BaseCamp Wishlist

QGIS can convert GPX and KML to DXF or SHP. QGIS is an open source GIS; it could even replace ARCGis...
http://www.qgis.org

Ability to read when the a specific route (list) was created.. I guess more likely in BaseCamp when the list was last recalculated.

I had a situation where I had two VERY similar routes and couldn't remember which was the most recent/updated/fixed one. (I did determine this by exporting into .GPX and looking at the routes in Notepad and looking at <rteps> and <waypoint> dates, but there has to be a simpler way!)

Check out Winmerge, which is an open source program available from Sourceforge. It can easily display the differences between two files, side by side, and optionally merge the differences.

Check out Winmerge, which is an open source program available from Sourceforge. It can easily display the differences between two files, side by side, and optionally merge the differences.

I'll give it a try... I first tried WinDiff and it didn't help, it just looked at "date creation", which (naturally) is only the "export" date/time.

Thanks

&quot;Ignore List/File-Types&quot; while reading data from GPS unit...

With maps and BirdsEye images (stored on the microSD chip), it takes up to 10 minutes to read the chip, every time the unit is plugged in via USB.... How absurd!

Would like to see a settings screen (in BaseCamp) so that certain file types (on GPS unit) could be completely avoided during the read process (when unit is plugged in).... This would presumably cut the read time from 10 minutes to 10 seconds. aka: ignore maps, photos etc.....

FYI: Nothing but waypoints, and tracks are stored on the "built-in" internal unit memory, which only takes about 10 seconds to read. However..... The microSD chip has BirdsEye imagery, the hirez topo, lots of photos, and several other maps installed/in-use. There is very little important GPS data stored on the chip, yet it takes 10 minutes to read in BaseCamp. ~ Don't really have any need to "read them" (BirdsEye imagery, photos & installed maps etc.) at each plugin, as they are already installed/available on BaseCamp...

Right click &quot;sync&quot; option for lists in BaseCamp

The ability to right-click on a list (in BaseCamp) and have the option to "multi-directionally" sync all data with the GPS unit. (subsequently be given the option to select either the chip or internal/built-in memory would a great addition.

At present, you can either "get data from unit" (and it goes into a new list in a special folder), or send a list/folder to the unit (after selecting the destination). ~ But you can't quickly and easily "Sync" with the GPS unit (so that all data is both on BaseCamp, and on the Unit).

PS: Garmin GPS units desperately need an insert/overwrite toggle added to the on-screen keyboard (keypad). ~ Using the GPS units to edit data is incredibly difficult. (So everything gets edited in BaseCamp.)

Sorting GPS data (filtered or unfiltered) by date....

At present (within BaseCamp), you can filter and sort GPS data by either name, or Symbol. But there is no way to sort by date.
Two dates are important. 1.) The date the data is originally created, and 2.) The date the data was last edited.

Note: I think that at present, the software does not always correctly differentiate these two dates. ~ Editing GPS data always seems to update the data's dates to the current date which is not helpful...

Note2: Although a "Recent Finds" feature exists on the GPS unit (Montana) which is presumably designed to provide similar search functionality on the unit: This feature is not very helpful IMO. ~ Because it fails to include recently created tracks and waypoints... It only seems to query "recently selected data", and NOT "recently recorded data."

At present (within BaseCamp), you can filter and sort GPS data by either name, or Symbol. But there is no way to sort by date.

You can sort by date if you use the "Swap map and data views" option (on the view menu), then choose one of the filters for waypoints/tracks. Then you can click on the "date created" or "date modified" column to sort by that.

You can sort by date if you use the "Swap map and data views" option (on the view menu), then choose one of the filters for waypoints/tracks. Then you can click on the "date created" or "date modified" column to sort by that.

Thank you Craig, I stand corrected! ~ The "swap views feature" was long forgotten, as I hadn't recognized any benefits of using it, until now! :)

One related question: Why is it, that some of my recently recorded tracks show the start times, but are missing details (in the properties pane) such as: leg speed, leg time, elevation and time??? (They do show start time, elapesed total time and average speed when map and data views are swapped.) These were recorded with the GPS, and captured by BaseCamp. The only thing I can think of is either a firmware update had temporarily caused the issue, or editing tracks (to remove erroneous points) is somehow stripping this data?

Point 2 work around

Wishlist of stuff we would like to see added to BaseCamp.
Currently I assign a separate Icon to things that I add when I am away with my GPS, then when I get it connected back to Basecamp, they are at least easy to find and I copy them to a scratch directory, get the Icons correct and the naming convention right, then I can copy them across to the correct folders in Basecamp and back to the GPS.

• Want to be able to show transparent overlay maps on the topo maps. The devices do this, and so should the computer tool.
  
• Would love to see some sort of 'sync' functionality added. If I add waypoints on the handheld, I have to manually find them and drag them to the BC database if I want to keep them. Can be tedious after a vacation where I have added many waypoints or tracks that I want to save. I would find it useful to have a dialog to select waypoints/tracks/geocaches/etc since [date] and other similar selection options.
  
• I'd like to see a right-click 'import to this list' option. When I import gpx files the items go to the end of the collection and then have to be manually added to the lists I want them. Then we have to go back and delete the unwanted list that was created when we imported the gpx file.
  
• I'd like to see a 'Refresh' option for the device and it's uSD card. We sometimes work online at the same time BaseCamp is running so a refresh is needed to have it recognize manually added gpx files as well as the 'Send to GPS' files from an online site. Currently (v3.3.3) we have to close BaseCamp and reopen it to have it refresh the device file data.
  

Currently I assign a separate Icon to things that I add when I am away with my GPS, then when I get it connected back to Basecamp, they are at least easy to find and I copy them to a scratch directory, get the Icons correct and the naming convention right, then I can copy them across to the correct folders in Basecamp and back to the GPS.