Where are the side streets?

Former Member over 10 years ago

Hi, I'm new to BaseCamp, and have been trying to plan a route for an up-coming dual sport motorcycle ride that I'm supposed to lead.
My goals are simple: 1. Avoid most major roads; 2. Include as many dirt roads as I can. Get back to where I started without too much backtracking.

I've used Google maps and street view/satellite view to see which roads are dirt.

After using google, and having a good idea of which streets I wanted to follow, I plugged my Oregon 450 and started BaseCamp (4.4.7) to start making my route.
Under my device, I selected the Topo US 24K West map by right clicking and choosing Select.
I zoomed into the area of interest and found my starting point.
However, within one turn off of the street that my starting point is on, I'm stuck. I see none of the side streets I planned on using. All I see in this $99 "map" are major roads in an old established area south east of Rancho Cordova, CA.
My detail level is set to Highest.
According to the overview on the Garmin site, where I bought the map: "Contains many routable trails, rural roads, city neighborhood roads, major highways and interstates.", I should be seeing these small, rural roads.

So my question is, is there an option to show smaller, rural roads? In other words, do I have an option turned off in BaseCamp that I should have on? Or do I going to have to spend more money for a different map? And how will I know if a different map is any better?

0 SUSSAMB over 10 years ago

Are those roads showing on your device when you zoom in? If not then they're not on the map.

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

Hello Kenny,

I have TOPO 24K West and picked an area east of Rancho Cordova, south of Hwy50, north of Hwy16 and east of Sunrise.

Like you I find Google Earth & Maps has lots of little roads and the Garmin Topo has only 2 main roads going north & south....a real bummer.

IMHO you have 2 options.

1). Use Google Earth and its "Add Path" option and make a KMZ path following those back roads. It can be converted to a GPX track with BaseCamp and loaded into your Oregon and followed. That is a very tedious process and some of those back roads can be gated etc and that will not show on GE.

2). Pre-ride the back country parts and record the track on your Oregon and then clean up the track using BaseCamp. Then load the edited track back into your Oregon for ride day. I highly recommend #2 and have done it many times for making tracks and maps for 50 mile endurance horse racing events.

Also....based on my experience with many back country land owners....most of those back roads are private so we check with as many owners as possible for permission and tell them about the event. Horses are quiet and make almost no dust and most folks like to see horses but a bunch of motorcycles zooming down a quiet private dirt road might get a different reaction and the guys back a few bikes might not like eating all that dust either. :)

0 Former Member over 10 years ago

.......Or do I going to have to spend more money for a different map? And how will I know if a different map is any better?

Easy. Costs nothing. Download and install the California 2011 24k map from GPSFileDepot, look at the area of interest in BC, and if it includes what you think it should, install it on your device. If not, uninstall it from the Control Panel.

This has been a BIG concern of mine for about 20 years now, since most of the most recent maps have deleted many roads and POI's that have been there for a century or more. I still use my 1998 Topo USA 100K and I wouldn't even accept a FREE Garmin 24K. I go back and forth constantly between the 100K topo and the free 24K State maps from GPS File Depot while planning. Auto-routing on Topo maps is most definitely not worth the hassle, IMHO.

What I DO often do for back roads that DO show up on CNNA is create a route in Motorcycle Activity let it calculate, then switch maps to either the 100K or the 24K, see if it follows what I think it should, THEN create a track from it, color it red, and upload that and NOT the route. Now there is NO possibility that the unit will recalculate, even if there is a different map on it.

I also use GE a lot, but normally only AFTER I have done the above, because there are a lot of roads on the Topos that no longer exist, have been re-routed, etc.

I'm sure glad I'm retired and have about a thousand hours a year to play with all this stuff! :cool: