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General questions concerning creating lists of Basecamp way points

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

Hello friends.  Longtime Garmin user but new to Basecanp and this forum.  I have Basecanp version 4.7.1 running under Windows 7 Professional.

My current GPS (Drivesmart 61) seems to have a limit of 1000 way points.  I want to have many more than that, but won't need all of them at the same time. What I've been doing is a backup of my device to Basecamp (via Device>Receive from Device), then manually deleting some entries from the device to make space.  I guess I have about 15 backups in Basecamp in the Library under 'My Collection'.  Naturally, with this method, I have a lot of redundant data in these files.

What I want to do is create a List in the Library called 'Master List".  Then highlight the way points from each of the backups and send them to Master List.

Question #1: If I do this, will it -by default- automatically append Master List only with the unique way point entries from each subsequent list?  (it seems to do that)

Once Master List is populated with all of my way points, I'll create new geographic lists based on the counties where the way points are located.  If that turns out to eventually exceed the 1000 way point limit, I could further break them down, but that shouldn't happen for a while.  It seems I can highlight a section of the Master List map, then right click on any one of the highlighted entries in the lower box and then send those entries to the new list.  So what Intend to do is to make a copy of Master List called Working List, export the selected entries from Working List into the appropriate county list, then delete those same entries from Working List.  Eventually, I'll have a Master List full of entries, a couple dozen County lists with a subset of those entries, and a Working List with no entries.  I'll probably have an 'Always' list with places I want permanently in the GPS (like Home) and the Always list will be co-located in every county list as well.

I plan to then use the 'Send to Device' feature to upload the counties list(s) to my device as I need them.  I'll also build my routes in Basecamp; seems a lot easier than trying to do it on the device.

Question #2: Will using the 'Send to Device' cause Basecamp to overwrite what's in the device, or merely append to it?

Question #3: Is there an easier way to do this that I'm missing?

Question #4:  How do I create a new way point in Basecamp based solely on street address, city and state?

Thanks in advance!

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    1.  Yes.  You could skip the working list though.  Simply send them from your Master list to the Country list.  Note be careful in BaseCamp.  If you delete data in any list it's deleted in all lists, in common with pretty much every database program.  If you instead 'remove' data from a list it remains in existence elsewhere, either in other lists it was in or if no other lists in the unlisted data folder.

    2.  It'll append it.  In your case you would need to do a couple of things.  BaseCamp sends data to your device in a file generally named temp.gpx.  Your device when you switch it on looks for additional gpx files in the GPX folder, merges them with what it already has it favourites then writes a new current.gpx.  Note here that current.gpx is a one way copy of what is held in memory that is inaccessible to the user.  Deleting current.gpx doesn't delete anything.  So first time you send temp.gpx provided you've deleted all your favourites using the delete function on the device you'll get what you want, just the favourites you've sent.  After they are showing in favourites go back and delete temp.gpx.  Many forget that last step then end up with unexpected results Slight smile

    3.  Not really, although see my comment in 1.  However you could always convert your favourites into POIs, your device can hold many more of those than 1000, See https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=TfAAEZT61z2TH7hQQyEet7

    4. Hit Ctrl + Alt + A then carry on from there.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to SUSSAMB

    1. I agree.  The reason I included a working list is so that as I grab a clump of way points and then send them to a county list, and then remove them (not delete them, like I said in error) from Working List, they'll be gone from the map.  This way I'll know that I got them all transferred. Using Send To from the Master List without removing them pretty much ensures that I'll miss grabbing some.  And It'll be a one time thing.

    FWIW, I intend to do the reverse every time I change out counties on the device.  Connect via USB / Receive From Device / select all way points from the new file and Send To County List (to add new way points) / Send To updated County List to Master List.  I'm going to have to play with it a little to fine tune the process.

    2.  Thanks for that tidbit.  I would have missed that.

    3.  That looks interesting... I'll have to read up on it and experiment a little bit.

    4.  Tried it and it worked. Then I tried it again, and it didn't. I <think> that it needed my GPS plugged into the computer to access City Navigator North America NT 2020.3.  Just using the default Global Map doesn't seem to cut it.  Which begs the question-can I load that map onto my computer via Garmin Express without blowing away my current installation of Basecamp?  

    Question 5: Does File>Backup save the data files so that if I do blow up Basecamp in step 4 above, I don't lose my device backups?

    Thanks for the swift reply!!

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Address search only works with maps that support it, the base map doesn't.  Yes, you can use Express assuming there is an update for your device, or you've updated it in the past.

    5. Yes

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to SUSSAMB

    Brilliant!  Time to <potentially> wreck some gear, after I take the proper precautions.