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Intro to BaseCamp

Oh, now that I just recently subscribed to lifetime maps from Garmin, you tell me this. :D

Attached are two comparison maps from max resolution of both the Garmin 2014 update and the OSM or Open Source Map. Both maps are running under the Garmin BaseCamp interface. I have to say for dual-sporting, the OSM maps (http://www.openstreetmap.org/) tend to offer more detail in terms of roads and trails. It is free too, which is an added plus.

RB
 

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The price is right for Open street maps, but remember they are user submitted. So the accuracy depends on lots of different people and little verification. Not that I have 100% faith in Navteq map data ( Garmin uses them), Google or Apple.
 
I hate basecamp. It was a huge step backwards from MapSource, imho. I don't care anything about creating an adventure to share on mygarmin nor all the other social networking clutter.

Nice to see progress on the open source maps front. Garmin has really dropped the ball of late.

The tutorial is nice, thanks.
 
Thanks for the post. I learned a few things. My problem isn't with Basecamp it's what the idiot GPS and it's idiot brother do with the routes!

I'd hate to be in a strange area and have to depend on the twin idiots! :doh:
 
Attached are two comparison maps from max resolution of both the Garmin 2014 update and the OSM or Open Source Map. Both maps are running under the Garmin BaseCamp interface. I have to say for dual-sporting, the OSM maps (http://www.openstreetmap.org/) tend to offer more detail in terms of roads and trails. It is free too, which is an added plus.

RB

Nice. I stay on the roads so I should be ok. :D
 
The price is right for Open street maps, but remember they are user submitted. So the accuracy depends on lots of different people and little verification. Not that I have 100% faith in Navteq map data ( Garmin uses them), Google or Apple.

Good point. Having another source to confirm out of the way routes is a good idea. OSM tends to update new roads, routes, or areas of special interest much, much faster than Garmin. Errors in mapping for Garmin can take several years. I know Garmin have a link on their website to report problems in certain topographical outputs.

Here is another comparison for Big Bend State Park. With OSM you can see greater details and newly created trails.

OSM image of Big Bend

big-bend-osm-high-resolution.png


Garmin image of Big Bend

big-bend-garmin-high-resolution.png
 
I REALLY want to like my Montana 600, but I REALLY miss my old 276C, especially when it comes to dealing with tracks. The Montana can't store tracks that are very long and breaks them up into pieces.

It looks like the track point limit on my Montana 650t is 10,000 points. I have not come anywhere close to that yet but imagine I could easily on a cross country trip.
 
It looks like the track point limit on my Montana 650t is 10,000 points. I have not come anywhere close to that yet but imagine I could easily on a cross country trip.

Bring a small laptop. Download daily tracks. Done! :D
 
Thanks for the pointers Hail. I have been thwarted by Base Camp on a few occasions, and prefer to use MapSource as my primary go-to route planner. I'll usually do initial planning on GoogleMaps as its zoom and drag features are easier to use. Then I'll redraw the route in MapSource rather than convert it from Google format.

If I find time to mess with it these tutorials may help me wrap my head around whatever the programmer was thinking when they wrote the interface. I'm sure it seemed like an improvement, to them.

RB, thanks for the OpenSourceMaps link. I've been struggling with how small roads disappear when I zoom out on the Zumo, and these might keep more detail in those zoom levels. That would be nice.

As for trails, the Zumo 660 handles them fine. I put everything around the Cloudcroft area in there and it worked great. I did install a topo base map as an alternative to the Streets map so I could see peaks and valleys to corroborate the position easier.
 
I guess I am fortunate having not used a similar product before. I have no preconceived notions of how the software should work. Once I worked through my initial frustration I thought it was pretty easy.

I need to see if I can download mapsource somewhere and compare it to basecamp.
 
Ok, fired this thing up. Now, am I incorrect here and not following things? I paid for lifetime map updates for my garmin device, and now to use basecamp I have to buy maps for it too if I want to use garmin's maps?
 
Ok, fired this thing up. Now, am I incorrect here and not following things? I paid for lifetime map updates for my garmin device, and now to use basecamp I have to buy maps for it too if I want to use garmin's maps?

You should be able to export your maps from your Garmin GPS back into Basecamp. I did it with the maps from my Zumo.

Also, I carry an old Galaxy 7, 2.0 pad so that I can store old routes and tracks. LAB2V requires a clean GPS and they load a separate set of tracks for each segment and it was the only way to keep the tracks I had made during the first days of the trip. With some research I could probably save them to my phone.
 
Ok, fired this thing up. Now, am I incorrect here and not following things? I paid for lifetime map updates for my garmin device, and now to use basecamp I have to buy maps for it too if I want to use garmin's maps?

Next update just make sure you install the maps on the computer and the gps. Depending on how recently Garmin has tweaked the download interface that can be hard or easy to do. You should also be able to download the last update again and tell it to install on the computer. It will automatically install Basecamp if it can't find it as part of the update.
 
Hrm...I'll have to try when I have my gps with me. I figured if I was logged into the garmin express and their site, there should have been a way, but express won't do anything without the gps being attached. Not sure it's been attached to this particular computer. I'll try again tomorrow and let ya know.
 
