Mac/Windows Software

Basecamp Windows BirdsEye Images very much out-of-date

BirdsEye Images very much out-of-date

Former Member over 11 years ago

Their "BirdsEye Satellite Imagery" is very much out-of-date. I paid for a subscription last night and found the first image I downloaded to be 6 or so years old. The area of my interest had changed a lot since the "BirdsEye" image was taken so it's really useless unless you are doing historical studies.

I contacted Garmin regarding this and their response, in a nut shell was "sorry about that but that's what you get". I told them the image was really useless and I wanted to cancel the subscription and asked for a refund. No can do was their response.

Is Garmin in such financial trouble that they would loose a customer over something like this? Well, in my case they have. So long Garmin.

0 SUSSAMB over 11 years ago

No help now I guess but you can download imagery to Basecamp without paying for it, you only pay if you want to transfer it to your GPS.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Thanks, I didn't know that and wish I had. I think it's very poor customer support for Garmin not to make that clear. :(

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Making this clear has been addressed. We have improved UI in an upcoming release that will make this clear. Thank you for the feedback.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Is Garmin going to address the issue of supplying old imagery and start supplying recent imagery instead of the historical imagery they now provide?

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

It's not just the imagery that's out of date. Earlier this month I downloaded the Birdseye Select map area covering what OS refer to as the 'Dark Peak' and this doesn't reflect the changes OS made to the paper map in 2011. I asked when Garmin expected to update it their response was 'At this time we do not have information on if a update will or will not be released'.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Their "BirdsEye Satellite Imagery" is very much out-of-date. I paid for a subscription last night and found the first image I downloaded to be 6 or so years old. The area of my interest had changed a lot since the "BirdsEye" image was taken so it's really useless unless you are doing historical studies.

I contacted Garmin regarding this and their response, in a nut shell was "sorry about that but that's what you get". I told them the image was really useless and I wanted to cancel the subscription and asked for a refund. No can do was their response.

Is Garmin in such financial trouble that they would loose a customer over something like this? Well, in my case they have. So long Garmin.

Since the BaseCamp team has no control over the BirdsEye business group, I would suggest you file your complaint with garmin.com/ideas. At least once a year since the service was started I have suggested that Garmin could actually make good revenue from this service if they would use current high definition imagery.

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

I posted here because this is the only Garmin forum that I'm aware of and because of this quote from Garmin's description of "BirdsEye":

"Use your BirdsEye Satellite Imagery subscription with BaseCamp™ to quickly transfer an unlimited amount of satellite images to your device and seamlessly integrate those images into your handheld’s maps whenever you need them"

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

The value of the imagery is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Here in NJ, they were using the excellent 2008 NJDEP aerial imagery a few years ago. This was shot from airplanes (not satellites) during the winter when the trees were bare. Now they have switched to some other imagery that is more recent but shot during the summer when the tree canopy obscures everything.

I know someone here who bought an Oregon 600 just so he could use Birdseye. He is now thinking about returning it because of the switch to the new imagery. So.... "careful what you wish for". :)

-Boyd

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

Garmin has said that they get their BirdsEye images from Digital Globe - The same company Google Earth uses.
Check the images on Google Earth, or Google Maps for that matter, and I think you'll find usable, up-to-date images on both.