Related

Repair track color errors between oregon 550 & basecamp.

Former Member
Former Member over 14 years ago
I have been experimenting with a cure to the track color error messages when I change the track color in my Oregon 550 and then connect to Basecamp with the USB cable. I originally introduced this problem with my thread entitled “Errors in reading Oregon 550 files in Basecame”. I decided to start a new thread to help simplify following along with what I have been working on. If you have read the above thread, then you are likely aware of the difficulties I and others have been having. There have been solutions to the problem, but none of them heretofore have been a sure cure. I have found a combination of XML editing corrections that seem to have finally worked. As you may know, in the recommendations made in the above thread, they would only partially fix the problem. When you moved the tracks from active to archive or vice versa or you changed the color of the track you would get that old “communication error” in reading the track when you plugged into Basecamp. I am still waiting for Garmin to fix this issue but maybe this will help until they fix the language barrier between Oregon and Basecamp. This is what I’ve found; see if it works for you.

First of all I usually use red as my track color. You can edit my replacement file to suit your needs.
1. Go to http://xml-copy-editor.sourceforge.net and download this XML editor. It is very simple and it works very well, it is free and I have found no spyware problems; however, I always run any download through 3 different spyware and virus checkers, you should do the same.
2. Hook up your unit to Basecamp.
3. If you have bad XML files, make a note of the listed bad tracks that Basecamp provides when it reads your GPS.
4. Open windows explorer.
5. Go to your Garmin instrument or to the micro SD card (where ever you have these bad tracks stored.) I keep mine in my Oregon 550 and not my SD card.
6. Expand your Garmin instrument file or your removable disk file and click on the “Garmin” folder.
7. In the “Garmin” folder click on “GPX” sub folder.
8. Your list of tracks should be here in the “GPX” folder or in the “archive” sub folder.
9. After installing XML Copy Editor, launch it.
10. Click on “OPEN” and go to windows explorer where you have found your bad track files.
11. Using your Basecamp list of bad tracks, open 1 or several files (you can open more than 1) into XML Copy Editor.
12. The first thing you will see is a command line with a red line under it; this is the bad command.
13. Highlight and delete everything between the commands <extensions> and </extensions>. Be sure to leave <extensions> and </extensions> and <trkseg> or any other commands intact.
14. Copy the lines below and paste them in between the <extensions> and the </extensions> lines. Note: the track color &#8220;Red&#8221; is listed twice. You can edit this color to suit your needs.

<gpxtrx:TrackExtension xmlns:gpxtrx="www.garmin.com/.../v3">
<gpxtrx:DisplayColor>Red</gpxtrx:DisplayColor></gpxtrx:TrackExtension>
<gpxx:TrackExtension xmlns:gpxx="www.garmin.com/.../v3">
<gpxx:DisplayColor>Red</gpxx:DisplayColor>
</gpxx:TrackExtension>


15. You will notice that the red underline goes away. To verify that this new track is written well, click on the 2 green check marks, one at a time, in the top tool bar and read the result of each on the bottom tool bar of XML Copy Editor.
16. Click on &#8220;File&#8221; in the top tool bar.
17. Click on &#8220;Save as&#8221;.
18. The &#8220;Save as&#8221; box will appear and it should be the file in your Garmin instrument folder where you originally opened the file you are working on in XML Copy Editor.
19. Click the save button.
20. It will ask if you want to replace the existing file; say &#8220;YES&#8221;.
21. You&#8217;re done with this file. Repeat as necessary.
22. When you are done with all the files, unplug your GPS and then plug it in again and let Basecamp read your tracks
23. You should have no error messages.

Until Garmin comes up with a real solution, I hope this helps anyone who is having the same problem I&#8217;ve been having. Please let me know if this fix works for you.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    I have found that no matter what color you choose in Basecamp, it will never show on the handheld properly. e.g. - it shows up as cyan. This is where all the troubles start. When you realize that the handheld track color is not what you set in Basecamp and then you change it in the handheld and tray to read it back to Basecamp you get the error message. It's a vicious circle and they only way I have found to fix it is manually.


