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The future of Basecamp: How about subscription

PSEABOLT
over 1 year ago

The car and trucks have built in navigation. The iPhone and iPad have mapping software, and CarPlay allows you to navigate on the car display. I have looked at 40 different mapping applications, at least, and used several, but I still prefer BaseCamp.  I currently have 8 Garmin GPS devices, but only use the 3 DriveSmart GPS devices. I have not purchased a new GPS in a few years, and because of free map updates, I’m riding with Garmin for free. BaseCamp is the reason I use Garmin. Having maps loaded on computer is big, but no other application allows you to plan your route as well. BaseCamp is in need of updates, but there is little financial incentive for Garmin to update BaseCamp. I think Garmin should offer a subscription option  for a new BaseCamp.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    BaseCamp is a software product that parallels Garmin's bread and butter hardware products, which is why I, personally, would NOT like to see a subscription option. I feel that if they're going to provide the hardware that they should provide the software as an integral part of that.

    After updating to the latest Mac OS a few weeks ago, and not having used BaseCamp for a while, I noticed yesterday that when I opened BaseCamp and looked at a detailed track list, the summary line at the bottom was not being displayed correctly. It used to fit in the narrow horizontal bar (Points, Distance, Area, Elapsed Time, etc.) but now it displayed the information NOT CENTERED within that space. I had to place the cursor carefully within that bar and then tweak the cursor up and down for that summary information to be readable. I called tech support and was told that BaseCamp will NO LONGER BE SUPPORTED, and no updates or fixes will be offered. Great -- just GREAT! My wife purchased an inReach and had to sign up on Garmin's Explore.Garmin.com website, and tech support said THAT'S the way they're going to go now. Again -- just GREAT!. Explore doesn't offer anything that BaseCamp does -- no ability to edit tracks, no ability to display elevation profiles. No way to display different maps. Should I go on? The fact that Garmin is throwing BaseCamp in the trash is very sad and frustrating to all of us who use it. It's not the best piece of software by any means, but at least it works -- and I've become used to it over all these years. Arrrghhh!!

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 5938237

    There has been no BaseCamp development for years now but like its predecessor MapSource, which is still available, BaseCamp will continue to work for many years to come but 'it is what it is'.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Chris7444

    A reason not to buy any new Garmin Hardware till you absolutely have to.  Software is almost as important as the hardware when making purchasing decisions.  

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to bobgps

    Sure but software is not as critical as map updates (there is free software that can replace Basecamp eg QmapShack).  In my opinion Garmin realized they were not making money anymore with map subscriptions. (hence the GPS coming with "lifetime" map updates) By moving to web-based solutions they are making the same move that the major software editors have been doing for several years now. With web-based solutions it will be difficult to work with 3rd party (free) maps (if possible). Hence my guess is that Garmin will not make Basecamp open source for this reason..

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Chris7444
    Unfortunately, this is very short-sighted by Garmin - the ensemble playing of navigation device, offline map and offline planning software has so far been Garmin's unique selling point. If this is omitted, there is no longer any reason to buy a Garmin product.
    I am aware that a product must also pay off in the long term, so I would have no problem with a "Basecamp subscription" - but Garmin must finally provide a stable distribution, more care in the creation of the maps and a base camp development that responds more to customer requirements.
    However, if it is the plan to replace Basecamp with web services such as Explore or Connect in the mid-term, I am gone - my data and data protection are more important to me.
  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Chris7444
    Chris7444 said:
    Why not make the code open source?

    Garmin likely uses the same routing algorithms in BaseCamp that other products and devices use.

    Why give away company secrets?

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to dpawlyk

    Well if we agree on the first part then I wonder which secrets the company wants to keep. Unless this itself is a secret ;-)  And keep in mind that we are talking about a piece of software which is no longer maintained (as far as I understand)

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Chris7444

    It doesn’t matter that BaseCamp isn’t being maintained. Not at all. It’s not like Garmin is getting out of the routing business.

    Routing is a big thing for Garmin. It spent lots of money figuring out how to do that. Why would it want to provide that info to competitors?

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to dpawlyk

    I understand that (lot of money spent) but planning a route is not a differentiator anymore. You can find dozens of web sites that will do it for you and a lot of people think they can do it better than Garmin does (checkout this very forum). . I myself have been working in a company which was once the 2nd largest computer manufacturer in the world and  disappeared because they wanted to stick to a proprietary operating system. (which certainly was one of the best at this time)