BaseCamp 3.3.2 released

If you choose to use Roy's suggestion -- and it's just about the only useful way to use Basecamp if you like to do route planning and then dump all the interim routes and associated junk without driving yourself insane! -- keep in mind one hard and fast rule:

Always save as .GDB !!

Saving as a .GDB file will keep all the data in the same form/format as it is stored in Basecamp's database. That way, when you reload it it will come back in exactly the way it was. This will get you as close as you can get to the concept of always loading clean files in Mapsource.

Saving as a .GPX file will cause Basecamp to change things and even just throw stuff out so when you reload the file in Basecamp you will not always get what you saved.

It can be most frustrating until you understand the difference.

...ken...

I don't think I agree with this. The gdb format we export is very old (so it maintains compatibility with MapSource), and is thus missing some information that may or may not be vital to you.

GPX doesn't have these problems, we always export the latest version, and MapSource can still read the latest version (but it ignores the parts it doesn't understand). But you are of course right that even GPX has its caveats.

The best way to save data is to create a backup. That will save the data in the exact format BaseCamp is storing it in (the newest GDB format).

We are investigating to provide a different export format that will preserve all data (and list/list folder structure) without having to do a backup.

Falagar
In you post you said

The best way to save data is to create a backup. That will save the data in the exact format BaseCamp is storing it in (the newest GDB format).

. The file extension is .Backup and not GDB but uses a new GDB format?

Some of this is getting confusing.. I can save data by exporting it to a .GPX or a .GDB but yet it is not as good as backing up the data to a .Backup extension which is also a GDB but not the same as the one used by MS.

I guess I will have to use .Backup to maintain my files rather than export for .GPX and .GDB so not to lose data..

Right??

BC

The .Backup is just a zip file of all the contents of BaseCamp's data.

Part of that content is AllData.gdb which is a gdb file. The version of that gdb file is a much newer one than the one you get when exporting to gdb.

I apologize if that is confusing, but long story short: Use Backup! :)

The blank lines bug

Could someone who has this happen could this with 3.3.2?

We did fix some line break issues with 3.3.2, so hopefully this should not happen anymore.

The blank lines bug is not device related but a bug in Basecamp that occurs when a routepoint/waypoint has a full address (with housenumber).

It is created by the program within the <wpt>...</wpt> or <rtept>...</rtept> tags upon exporting the route (with or without changes to the route).

Reproducing the bug:

1. open Basecamp;
(to avoid all other possibilities, start a clean Basecamp, meaning no files whatsoever in "My Collection")

2. create a new route with some routepoints/waypoints (make sure some have full addresses, others not);

3. in the menu "File" select "Export->Export Selection...";

4. right click your route and choose "delete";
(when you check your route now with an editor of your choice, you will see NO blank line within the above mentioned tags)

5. in the menu "File" select "Import..." and choose the route you just created;

6. you can do some changes to your route, but this step is NOT mandatory;

7. in the menu "File" select "Export->Export (your route) and let Basecamp overwrite the existing route";

Check your route again now with an editor, you will notice that within the mentioned tags the full address points have added single blank lines, the points without a full address have NO added blank lines).

The next time you import/export your route, the blank line (within the mentioned tags) will be doubled and added to the blank line (there will be three blank lines now instead of one).
Next time there will be 1+2+4=7 blank lines then 1+2+4+8=15, etc...

Edit: tested on Windows Vista 32bit OS and City Navigator Europe NT 2012.4

Thanks for testing this out. We'll take a look and will hopefully have a fix soon.

The Erase tool bug.

Remarque: this is for testing purposes only.
Make a new route, and to make it easier, create only routepoints (no waypoints, so no blue flags).

Doubleclick the route to bring up the route properties.
You will notice that routepoints are by default shaping points (greyed out).

Click a random shaping point and delete it by rightclicking and choosing delete, or by clicking the "Delete" key.
The point is deleted and the remaining points are now all showed as been connected with straight lines.
You need to click the recalculate button in order to "fix" the route.
In my opinion and in this case, the recalculate should be done automatically because you need to do it anyway.

So far all is well.

Now, click two (2) times the undo button to restore the route to what it was before the changes.

Again choose a random shaping point, making sure the "Center map" option is checked.
The point you picked out is now centered on the screen.
Choose the erase tool button and click on the centered shaping point.

Two (2) things happen that didn't happen in the former method:
1. all remaining shaping points become routepoints (not greyed out anymore).
2. route is auto-recalculated.

Point 1 is obviously a bug.
Point 2 is how it should be in the first place.

On a side note I would like to point out an annoyance in the route properties list index.
When deleting a point in the route the selection bar will return to the first index in the list.
This is very annoying especially when the're alot of points.

The position of the selection bar shouldn't change after an index deletion.
That way your selection bar stays on the spot where it was before the change and therefore you know it too wher it was (in case you forgot - I mostly do, :D).