    I agree exactly. Why can't they get this straight!?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    Once you have corrected the color you want to show up on your 62, you should be able to change the colors at will in Basecamp. Basecamp should read the color you have set for it every time you connect your 62 and the 62 should read what you have set for it in the 62. Like I said, they seem to be in there own little world. Just be thankful that the only real issue is the track color and not the track the rest of the track info.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    One final note. Just in case I wasn't clear about changing the track color; when you are editing in the XML Copy Editor you edit the two colors. I use red most of the time in both my Oregon 550 and in Basecamp, but you can delete either or both the colors in the repair lines and change them to a different color or change each one independently if you wish to have your 62 show red (or any other color) and Basecamp as green (or any other color); just make sure you capitalize the first letter and spell it exactly the same as the color options you have in Basecamp and the 62. I'm still learning about XML and I don't believe I should have to know anything about it. I should just be able to use my Oregon 550 just like my 60csx.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    I'm still learning about XML and I don't believe I should have to know anything about it. I should just be able to use my Oregon 550 just like my 60csx.


    I agree. We are working with the device team to get this fixed.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    I just updated my Oregon 450.

    The release notes warn you to make sure you backup your data before applying the firmware update.

    The device now reads and writes the display color as <gpxx:DisplayColor>. In my testing, it seemed to work very well.

    Please report if you have a differing experience.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    I can transfer tracks to my 550 from Basecamp and it shows the correct colors. I changed some track colors in the 550 and loaded them into Basecamp and they all show up in cyan; the same as before. At least there was no error messages, but it looks like they need to have Basecamp read the proper color that the 550 sent to it. This is a big improvement and should stop most of the negative feedback about the read/write issues with Oregon's and Basecamp.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    Hmm, this is what I tested:

    1. Created track 1 in BaseCamp, set color, sent to device. => shows up correct
    2. Changed color of track 1 on device, also saved current track as its own track 2, changed that color, too. Sent to BaseCamp. => color is correct in BaseCamp for both tracks 1 and 2.
    3. Changed color of track 2 in BaseCamp, sent to device. => color is correct on device.
    4. Reconnected to BaseCamp, colors still correct.

    So which part of that isn't working for you? Does it depend on which color you set?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    I just did as you explained with the same results. I think the problem is that I didn't notice the "Important steps for future Basecamp Compatibility" message and I updated to 4.80 without dumping everything over to Basecamp. I don't believe I've seen any caution notes on an upgrade since 3.74 beta, so I made the typical mistake, I didn't look before I leaped. I would assume that by transferring everything to Basecamp and then bringing it back after the update, Basecamp adds code to everything so that they can now speak the same language. If that is so, is everything affected or is it just track colors that is involved? And, if I now do the "important step" will I be back on track or do I need to take additional steps to correct my error?
    By the way, I very much appreciate, as well as everyone else I'm sure, for your pure dedication and 120% support you give to everyone out here stumbling through the GPS world.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    I believe as long as the display color was written by the device post firmware update, it should be writing out gpxxDisplaycolor and that should be read by BaseCamp.

    If for some reason you still have older files on the device (or the device's SD card) that have both the gpxx and the gpxtrx namespace then BaseCamp might be reading it wrong.

    I also believe that the device erased all tracks on the it (other than the current track) during the firmware update (to make sure they get rewritten correctly). I am not sure what it did with gpx files on the SD card, I assume it didn't delete those.

    The only thing you need to be mindful about now is to not use files from the device that were written before the firmware update. If you have such files, have BaseCamp re-write them (by importing to BaseCamp and exporting, or by receiving and sending) and you should be good.

    The reason the release notes mentioned to send all tracks to BaseCamp and then back to the device is just so there wouldn't be old device files laying around. The device now should write the display color just like BaseCamp does.

    I hope that made sense.

    I believe the fix only applies to the color. Was there something else that didn't work?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 13 years ago
    Thank you, it all makes perfect sense. The tracks I changed the colors in, in my earlier post, were all old tracks I made long ago. They were all cyan because that’s what worked the best because the 550 used it as a default color no matter what color was sent by Basecamp. When I changed 3 of these old tracks to 3 different colors, Basecamp read them as cyan. I’m assuming that’s because I didn’t sent them to Basecamp to be re-programmed. I just sent one of these tracks to Basecamp, deleted that track on the 550 and then sent it back from Basecamp to the 550. The 550 read the color sent by Basecamp. I then sent the same track back to Basecamp after changing the color and Basecamp read the changed color correctly. Looks to me like they got it right all the way around. Again, thank you for all your online help as well as your work at Garmin.