Ok, fired this thing up. Now, am I incorrect here and not following things? I paid for lifetime map updates for my garmin device, and now to use basecamp I have to buy maps for it too if I want to use garmin's maps?


Simply have your device connected via USB to access them while in base camp.
 
RB, thanks for the OpenSourceMaps link. I've been struggling with how small roads disappear when I zoom out on the Zumo, and these might keep more detail in those zoom levels. That would be nice.

:tab That is another HUGE issue for me. By the time I zoom out so I can see a large enough area to figure out where I am relative to where I want to be, I have lost all the detail I want to see in order to figure out which roads I want to take between A and B. Also, there needs to be a way to turn off ALL map labels and symbols, especially the symbols for mountain peaks. In places like North Carolina and Arkansas, there are so many that they obstruct your view of the map unless you are zoom way in!
 
I like Basecamp. It took just a few minutes to figure it out and use the way I want to. I haven't looked at the tutorial yet, might show some short cuts or features I haven't used yet.

As for MapSource or whatever that trashy program was called, I never liked it. Basecamp has been much easier to use and works great with my GPS, not near as many routing issues as I had withMapSource.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
:tab That is another HUGE issue for me. By the time I zoom out so I can see a large enough area to figure out where I am relative to where I want to be, I have lost all the detail I want to see in order to figure out which roads I want to take between A and B. Also, there needs to be a way to turn off ALL map labels and symbols, especially the symbols for mountain peaks. In places like North Carolina and Arkansas, there are so many that they obstruct your view of the map unless you are zoom way in!



I'm not sure I'm reproducing your specific issue since it is somewhat map dependent, but have you tried going into Options - Acitivity Profile - Map Display Features and turning off everything under Points? Geographic features are there along with shopping, recreation, and on and on. The only one I keep toggled on is fuel.
 
I'm not sure I'm reproducing your specific issue since it is somewhat map dependent, but have you tried going into Options - Acitivity Profile - Map Display Features and turning off everything under Points? Geographic features are there along with shopping, recreation, and on and on. The only one I keep toggled on is fuel.

I think the problem he's describing is the same that I have. The layers of the map lose detail as you zoom out, that is, at various zoom levels particular roads are removed from that layer.

I've always figured it is for clarity, more important in urban areas than rural. But, that is where the most Garmin customers are. In a dense area like a city if they didn't disappear there would be too much clutter to clearly see major roads.

In the sticks it is the reverse, you need to see that level of road detail against the bigger picture in order to plot a course that uses those roads. So, when you zoom out far enough to see the nearby town or highway the road you are on and those to the destination are no longer visible. :doh:

From what I've gathered in reading GPS forums this is by design. If there are options to select at what level certain roads disappear they are not available in Garmin's consumer level interface, and may not be available at all. Some say each level of zoom is a unique map and if it were decided to leave out certain roads beyond a certain level it likely isn't possible to switch them on and off.

If the Open Source maps allow the ability to have these roads included in more levels as you zoom out, the map file will probably be larger for the same amount of coverage area. So, it might have been a trade off for space in memory vs. detail. It could be that Garmin policy was determined in order for the North America map to remain within a certain file size.

Who knows why they did it? I just wish they had allowed the user more flexibility to fine tune it. I'm crossing my fingers that the Open Source Map project might offer a better option. Even if all I have is Texas and a few surrounding states in the same memory space that all of Garmin's North America now occupies. I can buy more memory easy enough. :trust:
 
I was referring to the sentence "Also, there needs to be a way to turn off all map labels and symbols..." I should have edited the quote to only reflect the sentence I was addressing.

To the issue you have with roads I'm guessing that you have set the Map Detail in your Zumo to "Most" and if using Basecamp you've set Detail Level set to "Highest" and have the Basic Map feature turned off.
 
RE: Maps in Basecamp.....If you grab the Garmin Lifetime Map Updater app, it will prompt you to download for the computer, GPS or both. It will also check to see if you have the latest maps for your device. It remembers your device, so once you synched the GPS one time, Map Updater will continue to check for updates for you.

RE: OSM... How do I submit map updates? I noticed in Bastrop County there are a number of roads shown that do not exist or are cow trails through my ranch rather than roads, and certainly not public roads.

Thanks for the good info in this thread. For those of us who already purchased lifetime maps we can compare and contrast between the Garmin and OSM versions. I can see where I would use the OSM maps for areas outside North America instead of buying more maps from Garmin. Sometimes I just like to explore an area on the map.
 
I was referring to the sentence "Also, there needs to be a way to turn off all map labels and symbols..." I should have edited the quote to only reflect the sentence I was addressing.

To the issue you have with roads I'm guessing that you have set the Map Detail in your Zumo to "Most" and if using Basecamp you've set Detail Level set to "Highest" and have the Basic Map feature turned off.

Sorry for the confusion on my part there.

That sounds right about the labels.

It's been well over a year since I've used BaseCamp. I recall having gone through the settings on both the Zumo and in MapSource some time ago trying to figure out how to get more road detail when zoomed out. (and turning off info that clutters things up) That led me to search threads where others had tried to do the same, it seemed conclusive that the Garmin map itself won't provide those roads once you back out past a specific zoom level.

I'm looking forward to learning more about the maps from this new source.
 
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