Several Observations and Possible Feature Requests

Here are some observations I've made while using BC the past couple of months.

Route Properties/Edit Route
I would find the ability to edit a waypoint name and symbol within a route useful. As the waypoint is now within a route, it shouldn’t affect the original waypoint existing outside of the route (or vice versa). I currently edit the name in a route (remove the number added by BC) using Windows notepad.

The ability to make a point within a route “invisible”…its only there to force a route in a particular direction.

When adding or deleting a point in a route (via copy/paste, delete, etc.) in route properties, the list jumps to the top position after the action is performed requiring scrolling back down to the spot I am working on. I would like to see the list stay in the same place when performing these actions.

My Collection
It would be nice to see, when an item is selected, in what list(s) that item currently resides. The “Data View” would be good for starters. Sometimes, I’ve had an item in My Collection but since it does not appear in any lists, I might not be aware of existence because I work in individual lists.
Refresh (aka F-5) would be nice. I’ve had items I can’t delete only to discover they no longer exist. A refresh command (or maybe automatic) will prevent the need to shut down and re-open Basecamp.

Tool Buttons
New Waypoint: an option for it to automatically cancel after a point has been created; perhaps going back to the Select tool. Many times I’ve inadvertently created a point when I intended to select a point or perform some other action.
Pan, Zoom, Select, and Measure: When you click on the Pan, Zoom, or Measure buttons, they toggle back and forth to Select. If Pan is selected and you click on Pan again, it switches to Select; if you click it again it goes back to Pan. Zoom and Measure exhibit similar behavior. I would like to see an option to disable this action.

Thanks, John
  • KFPANDA...The lack of "refresh" I observed was the GPSMAP 62s itself. If I move, delete, etc. something via Windows Explorer, the only time I get a "refresh" of the device is by closing/re-opening BaseCamp or disconnecting/reconnecting (USB) the GPS.

    If you look at my 2 posts "Routes and the Waypoints Contained Within", you'll see I still do a lot with Windows and editing with Notepad that can't be done in BC or the 62s.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    KFPANDA...The lack of "refresh" I observed was the GPSMAP 62s itself. If I move, delete, etc. something via Windows Explorer, the only time I get a "refresh" of the device is by closing/re-opening BaseCamp or disconnecting/reconnecting (USB) the GPS.

    If you look at my 2 posts "Routes and the Waypoints Contained Within", you'll see I still do a lot with Windows and editing with Notepad that can't be done in BC or the 62s.


    I see. I have noted down your use case ;)
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Maybe "automatic numbering scheme" ?

    For me, the automatic numbering scheme isn't really satisfying, because I create waypoints of which I create routes. To make route creation simple, I add numbers with a character prefix to the name of the waypoints, for example "P010 Path, P020 blablastreet, P030 xyz-church" and so on (10-steps, so additional waypoints can be inserted later).

    After creating the waypoints, I sort them by name, select them and create a route - the order of waypoints in the route doesn't need to be changed, it is correct because of my numbers.

    But I found no possibility to create auto-numbered waypoints by Basecamp itself, so i hit F2 for every waypoint and insert P010, P020 a.s.o. by myself .

    Another feature I'm missing is some kind of a "straight-connected waypoint-pair". This would be valuable especially for "offroad-hiking".

    Instead of ignoring a "half-around-the-world-route" between two points (while I know, there's a small path between two waypoints but have to ignore the "missplanned route"), I wish, I could create a waypoint pair with some kind of attribute "direct-connected", so the routing is done by a straight line between them.

    This would solve the "border problem" (paths crossing map borders) too.

    OK, this would influence my GPS device too because it must have the equivalent feature while rerouting. So - too complicated to realize ?

    greetings, Achim
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Both your requests make sense.

    MapSource had a waypoint name prefix preference? Would something along these lines work?

    Being able to specify a segment as direct route is something we'd love to do as well. And yes, the device would have to honor that. But I think as long as it doesn't recalculate the route (and we are trying to make sure that future devices allow that) you should be good.

    There is a trick to achieve a direct route on a route-able map between two points (when there is no path between them). Just switch to a non-route-able map for that segment (like the Global map that comes with BaseCamp). Recalculating will of course break the route again.

    I cannot promise if or when these features will make it into BaseCamp, but it's definitely on our radar.

    Thanks for your feedback.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    If you want a direct-connect and the waypoints are the only two in the route or you want it to apply to all point pairs in the route this is easy. Use the "off-road" routing preference or its equivalent in both Basecamp and on the device. Most Garmin devices understand the "off-road" as-the-crow-flies preference setting.

    Unfortunately this setting applies to the entire route so it won't be useful if you only want a single segment of a multi-segment route to be direct routed.

    ...ken... (Do crows really fly in straight lines?? :confused: )