I'm new to base camp and understand there's a pretty steep learning curve, but I'm planning a motorcycle trip to San Diego from Tennessee and want to follow US HWY 64 from Ocoee Tn to Teec Nos Pas Nm where it ends. There doesn't seem to be away to do that other then dragging the route manually. We're talking a 2000+ mile trip. It would be prohibitively tedious to drop 100's if not more waypoints to force the route to follow a certain road. Garmin already has the roads named and labeled in all the mapping software. Is it not possible to have the software read the road tag files and highlight a road based on that imbedded data? A drop down menu that says "highlite road" with an entry field that allows you to enter "HWY 64" or" I-40" or whatever. Then be able to turn that into a route to export to your device. If there another way to do what I'm asking of it please let me know. Certainly I'm not the only one that wants to create routes that follow one particular trail or road.
There is no way to do what you want to do other than manually. Also, with as may points as you will need in the route you will likely need to split it into smaller segments in order for the GPS to handle it.
Well then consider this a suggestion for improvement
I'm not a programmer, but it seems like it would be a fairly easy tweak. The base maps already have all the roads labeled. When you zoom in the road number or name shows on the screen so there has to be a list of names embedded in the software that links to the actual line drawn on the map. So create a search path like if you type in "Ocoee tn" it drops a pin on the town center, if you type in "hwy 64" it highlights the entire road in a contrasting color. That at least would make manual routing a little easier, but it should be a simple jump from there to be able to say "take me down that road". I guess that programmers think that if someone just wants to drive one road, and they know where it is, then just get on that road and follow it. Interstates are fine tondo that on, but state and federal highways make lots of twists and turns, they combine with other roads frequently, take you through city centers, it can be difficult to follow a road like that through unfamiliar areas.
I'm not a programmer, but it seems like it would be a fairly easy tweak.
I've used a lot of route planners. They all basically work the same. None of them do what you are proposing. I am a programmer and know it's likely more than a tweak.
Such a feature might not be that useful.
If you want to use a particular road, placing via points on the road with wide distances between them will generally do what you want.
In places where it doesn't work, it's not much effort to add via points as needed to follow the route you want.
I agree with DPAWLYK. I have used my nuvi's on several 2000+ mile trips where I created the route in advance. I can usually get it to take the route I want with 10 or 15 via points. I realize there are exceptions to this, especially if you want to take back roads or scenic routes that the routing algorithm normally wouldn't pick for either fastest or shortest. In this case you will need to do as suggested and split the route up. Also, if you have a newer Garmin device that supports shaping points as well as hard waypoints, you can include many more points in the route to force it to the roads you want.
....... Certainly I'm not the only one that wants to create routes that follow one particular trail or road.
No, you are not! Which is why so many of us have given up on routes and use tracks instead, whenever the BC or the GPSr routing algorithm refuses to do what we want. Tracks are NEVER changed! Unfortunately you do not get any directions...you are limited to just following the colored line (I like red), exactly as if you drew a line on a paper map. However, unlike a paper map, you always know exactly where you are on the map. This technique works best with Topo maps because of all the detail they offer.
Creating the track in BC as opposed to logging one on the GPS is a little time consuming, by just left clicking the track tool wherever you want a point, but once created you are the only one who can change it. I use tracks mostly in the dirt or on back roads where auto-routing is usually flaky.
