Don't like the iTune like interface

At least in the Finder I can see the difference between an original and an alias.

Mapsource opens GPX files. RouteBuddy opens gpx files via double click, but does import them on opening. Early versions of RouteBudddy worked on individual gpx files and allowed an individual window for each gpx file.

I've been managing my own files and folders and backing them up since command line days.

Most frustrating example... Select a folder in basecamp or roadtrip.
Duplicate it. Hmm Intuition tells me I should have 2 copies of everything and I should be able to edit the contents of the duplicate, but the original will remain unaltered.

But it does not work that way a duplicate folder is merely a pointer to the originals that are in my collection.

It's very frustrating.
So I figure, OK export the original as a GPX... and that is saved.
Make alterations.

Then reimport the original. some things get overwritten with the old, some get duplicated.

If i had 2 files open I could alter one and leave the other unaltered.
And everything could be easier to understand.

I am learning, and I figure Garmin is permanantly married to the current interface, but that does not mean I have to like it.

It is still very awkward.

I receive a gpx file from someone else. I import it into BaseCamp or RoadTrip.
I look it over, one of the routes happens to be too big and RT or BC crashes.
When I reopen BC or RT the recently imported folder is gone, but all the contents are still stuck inside My Collection. I want to remove that stuff, but since I did not have time to memorize what is there I am simply SOL.

My data files should not be buried within ~/Library/Application Support/Garmin/BaseCamp inside one big .GDB file. It just does not make any sense at all to me. I now know to back that folder up, but if i have to reimport it I will have a mess of duplicates to sort out. Minimally I should be allowed to define the location of my data, so I can place it inside MyDocuments if I choose to.

I end up exporting MyCollection, then deleting it and starting over in order to work with things in a convenient way, and that is just too awkward. Managing the contents of My collection is too difficult.

I'd be OK with saving individual gdb files. file type does not matter as long as the information is there.

Are you really saying you would prefer the manage 2000 waypoints as individuals files, plus your tracks and routes? You going to name them all and keep up with them by file name?

If you mount usb memory, Scandisk or the brand you prefer, basecamp will mount the volume under my Garmin devices. You can drag as many objects as you wish to the memory card and view them on the map by selecting and showing on map

You can have multiple Collections. Be sure BaseCamp is not running and go to your Home Directory/Library/Application Support/ Garmin and create a folder named 'BC Not Used' and drag your basecamp folder to the folder you just created. Now launch BaseCamp and BaseCamp will create you a new empty collection folder.

I would like to see subfolders, filtering by text but I think the iTunes interface is by far the best approach. BaseCamp has some rough edges but it is still beta 2.1.1 and I am very impressed with the application.

Thanks for fixing the thread.

I really do wish Garmin would ditch this whole Itunes like interface.

let me double click on the gpx files and open them.
let me have multiple gpx files open at the same time.

Let me manage and sort my own data in folders within the finder.
Let me use the Stationery feature of the MacOS.
Forget My Collection... It's totally unreliable.

I think this interface will be more confusing over the long run.

Just make it work like any document oriented application.

I've lost the contents of my RoadTrip and My BaseCamp due to corruption within the Librarys few times. If i had the ability to just save and manage my own data in the conventional manner that would make it so much easier to deal with.

+1 to everything said above. The whole "My Collection" concept is one of the reasons I still run a copy of MapSource. I've got over 10years of collected tracks and associated waypoints that are the result of trips I've done. Probably another 30 or so files of shared ride planning. All of it is named and filed in such a way that I can pull up the file containing a specific year and trip with a click.

Are you really saying you would prefer the manage 2000 waypoints as individuals files, plus your tracks and routes? You going to name them all and keep up with them by file name?

It's the way I've managed my Garmin data for years and it works well for me. All of the pre-planned routes, waypoints and resulting tracks for a trip are all included in one file. Some of these trips have been 10K plus miles over 30 or 40 days and I only revisit them when I'm planning in the same vicinity. Having the data specific to the ride on hand and easily found via the file name, click and it opens in my mapping application, that's what I want.

Are you really saying you would prefer the manage 2000 waypoints as individuals files, plus your tracks and routes? You going to name them all and keep up with them by file name?

Yep, I have been organizing my own files for at least 20 years.

Think about the way that iTunes is used... You import music into it and play the music. You do not create songs with itunes, you only select certain songs to be played in a playlist.

In a Trip planning software you are creating routes, those routes are seldom reused in their entirety. I reuse waypoints and might reuse a portion of a route or track, but seldom reuse the entire route.

People who USE MapSource for planning trips have worked out their own way of managing multiple GDB files.

I am a Motorcyclist.

I use the winter off season months to plan trips. 4 or 5 per year.

Every trip is stored in it's own file. All waypoints, routes, and POI's for that trip. When I get home I copy the Tracks from the GPS into that File and save it. Lets say this file is named Adirondacks-2008.

If I have all my trips inside my Collection it is horribly unruly.

I don't want 2000 waypoints in My Collection all at once.

In Mapsource I can work with it very easily.

