Searching in BaseCamp (Mac)

Sub titled "An Exercise in Futility"

I'm just now getting around to using the latest BaseCamp release. I've been using Garmin software, specifically MapSource, for route planning since day one and Garmin hardware from the days before they had maps. I'm that old. :) I've followed BaseCamp from it's beginnings as BobCat, through RoadTrip to it's current incarnation. I plan motorcycle road routes in CNNT, both in North America and Europe, dual sport motorcycle routes and tracks in Topo and use the auto routing feature on occasion for car trips into the city. You might say I've developed a workflow that is both efficient and predictable for me. That's the history, now the rant.

I know that the dev team is sick and tired of hearing about the difference between MapSource and BaseCamp. I've been around here long enough to remember a dev team member stating, "The last thing we're doing is porting MapSource to the Mac. It's dead" or something to that effect. I find it curious then that many MapSource features have slowly appeared in BaseCamp, most at the request of users. I've been a very vocal critic of BaseCamp but the evolution has been positive if a bit slow. Now comes this latest release.... No fix for the map distortion issue. No true waypoint categories. No configuration option to disable/hide "Adventures", and so on. Instead we get a new and improved version of Find/Search. Well let's try it out. I've got my map centered on Denver as that's where I'm currently planning, and I want to find an address/intersection/POI/postal code in Edmonton Alberta. In MapSource, no problem. Click "Find" in the menu and then "Find Places" from the drop down, or just key Ctrl+F. Oh, did I mention that I don't use toolbars? They take up too much screen real estate on a small laptop screen. So, Ctrl+F and I get this.

Everything I need in one easy to understand and use dialog box. Fill it in, click Find and quickly, almost instantly my map re-centers on the city I've designated and guess what... There's my address.

Now let's try it in BaseCamp.

First Cmd+F. Ok, I get a search side bar but no input box. Just a list of every option available

To be continued.......

0 Killtimer_ over 12 years ago

Hmmm. Maybe there's something under "Options"

OK, an input box, but the option selection has changed to "Points of Interest???? Change it back and key in my search criteria.

Click on "Search" and presto....

A list of addresses in the Denver area. Helpful. OK maybe it's me so, manually re-center the map in Alberta, select "Find_Find Addresses" from the menu bar and ???

No input box, no direction as to what to do next... Thanks for nothing.

At this point I just boot into a Fusion box and go back to MapSource. Why is this so difficult? You've got a model that works and you guys are trying to re-invent the wheel.

0 SUSSAMB over 12 years ago

Try a comma (,) between the address and the city, that works in the PC version :confused:

0 Killtimer_ over 12 years ago

Try a comma (,) between the address and the city, that works in the PC version :confused:

And this is intuitive? It's not needed in any online search I've used. Not needed in Google maps, which IMO, Garmin seems to be desperately trying to mimic.

0 SUSSAMB over 12 years ago

Agree fully. It's not at all intuitive.

0 PSEABOLT over 12 years ago

Try typing city, state for address option. As you type you get a popup list of suggested cities. The popup saves typing and helps with spelling. Once you select the city, the map centers and all you need to do is enter the address.

I remember some of your post and for at least one of the post, I was the one saying I did not want a MapSource port. The developers said they hoped to add the features of MapSource to a modern UI routing app. IMO, the complexity of routing application far exceeds most applications, especially when you include all user groups. I find BaseCamp to be much more intuitive than MaoSource but they both have learning curve.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

The search box in BaseCamp toolbar will usually find the result you want. The Find Options city search box provides auto completion in case the city spelling is hard to guess.

We will constantly improve the capabilities of this search box based on your feedback.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

I'd add to this that I'm not impressed at all with the basecamp search feature, in fact it's so bad that if I know I'm doing more than one or two places to load into my Nuvi I use roadtrip instead.

I've constantly had problems with basecamp unable to find any results for an addresses, stores, restaurants, using various "versions" only to open roadtrip and get it to find it on the first try with no problems.

Example: open basemap zoom to las vegas type in "4600 N Hollywood Blvd".......a few hits on Hollywood blvd no where near the right one, type in "4600 North Hollywood Blvd".......nothing.

Open up Roadtrip, type in 4600 N. Hollywood blvd, gets it right away, using the same map base. I end up with the same issues searching for points of interest etc. basecamp seems to have more problems finding results while roadtrip grabs them right away back to back, same entry info.

Overall I like the Basecamp better, but the search needs a lot of work.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

...
Example: open basemap zoom to las vegas type in "4600 N Hollywood Blvd".......a few hits on Hollywood blvd no where near the right one, type in "4600 North Hollywood Blvd".......nothing.
...Overall I like the Basecamp better, but the search needs a lot of work.

Works for me: Open BaseCamp, type in "Las Vegas, NV" in the upper right search box and the map goes to Las Vegas; Click Options, then type "4600 N Hollywood" in the option search box; watch the list fill up and the top hit is 4600 N Hollywood Blvd located about 8.2 miles from the center of the screen.

System 2007 iMac running 10.8.3 and BaseCamp 4.1.1.0 using CA NA NT 2009 as the map.

Agree that search could use some work.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

I have found that centering the map generally on the City (and surrounding area), in this case Edmonton, before preforming a search works best. Then type in ONLY the very basic of info. To use the OP's target, I typed in 10245 Jasper Ave and selected Addresses and this address was at the top of the list: 10245 Jasper Ave NW, Edmonton, AB, T5J, CAN

Cheers,

0 PSEABOLT over 12 years ago

Agreeded, once I found the option that gave me popup cities as I typed and always search with the map centered on the city, I actually got to like the changes in the search.