Trip Planner Feature is here! (BETA)

You can search for just about anything you would like to travel to and from.

This is the stage, where my testing of trips ended. BaseCamp still has no usable address search and I wasn't able to insert start point. I appreciate you enthusiasm, but without doing basics functions correctly, additional features won't be usable.

Hi! Just installed...

First... Basecamp Beta did not start up in my computer running Windows 7 without accepting that Garmin "collects" information from my computer... and I have not appreciated that... as I will uninstall it in a couple of minutes after sending this email...
Then I tried the Trip planner... and it took some time in finding my start point... well I can imagine that the search function is based on sending a request to the server, downloading results, populating the combo box, etc... and I was just trying to put as starting point where I'am now... at home!
The feature I would like to have in Basecamp is some kind of "drag & drop" routing... similar to what is available in Tyre or in Ridewithgps... including a layer based on Google maps... I think this is the common "behaviour" of what Basecamp users we would appreciate... I mean, close to a web base solution according to our days...
I'am not conviced that additional features will improve the Basecamp software satisfaction... on the contrary... users we want simplicity and user-friendly tools... just to transfer routes to our gps devices in an easy way... is there already any Garmin gps allowing to import the route prepared with Basecamp in a computer by bluetooth or another wireless technology? I've been trying that with my Navigator IV that in theory can "share" routes by bluetooth, but with no success even with another friend's Navigator IV that is charged with "some" $€$€... Today, the fact to have to plug a device wired to our computers is to be "out of the wave"... and I will not say anything about the screen interface in the gps... as we can see it most of us in our IOs or Android devices,,,

When travelling on holidays we do not want to be depending on "we are 1 hour late to be at our destination"... at least this is my case...! And I do not know what I'am doing wrong when driving a route being impossible to reach a waypoint that the gps is insisting forever to go there!!! It is so "difficult" to develop a piece of software to have a button in the gps asking for "forget the next waypoint"???

Hope my feedback give you some work! I have more!!!

Remember that Google success has been to have just a text box to introduce what we are looking for!!! Engines are behind! ;D

Kind regards

Cuto from Luxembourg

But Find is not really what we are testing here

If I'd like to plan a trip from my home to a hotel, then it starts and ends with an address. And I would use Mapsource or Google because BaseCamp is still not a good tool for this task.

Next thing is, that whatever trip I would plan, it would be only to use it in GPS. And I'm sorry to say, but trips in nuvi is a very miserable tool. Actually I prefer to send waypoints than trips to my nuvi.

I have installed beta to see your new creation and I have reported problems. I'm sorry to hear that you don't find it relevant.

I am testing the trip planner function by rebuilding a series of day rides I have already built by using the route function for an upcoming trip. I am not seeing how using the trip planner is much of an advantage. (admittedly I have not yet spent that much time with it) By using a route I can immediately see turn-by-turn directions and other route detail that I don't see with the trip planner. It also does not seem to be saving me any time versus just inserting a series of waypoints into a route and using the route "shaping" tool. I see some advantage in the ease of moving a waypoint from one day into another, but that rarely happens for me. The search function was a bit slow, but it did work effectively for me.

I'll keep testing!

I am testing the trip planner function by rebuilding a series of day rides I have already built by using the route function for an upcoming trip. I am not seeing how using the trip planner is much of an advantage. (admittedly I have not yet spent that much time with it) By using a route I can immediately see turn-by-turn directions and other route detail that I don't see with the trip planner. It also does not seem to be saving me any time versus just inserting a series of waypoints into a route and using the route "shaping" tool. I see some advantage in the ease of moving a waypoint from one day into another, but that rarely happens for me. The search function was a bit slow, but it did work effectively for me.

I'll keep testing!

Originally I was thinking the same things. But I think the idea of a "Trip Planner" is to assist you in planning the "details" of your trip so as to allow you to better choose the things you want to do along the path (route) you want to travel. You can find most of the same route data in the Route properties window but for many folks the visual layout in an "Itinerary" format provides a bit more value. I personally like the ability to print the Itinerary and map so that I can share them with others that may not be digitally inclined. The feature with the most value for me is the "Search along Route" feature associated with the "slider" function. As this matures, it could be one of the most value-add functions BaseCamp offers those of us that plan our trips, rides, hikes, walks.

[EDITORIAL]
One thing that I have not seen/heard of is a way for "Trips" to effectively be transferred to Garmin GPS's as cohesive data - think Adventures. I would like to see Route's become an integral component of Garmin Adventures. This would provide a way to visualize a trips data, especially longer trips, on the GPS so that the "trip" value is not lost when it is co-mingled with other waypoints, routes, etc, on the GPS. I often have "side-trips" that I include in my "Trip" planning as well as POI's, Geocaches, etc, that are not a viapoint in the trip-route for a particular day so I see high value in being able to find all of a Trip-day's data in one place on the GPS. Garmin Adventures provide such an application. I think it would be very useful to be able to develop my Trip using Trip Planner and then just drag-drop or "add" the "Trip" to an Adventure in BaseCamp before transferring that Adventure to the GPS.
[/EDITORIAL]

Cheers,

I like your ideas Dan!

BaseCamp still has no usable address search

+1. I thought it was just me, but I can't make sense of it all, and regularly have to go back to mapsource to find somewhere, which works really well.

Hi
I have tried the Trip-planner for a six-day tour including some ferry-crossings. I liked the time-line, that's a big improvement. But, on this trip we have not ordered any hotels for two of the nights. The result is we do not see any route. I would have expected the Trip-planner to make a long route all the way. But I only see a route between the waypoints on the same day.
On one of the stages I want another route than BaseCamp suggested. But when I try to edit the route with drag-and-drop, I am told to close Trip-planner. It seems I can only adjust the route by finding some POI, Waypoint or adress and insert. All the stages came up with the "driving" profile, I did not manage to change this to Motorcycling or any other of my own activity profiles.

So, do I have to try harder, or are the possibilities in Trip-planner limited?

Regards
Joachim

We'd like to iron out bugs with trip planner and make adjustments to make it easier to use. We could really use your help.

Thank you.

Why not get Basecamp itself working properly first, then worry about new, additional features later?