For Instance I am planning a Trip to the Catskills for 2010.
In Mapsource I can open the Adirondacks-2008 file.
I can also open a new empty Mapsource Window.
I can select exactly the few things from the Adirondacks trip that I want to reuse, and simply copy - paste that into the new Catskills file.

Then close the Adirondacks file.

There is not any extraneous data there that gets in my way.
Away I go with a new Trip plan.

The biggest problem with My Collection is the importing and exporting of stuff.

During the import process things get duplicated, renamed and occasionally overwritten, and the software does not tell me that it is modifying my data. That part is Unacceptable. Minimally I should get a list of waypoints, tracks and routes that have been renamed.

I share trips, routes, etc. I collaborate with my Brother on route/trip planning. If I send him stuff I've worked on, he makes some modifications and sends it back to me. I import that into RT or BC, I now have a mess in My Collection because of the renaming and duplication of some of the data. On some occasions his modified route has overwritten my original route. The logic of sorting out this process to make it fool proof is a complex logic problem. Letting the user simply work with multiple files would be ultimately much easier. Geez most productivity programs have worked that way for many years. Computer users know how to work with it. Computer programmers also know how to write an application to use those methods. Let us use the familiar methods. Why reinvent the Wheel?

Using multiple Collections could work, if it were integrated into the application and IF I could have multiple windows open at the same time.

That way I could copy - paste things from one collection to another.
How about File > Open Collection, and let me tell the software where to put the individual collections, like I want to store them inside the Documents folder and not in My Library.

Also I could have a collection named and filed for each trip.
It would be easy to manage because I could use the methods I have learned over the past 20 years.

I am an old Fart and trying to make this new Interface productive has cost me more time than you can imagine.

As of right now, I have pretty much decided that I will have to cave in and buy a small PC laptop exclusively for MapSource because RoadTrip or Basecamp will not meet my needs in an easily understandable manner.

Each trip consists of one route per day.
Some days will have alternate routes.
Each route will have very few waypoints.
Start, end, and a few of planned stops for food or sight seeing.
The rest of the route is steered to scenic roads with the Shaping point feature. Shaping points created in MapSource are not flagged on the Zumo screen nor or they announced by the GPS. Sometimes I must use several shaping points to keep my route on a State Highway that runs parallel to an Interstate. It gets very annoying to hear Approaching ... three or four times every mile. The Zumo series is pretty Unique in the handling of those shaping points and we Mac users deserve that kind of support just as much as PC users already have that.

If I have all of my old trips loaded in My Collection the list of waypoints gets overwhelming. If I want to reuse something I have to scroll through so much information it gets confusing and unruly. Not to mention that fact that the Import process will have created duplicates of the things that I might reuse often, like Home... Right now My Collection has 7 waypoints for Home, home1, home2, etc. I can't eliminate the extra ones because each one is associated with a different route and I have no idea which one goes with which route.
I've tried deleting the extra ones and replacing them with the original in the associated routes... Well that makes the route horribly messed up and unusable.

I chose a Garmin based upon the recommendations of other Motorcyclists. Most of those have and still use the Street Pilot 2610. The Zumo series is pretty much a Toy in comparison to the routing and display options that were standard with the 2610 One could actually plan a complex route on the 2610. To do the same thing on a Zumo one must use a Computer then transfer it to the Zumo. I don't know many Motorcyclists who carry a computer with them at all times.

As of right now, I have pretty much decided that I will have to cave in and buy a small PC laptop exclusively for MapSource because RoadTrip or Basecamp will not meet my needs in an easily understandable manner.

For much less money, VMware Fusion, or it's completion, Parallels run MapSource very well on a Mac. I'm in the same boat, for the exact same reasons you've quoted. I can't be without MapSource for planning but haven't owned a PC for years. ;)

I am still using a PPC Mac, so the VMware/Parallels option is not available to me. I was informed by Garmin support that BaseCamp 3 will not support the PPC processor. So it looks like I have to get a new computer before this one has lived it's useful life just for one application.

I'll probably end up with an Intel Mac and one of the emulation software solutions. But what will I do when Garmin requires a newer version of windows than the emulator can run....

GeeZ my GPS is turning into a Money PIT!!!

MapSource 6.13.7 is still my favorite, in spite of the clunkiness of the shaping point tool.

With the word - document analogy, every waypoint could be a file but it sounds like you guys are requesting multiple collections. Which you can do as described above. Just name your folder the trip you want to create. Put a pointer to your garmin folder under places in the finder HD window to make it easy to move the BaseCamp folder.

I know change is hard but there are better ways of doing things. How did you guys like OS X? I heard a lot of complaining on the mac boards.

I see where you are coming from, the biggest problem with multiple collections would be the ability to only open one collection. I know what you are talking about with multiple homes, I solved that by selecting waypoints and right clicking to create the route but my data base did not have as much imported data.

If BaseCamp had subfolders and text filters, would this not solve your organizational problems?

I understand what you are saying about multiple collections.

But it is essential to be able to have more than one collection open at the same time in separate windows.

We can't do what we do without that.

I am an old Unix user, OSX is the most user friendly Unix I've ever used.