Errors in reading Oregon 550 files in Basecame.

I'm still hoping for a solution.

This was my first post to Garmin Forum; unfortunately after I posted it I noticed I misspelled Basecamp on my post title. Sorry about that! I was hoping that someone from Garmin would weigh in on my problem, but it appears they think I’m totally screwed up or they can’t confirm my problem. I hope the latter is the case. I also noticed that no matter what color I save tracks in Basecamp, when I send the tracks to my Oregon 550 the colors are all changed. In Mapsource I’ve never had a problem like this. I have been working with Basecamp from day one and I can honestly say that other than the ease of making tracks in Basecamp, Mapsource is much more user friendly.

Sorry that your post slipped through the cracks.

One thing to check right off the bat is if your Oregon's firmware is up to date. From what I can see the latest version of the 550's firmware is version 3.80.

If you're all up to date can you zip up the files in the Garmin\gpx folder and either send them to me in a PM or e-mail them to [email][email protected][/email]. I'd like to see what the 550 is actually writing out.

I'm having the exact same problem. I create a track in Basecamp (v. 3.0.6) then copy it to my Oregon 450. If I change the color of the track on the 450 the track can no longer be read by Basecamp and I get the same error message as DRM4X4 is getting. I downloaded the latest firmware to my 450 (5.0) and the problem still exists.

I also noticed that no matter what color I assign to the track in Basecamp it appears as cyan on the Oregon 450. If I do not change the color on the 450 the track shows the correct color in Basecamp.

I will also send one of the offending tracks to the email address above.

Unfortunately, this is a known device issue. You will notice that when you transfer the tracks to the Oregon, BaseCamp is sending a GPX file to the device with your track in it. Once you add a track color in the device, this GPX file becomes invalid- you will notice that the namespace specification for the extension used for track color is not written to the GPX file. One workaround for this is to send a GPX file with a pre-populated namespace specification for the extension used for track color. i.e. You would edit the track color in BaseCamp before sending it to the device. BaseCamp would add the namespace specification correctly so that when the device edits it later, it will still remain valid.

Unfortunately, this is a known device issue. You will notice that when you transfer the tracks to the Oregon, BaseCamp is sending a GPX file to the device with your track in it. Once you add a track color in the device, this GPX file becomes invalid- you will notice that the namespace specification for the extension used for track color is not written to the GPX file. One workaround for this is to send a GPX file with a pre-populated namespace specification for the extension used for track color. i.e. You would edit the track color in BaseCamp before sending it to the device. BaseCamp would add the namespace specification correctly so that when the device edits it later, it will still remain valid.

I'm having the same problem with a GPSMAP 62st.
However changing color in BC before transferring tracks does not help, they still become unreadable by BC after I change the color on the 62.
Is this issue still unsolved?
Thanx
Arnaldo

Errors in the GPX Track File Extension Specification

Unfortunately, this is a known device issue. You will notice that when you transfer the tracks to the Oregon, BaseCamp is sending a GPX file to the device with your track in it. Once you add a track color in the device, this GPX file becomes invalid- you will notice that the namespace specification for the extension used for track color is not written to the GPX file. One workaround for this is to send a GPX file with a pre-populated namespace specification for the extension used for track color. i.e. You would edit the track color in BaseCamp before sending it to the device. BaseCamp would add the namespace specification correctly so that when the device edits it later, it will still remain valid.

After extensive testing with the gpsmap 62s I have determined the above is incorrect.
1. If a track is created in Basecamp there is no extension specification with a color designation. When the track is loaded into the gpsmap 62s by any means, there is still no extension specification with color designation. If the track is displayed on the map, It will appear as a red line but no extension color specification is written to the gpx file. If the track is edited in the gpsmap 62s to change to any other color, the gpsmap 62s will add an extension specification with the selected color. (Example Below) ---- The <> have been repalced by () as they will not publish in this forum format.

(extensions)(gpxtrx:TrackExtension)(gpxtrx:DisplayColor)Green(/gpxtrx:DisplayColor)(/gpxtrx:TrackExtension)(/extensions)

If the gpsmap 62s is connected to Basecamp, Basecamp will indicate an error when trying to read the track file.

2. If a track is created in Basecamp and a color is selected, the extension is created in a different extension specification format. Example below:

(extensions)
(gpxx:TrackExtension xmlns:gpxx="www.garmin.com/.../v3")
(gpxx:DisplayColor>DarkRed</gpxx:DisplayColor)
(/gpxx:TrackExtension)
(/extensions)

If this file is then sent to the gpsmap 62s, the extension specification is not recognized by the gpsmap 62s and the 62s assumes there is no color specification and defaults to red as if there were no extension.

If the color is changed, the extension specification is modified by the 62s and will work while in the gpsmap 62s. If Basecamp tries to read the track file, it produces and error and the file will not be read. Example of a corrupted specification is shown below:

(extensions)(gpxtrx:TrackExtension)(gpxtrx:DisplayColor)Green(/gpxtrx:DisplayColor)(/gpxtrx:TrackExtension)
(gpxx:TrackExtension xmlns:gpxx="www.garmin.com/.../v3")
(gpxx:DisplayColor>Green</gpxx:DisplayColor)
(/gpxx:TrackExtension)
(/extensions)

It is very difficult to work around this software glitch. The programming section who writes code for Basecamp and the section who writes code for the gpsmap 62s, Oregon 450 and others should talk to one another and decide which format they want to use, then !!! PLEASE CHANGE THE CODE IN ONE OF THESE PROGRAMS!!!
Dale

<extensions>
<gpxx:TrackExtension xmlns:gpxx="www.garmin.com/.../v3">
<gpxx:DisplayColor>DarkRed</gpxx:DisplayColor>
</gpxx:TrackExtension>
</extensions>


Yes, that was easy to fix.

Free xml editor

If it helps anyone, while trying to correct my problems, I found a free xml editor that is simple and seems to work very well.
http://xml-copy-editor.sourceforge.net/

One more solution found!

Please check the post given by KD3131 in the Post entitled "Track color problem with GPSmap 62s" by [email][email protected][/email]. This is good example for the many people that are trying to fix our error problems with our gps's and Basecamp.