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Basecamp with two GPS - question about categories

Former Member
Former Member
I just bought a Garmin nuvi 2455. I already own an old Garmin nuvi 265. Each device is intended for use in a dedicated vehicle.

I downloaded BaseCamp 4.2.5 (Windows 7) with the intention of using it to mange and organize my 'favorites' for each device. I'm experiencing the following frustrating behavior, and am at a loss to figure out how to resolve it.

I imported the favorites from my 265, and create a List Folder for that. I then created a new List Folder for the 2455, and copied some of the favorites into that, plus created some new ones. A simplified example:

My Collection
--> Folder For nuvi 265
--> --> Address Book
--> --> --> POI address1
--> --> --> POI address2
--> --> Restaurants
--> --> --> POI rest1
--> --> --> POI rest2
--> Folder For nuvi 2455
--> --> Address Book
--> --> --> POI address1
--> --> --> POI address3
--> --> Food
--> --> --> POI rest1
--> --> --> POI rest3

When I hook up the new 2455 to the computer and Select "Folder For nuvi 2455" and Send To the Internal Storage, here's what I wind up with on my GPS unit, under my Saved places:

* Address Book
.....POI address1
.....POI address3
* Address Book (1)
.....POI address1
* Food
.....POI rest1
.....POI rest3
* Restaurants
.....POI rest1


In short: on the GPS, it's creating ALL the categories associated with the items in the Lists that I chose to "send to" the GPS.....even the categories that are NOT part of the Folder/Lists that I chose to send. That behavior includes duplicating the names of identically-named categories, with a "(1)" appended. This is particularly annoying because I used the same naming convention for both Folders, so on my new GPS, I keep getting categories duplicated, like "Lodging" and "Lodging (1)", "Recreation" and "Recreation (1)", "Shopping" and "Shopping (1)", each with different contents.

I've tried deleting the favorites off the GPX and clearing out the .gpx files (except for current.gpx) and that doesn't help. I am guessing that the issue is on the BaseCamp side, not the GPS side.

I'm sure I can temporarily clean things up by (tediously) deleting the offending "extra" category from every individual POI on the 2455, but the next time I update it from BaseCamp, the same issue will likely re-appear.

Any ideas on how I can resolve this?? Thanks in advance.
  • 0
    I'm not sure if I understand you correctly, but if you send POIs/Saved places to your nuvi that appear in various lists/folders in Bascamp then all those will be sent to your nuvi. If you don't want that to happen then one way, I think because I haven't had cause to try it, would be to use the fact that the latest versions of Basecamp allow you to set up different databases. I'd run one for one nuvi, and another for the other nuvi. You can create/change databases in Edit, Options, General.

    I'm struggling though to see why you feel the need to have different saved places in each nuvi. Wouldn't it just be simpler to combine the two lists?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Yes, it would be simpler to combine the two sets of saved places, but I was assuming/hoping it would be easy enough to have different list folders for each device.

    One GPS is for a sedan, the other for a mini-van. I take the sedan golfing, and have a number of golf courses saved, which would serve no purpose on the van's GPS other than cluttering up the favorites list. Similarly, we take the van on family trips, and all of the POI's for those are wasted in the sedan, which we'll never take on those trips. Hence, the desire to have a list of favorites for each device with some overlap, but not 100% overlap.

    I think it's counter-intuitive that, if I send "List A" to a device, BaseCamp will create categories on the device for EVERY list that contains a POI from List A. After all, I am sending only List A. In any case, at least now I understand why the behavior is happening.

    Thanks for the suggestion of creating separate databases; I may give that a try. One question, though: is it easy enough to share POI's across databases? As mentioned above, I do have a number of POI's that are common to both vehicles, and it would be a bummer to have to create every common POI twice (once for each database).

    I appreciate the prompt and thoughtful reply, SUSSAMB!
  • 0
    You wouldn't have to create every common saved place twice, but you'd probably need to use something like a usb stick so you could send common ones from one database to the stick then swap databases and import into the other one.

    I'd keep checking though. There was a suggestion a while back that the way Basecamp deals with folders/lists/categories may change in the next full release (4.3).
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Unfortunately, different "eras" of GPS units and Basecamp and Mapsource all deal with this in different ways, making for a large mess.....

    Perhaps the developers reading this can have a big Garmin wide team meeting and decide on one common system....
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    We have in development "user category" support. Some devices will handle it some ways, and some will handle it others. This cannot be avoided because as the above poster states, there are different eras of devices. However, the BaseCamp way of dealing with categories will remain more standard going forward. This is in development, and not sure of which release it will be included in, or how soon, but please watch for an update on this.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    I feel your pain!
    I have a Nuvi 2595 I use daily. I also have an eTrex I use probably 25 days out of the year.
    The nuvi has categories of items I keep on the "hiking" eTrex and it is annoying. Best I came up with
    was to create a folder for the nuvi, and a folder for the eTrex. Every subfolder on the Nuvi is prefixed with
    "+" so that it sorts to the top of my "Saved Places" list. The etrex categories are farther down in the scroll list on the Nuvi.



    Yes, it would be simpler to combine the two sets of saved places, but I was assuming/hoping it would be easy enough to have different list folders for each device.

    One GPS is for a sedan, the other for a mini-van. I take the sedan golfing, and have a number of golf courses saved, which would serve no purpose on the van's GPS other than cluttering up the favorites list. Similarly, we take the van on family trips, and all of the POI's for those are wasted in the sedan, which we'll never take on those trips. Hence, the desire to have a list of favorites for each device with some overlap, but not 100% overlap.

    I think it's counter-intuitive that, if I send "List A" to a device, BaseCamp will create categories on the device for EVERY list that contains a POI from List A. After all, I am sending only List A. In any case, at least now I understand why the behavior is happening.

    Thanks for the suggestion of creating separate databases; I may give that a try. One question, though: is it easy enough to share POI's across databases? As mentioned above, I do have a number of POI's that are common to both vehicles, and it would be a bummer to have to create every common POI twice (once for each database).

    I appreciate the prompt and thoughtful reply, SUSSAMB!
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Best I came up with
    was to create a folder for the nuvi, and a folder for the eTrex. Every subfolder on the Nuvi is prefixed with
    "+" so that it sorts to the top of my "Saved Places" list. The etrex categories are farther down in the scroll list on the Nuvi.
    That's not a bad idea for a work-around. I guess the down side of that is the fact that when you sync the etrex, all of your "useful" categories are sorted to the bottom there, too. Or, you have to go in rename the lists (putting the '+' on the etrex lists and taking them off the nuvi lists) to achieve the same effect.

    I haven't tried the two database approach yet, but I will give that a shot and also will consider using the sorting work-around.

    I will also keep my fingers crossed for a resolution in 4.3.0, but will not hold my breath in the meantime.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member
    Perhaps the developers reading this can have a big Garmin wide team meeting and decide on one common system....
    Yes, and pigs will be flying any minute now.

    Seeking consistency and logic in the Garmin world, especially where the hardware/BaseCamp interface is concerned is truly a fool's mission. I used to go there, but no more. I've found enough work-arounds to satisfy my basic needs and leave the more difficult stuff to those who populate these message boards.

    If I didn't need a more sensitive receiver and current maps of Europe, I'd still be using Base Camp exclusively.
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