This might be the same as "Fighting City Hall" but for the user of Garmin GPS for about 11 years and the MapSource Product, BaseCamp is not an equal replacement. First of all, MapSource is more intuitive and easier to navigate on my pc, which I do all of my route planning. Second, I am able to store separate files. I do one each for long rides, say 2 weeks / 3000 miles / 250 waypoints. I do a separate file for each year for shorter trips of a few hours, thus I have 2012, 2011, 2010 ... files. As for the Route Properties -> Directions screen, I can cut and paste it directly into Excel so that I can use this data to develope route itineraries. Instead of a row and column structure that is used with MapSource, BaseCamp pastes all the data in one column that is very difficult to work with, taking a lot of time to spread it back out into different columns. I use the Categories feature quite a bit to diferentiate things such as food, fuel, attractions, Harley Dealers, route plan, etc. I cannot do this with BaseCamp. Everything about the data in BaseCamp is difficult to work with. I am sorry but unless Garmin can restore features and make it easier to find your way around and save files BaseCamp is a looser in my mind.
Not really an error. You can, as I posted, launch MapInstall independantly of Basecamp so it is a 'separate program', but it's also available from within Basecamp, so you don't need to know it can be launched separately.
That is what I thought first, but after trying many things and finding help in the forum ... and of course, changing my workflow
I'm now much happier with Basecamp. There are many functions implemented that save me a lot of time (file management, converters and so on)
I must have expressed myself in a confusing manner then. We still use the same gdb format that we used in MapSource, just a newer version. MapSource cannot read the newer version, so therefore it's not compatible in that sense (try opening AllData.gdb in MapSource). But BaseCamp still exports the age-old gdb that MapSource understands.
I thought you expressed yourself pretty clearly. You said essentially what you just said above, eg. you can't open Basecamp's database, AllData.gdb, in Mapsource because the new version is not compatible with Mapsource. I clearly understood that.
But now I understand why you chose to continue with the .GDB extension. So this would be GDB v4?
Switching from the binary gdb format to a real database is something we really want to do.
Ouch!!! This part I really did misunderstand. Since the very beginning, you guys (devs) have been referring to Basecamp having a new "database" format. I assumed you actually meant that literally. Clearly I misunderstood that part.
So now I'm wondering why you inflicted all this pain on us users and we still don't have the real underlying database structure you said was Basecamp's strength. Were you just referring to that self-limiting "collection" when you talked about Basecamp's "database"??
Now I understand why we're stuck with a single collection. Trying to produce multiple collections in that GDB file structure, even a hugely revised one, would be a monumental mess. Which helps me understand why so much foot dragging whenever the request comes up. I never understood why not because it would be straightforward to do multiple collections with a proper database. Now I know why.
I sincerely hope you don't, again, toss out a bunch of useful stuff everyone is getting used to in Basecamp when you finally get around to rebuilding it on top of a real database?
As for the individual routes, you can create them all individually in BaseCamp. As fulltime rv'ers I do the same thing, with one route per travel day. I usually do one long route and then use the Divide feature to split them but I also could just create the routes individually.
When I want to save the routes individually to a non-BaseCamp folder on my computer OR if I want to send them individually to my Nuvi, I just highlight the one I want to send and then either File/Export/Selected Item or I drag it to the Nuvi's memor (internal or micro SD) if it happens to be attached at the time.
When you move a waypoint, it will use the list name for the category. I don't really like this method and prefer the MapSource method but I am learning to deal with this odd behavior.
Since this seems to be the biggest BaseCamp vs. Mapsource thread, here's my question.
When creating routes in MapSource, my habit had been to let it autoroute between my start and end points, then using the arrow tool, click on the route and drag it (rubber-band it) to the road I wanted it to be on. This gave me excellent control of where the route ran.
Now, trying to do the same with BaseCamp, the only thing I have found that is roughly equivalent, is the "pencil with the plus sign next to it" Insert tool. However, if I first create the route with start and end points and then use the pencil+ tool, it seems to want to add all sorts of stupid loops and crazy double-back sections to the route, in short, it makes a total mess of it. If I have only a start point and no end point, I can use the pencil+ tool to touch each point along the way and lay out the route that way, but frankly this is far more time-consuming than allowing an autoroute between two points then only changing sections you don't like.
So, is there a way in BaseCamp to have it autoroute between a start and end point then drag the route in various places onto where you want it to be the way I used to do in MapSource? The arrow tool in BaseCamp just wants to draw a box on the map. The Move Point Tool only seems to work if there is already a waypoint or shaping point at the spot that you want to drag around, but not if it is just plain route without a point.
The arrow tool 'selects' anything in the box you draw with it, it's not for using to 'rubber band' routes. You're using the correct tool, but it works perfectly well for me. Which map are you using as it could be a map issue. Have a look at the route video here http://www8.garmin.com/learningcenter/training/basecamp/ which also might help.
