Categories

street, city, phone...etc. will be available in a future release of BC ;)

Thank you.

as for category, we are still figuring out all the details.

This is one of those comments that both baffles me and drives me nuts.

You already have a fully functional and fully tested "prototype". Just make it work like Mapsource.

- Add the waypoint categories to Preferences and allow them to be renamed to whatever we want.

- Add the Categories list to Waypoint Properties and allow multiple to be selected.

- Allow the Categories list in the Waypoint Properties to be batch edited, e.g. select multiple waypoints, select Waypoint Properties, select one or more Categories from the list and apply the change to all selected waypoints.

While you're at it, allow for batch editing of all the waypoint properties that Mapsource currently supports in its batch edit.

And the Mapsource feature of being able to sort ....ooops, sorry.... "filter" by category would be kinda handy, too.

What's to figure out? :confused: A few Includes and we're back in business. :D

...ken...

This is one of those comments that both baffles me and drives me nuts.

You already have a fully functional and fully tested "prototype". Just make it work like Mapsource.

- Add the waypoint categories to Preferences and allow them to be renamed to whatever we want.

- Add the Categories list to Waypoint Properties and allow multiple to be selected.

- Allow the Categories list in the Waypoint Properties to be batch edited, e.g. select multiple waypoints, select Waypoint Properties, select one or more Categories from the list and apply the change to all selected waypoints.

While you're at it, allow for batch editing of all the waypoint properties that Mapsource currently supports in its batch edit.

And the Mapsource feature of being able to sort ....ooops, sorry.... "filter" by category would be kinda handy, too.

What's to figure out? :confused: A few Includes and we're back in business. :D

...ken...

The nature of "list" in BC is similar (if not the same) as "category" in MS. Just think of it as "tag". You tag your data, which allow you to search/filter them later on. And the tag just link to your data. They do not create a separate copy of the data. Everyone agree?

First, does it make sense to have 2 tagging system in BC? Can we merge them? Can we treat "list" as "category" to make it work on the device? Can we bring "category" to routes, tracks,...etc? There are more design questions which I can't share here but you get the idea ;)

Unfortunately it won't be coming along with street, city, phone...etc. But we're working on it. So please be patient ;)

The nature of "list" in BC is similar (if not the same) as "category" in MS. Just think of it as "tag". You tag your data, which allow you to search/filter them later on. And the tag just link to your data. They do not create a separate copy of the data. Everyone agree?

Sorry, no I can't agree. Having multiple user defined categories that are consistent between the desktop application and the GPS unit are a crucial element missing in BaseCamp (both Mac and Windows).

Ken's post on categories should be the starting point for BaseCamp development.

We (those of us that used Categories for our Waypoint management in MS and the older GPS's) may be pulling BC backward.

BC and the newer GPS's (like the Montana) are heading in the direction of a "categorization" of all data types that the GPS can handle. Garmin seems to want to call these "categories" - Adventures. Adventures = BC Lists from what I can tell. So, you create a BC List with all of the data related to an Activity and that can be transferred to/from the GPS intact to an "Adventures Manager".

This may all be good (I like the idea) but it does not help us manage Waypoints the way we are use to. Waypoint Categories are independent of List's. Unless. . .

If BC-Win would support Smart List's and a Smart List could be an Adventure, then "Smart List's" might be equivalent to MS Categories(?) - given some enhanced Boolean filters.

Cheers,

I'm more interested in how things work on the GPS going down the road, when I am looking for a Hotel POI or other POI that I have put into the GPS I can use Where To->Favorites then categories to find the nearest POIs.

It's not about the software on the computer it's about how the software on the computer supports the GPS. Right now BC doesn't do that all that well and that's the real point here. Let's not loose sight of the goal.

We (those of us that used Categories for our Waypoint management in MS and the older GPS's) may be pulling BC backward.

BC and the newer GPS's (like the Montana) are heading in the direction of a "categorization" of all data types that the GPS can handle. Garmin seems to want to call these "categories" - Adventures. Adventures = BC Lists from what I can tell. So, you create a BC List with all of the data related to an Activity and that can be transferred to/from the GPS intact to an "Adventures Manager".

This may all be good (I like the idea) but it does not help us manage Waypoints the way we are use to. Waypoint Categories are independent of List's. Unless. . .

If BC-Win would support Smart List's and a Smart List could be an Adventure, then "Smart List's" might be equivalent to MS Categories(?) - given some enhanced Boolean filters.

Cheers,

This is all well and good Dan if you think that the Montana is the answer. I don't and will probably never own one. For those of us with legacy units, that are totally acceptable for our needs, the current development philosophy that prevails is a bit of a step backwards IMO. Rather than take a full featured application and improve it Garmin seems intent on creating an app that's patterned after a questionable bit of marketing genius.

It's not about the software on the computer it's about how the software on the computer supports the GPS. Right now BC doesn't do that all that well and that's the real point here. Let's not loose sight of the goal.

I agree, and you're right on all counts.

The nature of "list" in BC is similar (if not the same) as "category" in MS.

Umm.... Nope. Totally different concept. As others have already pointed out, I use the desktop software to manage stuff that I will subsequently use on a personal navigation device.

A list or "tag" is not something Basecamp would transfer to the device since it's not something that would appear in the waypoint's properties. E.g. if you aren't putting it into the object's properties it doesn't do me any good. If it's in the object's properties but isn't supported on any devices it's also not useful.

Just think of it as "tag". You tag your data, which allow you to search/filter them later on. And the tag just link to your data. They do not create a separate copy of the data. Everyone agree?

Maybe? Maybe not? What's the use case(s)?

Doesn't work for me in any of my use cases because it's not part of the objects' properties.

First, does it make sense to have 2 tagging system in BC?

That's not what's being asked for. We want something that will work in a category search on the personal navigation devices. We just want Basecamp to support that, like Mapsource currently does.

E.g. we want additional data that is a permanent part of an object's properties, not some sort of tagging system that only exists in Basecamp.

I can see where you might be confused because there is obviously some overlap in functionality here, depending upon the use cases. If it helps, here are the meta uses of desktop programs like Basecamp and Mapsource:

1. Plan trips which we will use Garmin personal navigation devices to assist us with.

2. Manage/view/analyse data (maps, waypoints, routes, tracks, etc.) that come from and/or will be used on Garmin's personal navigation devices.

3. Some combination of #1 and #2 which requires #2 to directly support #1. E.g. you can't limit "categorizing" to lists or other phenomena which do not go beyond the desktop program. It must result in permanent data in the objects' properties so it will transfer elsewhere as an integral part of the object ... to a Garmin personal navigation device, a GPX file, etc.

And that property must be a property which is widely recognized and used functionally.

Categories satisfies those requirements. Listing/tagging does not.

...ken...

My question is, if "list" is sync up with the "category" on the device, is that sufficient? In other word, "category" is represented as "list" in BC instead of inside the waypoint properties as in MS. Just a different UI representation.

I appreciate all the replies above. I am no MS/category expert, so please correct me if I'm wrong ;)

One problem with this approach is collaboration with MapSource users on projects. I'm not even sure how it would work with sharing files among BaseCamp users.