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Feature requests for BaseCamp 4

Zebrastreifenhoernchen
Hello,

I've some suggestions to improve BaseCamp for Windows:

1) CRTL+Z (undo) terminates route creation
When creating a route, I (and suppose many other as well) do no always want to find the fastest connection between two points but the most beautiful, or the one with the least cat traffic etc. I hence use the manual route creation process with via points.
In the latest 4 beta versions, however, clicking CRTL+Z to delete a via point when BaseCamp chose the 'wrong way' terminates the route creation process. Please restore the old behaviour, i.e. let CRTL+Z undo the latest action and nothing else.

2) show the length of a route
In BaseCamp for Mac, the current length of a route is displayed in the status bar. This is quite helpful for leisure activities where, for instance, a cycling route should not be longer than 150 km or a walk not longer than 10 miles etc.
This should be very easy to port to the Windows version.

3) let the user set a speed for cycling routes
When planning a cycling trip, it is not only important to know the length of the route but also the expected time of arrival (e.g. the tour should not take longer than 4 hours). It is of course possible to calculate it from the distance but this is cumbersome - and the information is available to BaseCamp anyway (at least if you could specify your speed).
The total time could then be displayed in the status bar (together with the distance).
This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

4) export to Edge 800 / export of TCX files
I haven't found out how to export a route to my Edge 800 from BaseCamp while maintaining the waypoints in the route, so that I'm able to see the next waypoints with distance/ETA while I'm riding.
As a work-around, I wrote a Perl script that creates a TCX file from the GPX file and writes the waypoints to the file (it also sets the speed). It would of course be much easier if BaseCamp could produce and export TCX files with the waypoints included. With my feature request #3, this would be perfectly possible for planned routes.
This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

5) better information for waypoints on a route
The route info windows shows a list of via/shaping points and waypoints with the time of arrival. It'd be useful to have another tab that is listing only the waypoints along with their distance and the ETA.
This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

6) allow the user to choose between ETA and length of time
When you exactly know when you'll start your trip, the display of the ETA is useful. In many cases you don't know it and are rather interested in the duration of a trip. Please create an option to allow to choose to ETA display to be either time of day or hours:minutes from the start.
This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

7) dynamically change the names of via points
When a via point is moved, it keeps its name. It might thus show the name of a completely different location. While waypoints may have user-defined names (e.g. 'dinner') that should be kept, this is definitely not true for the automatically assigned names of via points. So please give the route points an internal flag (user-defined yes/no) and dynamically change the name to the current location for those that are not user-defined.
This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

Please let me know if I'm simply overlooking something...

P.S. I (and I'm pretty certain many others as well) am very interested in the configuration files. Are there any hidden settings that might help us to adapt BaseCamp to our needs?


Best regards & thanks in advance,
Dominik
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Underlining these suggestions!!!!
    Well done!
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    If you look closely you will see that most of these items you have requested have been implemented already - albeit in slightly different ways.

    For instance, you can set the average speeds for each activity profile in the Utilities->Options->Activity Profile->Routing->Customize menu.

    I had prepared a full list but the site timed out on me. That will teach me for being verbose.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Hello,

    I've some suggestions to improve BaseCamp for Windows:

    1) CRTL+Z (undo) terminates route creation
    When creating a route, I (and suppose many other as well) do no always want to find the fastest connection between two points but the most beautiful, or the one with the least cat traffic etc. I hence use the manual route creation process with via points.
    In the latest 4 beta versions, however, clicking CRTL+Z to delete a via point when BaseCamp chose the 'wrong way' terminates the route creation process. Please restore the old behaviour, i.e. let CRTL+Z undo the latest action and nothing else.

    2) show the length of a route
    In BaseCamp for Mac, the current length of a route is displayed in the status bar. This is quite helpful for leisure activities where, for instance, a cycling route should not be longer than 150 km or a walk not longer than 10 miles etc.
    This should be very easy to port to the Windows version.

