to myself to see if they open up on my PC.

The more I use it, the better a Mac / BaseCamp / Nav V combo is becoming. That's for sure. To be honest, it's best to practice creating routes that you know you are going to use. A couple of times today I would have thrown the towel in, but knowing that I had to do some routes for assorted Wanders kept me going. It was just the same with Mapsource. Patience is its own reward.


PS Got the knit routes together together function to work. My thanks to those who gave all the tips in the thread mentioned above. That saved hours of guesswork.

 

[stolzy]

The odd thing is that lots of bods like to simply type two places and ask their GPS device to take them where it likes. There are lots of threads where fellows say they like that, 'It takes me down roads I would never have ridden, confident I can't get lost'.

Many threads in the Travel section demand routes full of twisty roads, no main roads, no motorways, so Garmin have given punters software that builds those demands in by default.

All fine and dandy, but if it can't find the name of the town you want to go to what use are the bells and whistles?

 

[Wapping]

I'm getting used to the Search function too. It found Chimay in a fraction of a second, Vianden, too.

Once you get the hang of it, it's fine.

 

[STUBBS]

thanks for that, hopefully that will help take some of the dark art of basecamp will have a proper look tomorrow

 

[stolzy]

Once you get the hang of it, it's fine.

Bet you can't successfully search for Trier on the German-Luxembourg border

 

[Wapping]

A try at Trier? No fear!