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More Basecam observations from a long time Mapsource user

Former Member
Former Member
Like most longtime Mapsource users I have quite a collection of past and future trips stored in separate gdb files. As I use my gps for motorcycle trip navigation, I also have an extensive collection of motorcycle roads I've ridden, or plan to ride in the future. Additionally, I've entered the routes from all three Destination Highways books into Mapsource files which I reference and string together when I'm planning routes.

Over the past weekend I thought I'd give Basecamp another shot for planning an upcoming ride to Northern CA. I started by importing my DH Northern California routes into Basecamp. I created a folder for that particular book, and create a list with a folder for each section of the book and it's associated routes. Worked great!

Next I created a folder for the upcoming trip and within that folder started a new list to stored the daily ride routes. I also copied the associated DH lists in the area I'll be riding into this folder. I REALLY like the ability to click between my route list to see my planed routes, and the being able to click on the trip folder to see a composite view with the DH routes. I can then adjust my daily rides to blend in the great roads in NC.

What concerns me is these DH lists/routes are linked back to the same 'my collection' parents. If I accidentally tweak one of these routes I've altered the source which I want to be a static representation of the books.

I <could> dupe the DH routes one by one to create unique copies, but that takes a while. If I duplicate one of the source DH lists a new unique list is created with a '1' at the end, but the routes contained within it are the original routes and are link to the source. It would be nice if duplicating a list to make a new stand alone list also created new stand along routes. It could at least give you the option.

I realize I could make backups to try and protect myself, but I'd have to know I did something to alter one of the routes. With everything in one big database you don't always notice mistakes like this right away.

I know I can create desperate databases, but when you create new DBs they are empty and there doesn't appear to be any easy way to export the folder/list structure into these new databases. You end up with one big collection of the routes and waypoints with the structure.

I also know I can just copy the DB files to create a nice backup of everything to protect my work, but again, without a way to import just parts of one DB into another, it's the same as just making backups which are subject the same data loss if I don't notice a mistake right away.

So, it would be nice to:

1. Be able to duplicate lists and even folders to create stand alone copies of the contents which are independent from the source.
2. Have a way to copy parts of one database into another.
3. Be able to rick click and 'protect' or toggle a list or folder to read/only, etc...

Anyone know of any neat tricks to accomplish any of these?

Like I said, I've just started to scratch the surface of Basecamp so I may just be missing something here that's obvious to someone else.

Thanks!

Adam
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Maybe it works better for a Nuvi, I don't know. I use a Zumo, and I have every trip or plan listed in my "Categories" under "Favorites. Yes, I do (did) have a distinct folder hierarchy set up in Basecramp, but it still used every "list" that a waypoint was listed under.


    I see what you are talking about. I load a single list into my Zumo. The routes from that list were loaded as expected, along with the waypoints stored in the list. It also added a list to the favorites display for any list which referenced any of the waypoints from the loaded list. That could get messy.

    What I did discover is, if I remove the waypoints from the list I'm loading they still show up in the favorites and I don't get any lists showing up as categories, just the waypoints referenced by the routes.

    So one work around to keeping your favorites from getting too messy would be to add any waypoints you need to your list to build your routes. Once you're done building the routes, remove the waypoints from the list. When you load the routes any waypoints referenced by the routes still get loaded in favorites without any categories.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    So one work around to keeping your favorites from getting too messy would be to add any waypoints you need to your list to build your routes. Once you're done building the routes, remove the waypoints from the list. When you load the routes any waypoints referenced by the routes still get loaded in favorites without and categories.
    I've done something similar to keep the "favorites" list on my Nuvis under control. It's taken me over a year to figure out how to use Basecamp (with its ginormous single database instead of the individual files for each journey that MS can use) effectively -- I recently started maintaining library lists for permanent waypoint storage. I created a folder called "libraries" with individual lists that contain waypoints for regions that I regularly visit (New England, Colorado, MN/IA, etc.). When I'm planning a journey I pull the waypoints I need out of the library and lay out each day's routes in a list named uniquely for the new journey. When the journey is complete I have a list (named YY MM DD for the journey start date) containing only the tracks, for future reference. As the tracks accumulate during a journey I delete the corresponding routes. At the end of the journey I copy any new waypoints generated to the associated library list and delete ALL the waypoints from the journey list itself.

    The net result of these gyrations is that my Nuvi has only the library list and the active journey list in the "favorites" at any one time. This method has forced me to organize my waypoints by region and keep them all in one place, which I never bothered to do with MapSource. Back then I might have to look at several saved trip files to find all the waypoints I needed for a new journey, so this is something that's actually better with BC. Imagine. Clearly cumbersome, but works for me.
  • 0
    The latest Basecamp also allows you to have multiple databases, so it now is possible to split your data should you so wish.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    The latest Basecamp also allows you to have multiple databases, so it now is possible to split your data should you so wish.


    But there's no good way to copy data between the databases. I found you can copy the original DB files over the top of the newly created one, but that's kind of a lame way to have to do it.
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