    3) let the user set a speed for cycling routes
    When planning a cycling trip, it is not only important to know the length of the route but also the expected time of arrival (e.g. the tour should not take longer than 4 hours). It is of course possible to calculate it from the distance but this is cumbersome - and the information is available to BaseCamp anyway (at least if you could specify your speed).
    The total time could then be displayed in the status bar (together with the distance).
    This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

    4) export to Edge 800 / export of TCX files
    I haven't found out how to export a route to my Edge 800 from BaseCamp while maintaining the waypoints in the route, so that I'm able to see the next waypoints with distance/ETA while I'm riding.
    As a work-around, I wrote a Perl script that creates a TCX file from the GPX file and writes the waypoints to the file (it also sets the speed). It would of course be much easier if BaseCamp could produce and export TCX files with the waypoints included. With my feature request #3, this would be perfectly possible for planned routes.
    This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

    5) better information for waypoints on a route
    The route info windows shows a list of via/shaping points and waypoints with the time of arrival. It'd be useful to have another tab that is listing only the waypoints along with their distance and the ETA.
    This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

    6) allow the user to choose between ETA and length of time
    When you exactly know when you'll start your trip, the display of the ETA is useful. In many cases you don't know it and are rather interested in the duration of a trip. Please create an option to allow to choose to ETA display to be either time of day or hours:minutes from the start.
    This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

    7) dynamically change the names of via points
    When a via point is moved, it keeps its name. It might thus show the name of a completely different location. While waypoints may have user-defined names (e.g. 'dinner') that should be kept, this is definitely not true for the automatically assigned names of via points. So please give the route points an internal flag (user-defined yes/no) and dynamically change the name to the current location for those that are not user-defined.
    This feature request is also relevant to the Mac version.

    Please let me know if I'm simply overlooking something...

    P.S. I (and I'm pretty certain many others as well) am very interested in the configuration files. Are there any hidden settings that might help us to adapt BaseCamp to our needs?


    Best regards & thanks in advance,
    Dominik


    Dominik,

    thank you very much for your detailed feedback. I will try to give my input to each of your suggestions.

    1. That is something we are definitely trying to fix. I am afraid the fix won't make it 4.0.1 though.
    2. That's something I've had on my list for a while. As a work-around, if you open the route properties dialog for the route while you are creating the route, you can see the total length in the statistics.
    3. That one is also definitely on the list of things we'd like to do. Currently the routing algorithms takes some fixed speed for bikes.
    4. If you can program in Perl, maybe https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?13452-Data-Converter-Plugin-Development is interesting to you. Then you could export in whatever format you like. Or you could change the already existing XSLT for GPX to TCX which is located at %APPDATA%\Garmin\Plugins\com.garmin.GPX11toTC2.GarminPlugin. We'll see if there is something we can do to improve functionality for Edge 800 users.
    5. Interesting suggestion. I am a bit worried about adding yet another tab though. No plans to do this at this point.
    6. BaseCamp already displays this. Click 'More Info' in the route dialog and you will see leg time and total time.
    7. I believe waypoints already have this flag. This feature worked in MapSource, so it's definitely doable. Someone else reported this before, and I added it to our to-do-list.
    P.S. There are the registry settings (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Garmin\BaseCamp\Settings) and the config files at C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local\GARMIN_Corp. But I don't think there's much to tweak.
  • 0
    Falagar -- I'd like to add one other comment about #7 regarding the naming of shaping points. In my experience, it is not uncommon to use the same map point as a shaping point for multiple routes, for example using a common intersection on both a "going" and a "returning" route. In MapSource, the point is named the same in both routes as seen in the route properties. But in BaseCamp, it seems that whenever you rubber-band the second route to that same intersection, a number is appended to the shaping point name, like "A Rd and B Dr1". If you use that intersection again for another route, "11" is appended. The subject routes can be in any folders and this seems to still happen.

    This creates a problem for Zumo's, because with the "1" appended, it becomes a flagged and announced point even though it is an intersection and is set as "do not announce" in BC.

