Bad quality of routing in BaseCamp 4.2.1

A year ago I observed, that Garmin changed routing algorithms in nuvis. As I understand Garmin prefers speed of calculation over quality of route. Most probably when calculating long route current nuvis use only main roads and ignore any shortcuts on secondary roads. And when there is no direct main road, route goes by long detour. All this goes by marketing name Guidance 2.0/3.0.

Now I have found the same problem in BaseCamp 4.2.1. I have compared routes in Mapsource with BaseCamp. I have used car mode with the same settings in both programs and with road speeds set for the same values. The route is medium distance, from Braniewo to Białystok in Poland. Left picture is form Mapsource, right from BaseCamp.

City Navigator Europe 2013.41:
Mapsource: 344km, 5h 47min
BaseCamp: 368km, 6h 07min

Mapsource <--> Basecamp

UMP Poland (cGPSmapper):
Mapsource: 320km, 5h 18min
BaseCamp: 500km, 6h 27min

Mapsource <--> Basecamp

OSM (mkgmap):
Mapsource: 371km, 4h 56min
BaseCamp: failure

Mapsource <--> Basecamp

I don't understand this trend. Maps are getting better. Processors are getting faster and more efficient. And Garmin algorithms are getting worst.

0 dandemandan over 12 years ago

I too miss the ability to customize the routing priorities with the newer GPS and software, that my older Garmin 2610 had.... it had user adjustable weighting factor "sliders" to apply to the different types of roads.

I like to drive "Blue Highways" and found with the 2610 (and MapSource), it did a pretty good job..

Encountering the same problem you are with my new 3597 GPS and to a degree with BaseCamp..

I've found the "Eco Routing" mode more closely matches the types of roads I like to drive.. e.g. good straight secondary roads and alternative roads to interstates highways.

I'd like to see user settable "sliders" e.g. 0-100 weighting for each the major road type e.g. Interstate/Freeway, US Route, State Route, County Roads, etc in both Basecamp and in the GPS unit itself... preferable the GPS settings would be in the download from Basecamp, so Basecamp and the GPS both calculate the route the same way....

There are "Avoid" type settings present in the newer units. That I believe would be the logical place to put adjustable preferences..

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

BaseCamp 4.2.1 uses the newest routing code from the devices. Apparently not all is well. We'll check it out.

0 Former Member over 12 years ago

BaseCamp 4.2.1 uses the newest routing code from the devices. Apparently not all is well. We'll check it out.

Just for a data point, I did the same two waypoints using "Driving" profile and I got the same MapSource route PopeJ did using the same CNEU2013.41 map set but in Mac-BC. I can't test Win-BC until I fix the database move issue.