    I would classify this as a bug rather than a feature request, I'm not sure the original thinking in BC, in my opinion multiple uses of the same map point should always have the original name unaltered, in addition to it changing if it is moved as suggested above and is done in MS. Probably the two behaviors are related and can be corrected together.

    Thanks as usual.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    The added 1 is working as intended, there's currently not a feasible way to change this.

    That these points are being announced though is definitely a bug (and I am not sure if this is caused by the "1"). We'll see what we can do about that.

    This isn't really related to the changing a vias name when it gets moved.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Dear Falagar

    A wish since 2009/2010!

    Please see

    https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?10601-Wishlist-Summary/page2 (You actually answered positive here :) )

    https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?4542-DEM-(Terrain)-data-in-Basecamp (Here ZHENKEL also sounded optimistic! :) )

    https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?19393-BaseCamp-3-2-0-2-beta-is-available/page2

    https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?7500-Elevation-corrections-showing-both-ground-and-unit-height

    The wish is to display BOTH DEM height value as well as Track log altitude together.

    Thanks again.

    Kind regards

    Pieter


    I am sorry, Pieter. I haven't forgotten about this. There is still a case for this in our database. We still haven't found the time and resources to make it happen. I apologize.
  • 0
    2. That's something I've had on my list for a while. As a work-around, if you open the route properties dialog for the route while you are creating the route, you can see the total length in the statistics.


    Yes, I know. The additional window is ok on a large monitor (though still more cumbersome than a status line) but certainly not a good choice for a small notebook. And I suppose, the integration of a status message would have an excellent customer satisfaction : effort ratio. :-)

    4. If you can program in Perl, maybe https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?13452-Data-Converter-Plugin-Development is interesting to you. Then you could export in whatever format you like. Or you could change the already existing XSLT for GPX to TCX which is located at %APPDATA%\Garmin\Plugins\com.garmin.GPX11toTC2.GarminPlugin. We'll see if there is something we can do to improve functionality for Edge 800 users.


    Thanks a lot - I'll give it a try. So far, my Perl script works fine though - but both options are not quite ideally suited for non-programmers...

    5. Interesting suggestion. I am a bit worried about adding yet another tab though. No plans to do this at this point.


    An alternative would be a switch to completely hide the shaping points that are now greyed out.

    6. BaseCamp already displays this. Click 'More Info' in the route dialog and you will see leg time and total time.


    Oh, yes, true ... So this was a request for the Mac version only where the first tab (the one listing via points and waypoints) only displays the ETA as time of day.

    P.S. There are the registry settings (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Garmin\BaseCamp\Settings) and the config files at C:\Users\{Username}\AppData\Local\GARMIN_Corp. But I don't think there's much to tweak.


    I suppose, there is no such thing as a documentation?! ;-)

    Best regards and thank you for your answer!
    Dominik
  • 0
    The added 1 is working as intended, there's currently not a feasible way to change this.

    Hmm. Well, okay. I suppose this has to do with the data base construct vs. MS file structure.

    That these points are being announced though is definitely a bug (and I am not sure if this is caused by the "1"). We'll see what we can do about that.


    As long as you're looking at the "announce" discrepancy, I notice (with admitedly limited testing based only on the appearance of flags at points on the route) that at least on the Zumo 550, true waypoints are always announced even if they are set as don't announce in BC, and map intersection points used as shaping points are never announced even if they are set to announce in BC. I doubt these behaviors are a serious problem, but they are inconsistent and leave you scratching your head. Could it be set to either: 1) Zumo respects any announce setting in BC regardless of point type, or 2) BC does not allow announce settings that are not allowed on devices. BTW, the 550 does now respect the BC setting for announce or not for shaping points not at intersections, not sure when that started.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    I suppose, there is no such thing as a documentation?! ;-)


    No, sorry. :( Both places are really only meant to be written and read to by our applications. So make changes at your own risk. A view things (like the via point symbol, or the route dialog display setting) can currently only be changed by meddling with the registry or the settings file.