Garmin BaseCamp™ Why Is It SO Hard?
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- Опубліковано 19 лип 2024
- Garmin BaseCamp™ Part 2 - Why is it so hard?
In this video I’ll attempt to explain why Garmin BaseCamp™ is so difficult for new users and how to deal with its eccentricities.
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Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:16 Modal Design
2:02 BaseCamp™ Example
4:08 Google Maps is Modal but Intuitive
4:40 Google Maps Example
5:40 Summary
6:23 Outro
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#garminbasecamp #routeplanning #garmingps
Thanks Tim. I always liked Basecamp but struggled with using it until I watched your videos. Now that I can use it comfortably I very much enjoy it, thanks to you.
I'm glad it's working for you now and thanks for watching.
Greeting from England. A few years ago I bought the new Garmin XT, which is a brilliant bit of kit. I had tried basecamp before, and like 99% of new users gave up on it, as it was far too complicated to understand, let alone use. It was in the lockdown, that I came to a decision to get off my backside and try to understand, and use Basecamp. It was whilst I were searching on UA-cam for that all important video, that I was fortunate enough to stumble on Tim's excellent tutorials, and thanks to Tim, I can now use Basecamp with 100% success. Just take your time, and follow his tutorials to the letter, and believe me, and Tim, when he says you will get it in the end. Just resist the temptation to lob the computer out of the window. 😂😂🏍🏍
Makes you wonder if Garmin has a piece of the computer replacement market. 😁😁 Thanks for watching.
Thanks for explaining the Overview Map … newer used it before, now I will.
Thanks for watching.
Thank you very much for this video. It was a big game changer to me to start learning Basecamp!
Have fun on your journey. Thanks for watching.
Excellent video - very comprehensive and educational - thank you 👍
Thanks for watching.
I read that Garmin no longer supports Basecamp. I watched the excellent series of videos you put together a couple years ago and thanks to you successfully use the program for all my trips.
Garmin updated BaseCamp in May, 2021 and it is still available for download. I have found very few things that need to be fixed. The advantage of using a program that is not updated very often is that new bugs do not get introduced. Thanks for watching.
It took me a while to learn Basecamp. I found that using a mouse not the touch screen helped. I have done several routes that work flawlessly.
Hey Tim, that's exactly where I was with my Basecamp experience. I still don't use it as my primary route planning tool. I use MRA for that due to its ease of use and flexibility and phone compatibility. However Base camp is my go to for down loading other people's routs off the internet that I will then reconfigure with MRA for my own use. Your videos have helped me to get along better with Basecamp.
Thanks for watching.
Basecamp is without a doubt not user friendly, I've posted comments on another one of your videos about base camp and with your suggestions I'm making headway but very slow head way. Garmin has fallen very short on customer service in support of their devices. Thanks for the effort you have put into your videos.
Hang in there. At some point you'll have that "Aha!" moment and enjoy using the program. Thanks for watching.
Tim, you can also move the map (when you aren't in Hand mode) by hovering your pointer near the center of any edge of the screen. When you do that, arrows appear that you can click on.
That's cool. I didn't know about that. Also, I forgot that when the map controls is on you can use the arrows there to move the map. I guess I've got another video to make. Thanks for watching.
Bingo! That cleared up a lot!
Thanks for watching.
Nice, I have never used the overview map. Thanks.
One word of warning. NEVER use Google Maps if you are going somewhere where you might lose Internet access for more then 20 minutes. Eventually your route will disappear from Google Maps until you regain Internet access. Don't rely on it when you are hiking in the woods. Worst program to use in that case. Learn Base Camp and how to use your GPS instead!
Just found your Garmin series, Thanks for initiating the content, looking forward to learning more about how to properly use Base Camp.
Welcome aboard! Thanks for watching.
Tim, I appreciate the time and trouble that you have taken to try and explain this programme. I have spent hours watching your videos and trying various things on Basecamp but have now given up.
Firstly, I believe that the routing was designed for use in America where, generally, roads go north, south, east or west. The programme understands that. However in Europe there are more roundabouts than you can shake a stick at and the programme can't cope. I did a test with a motorway (freeway) roundabout and the routing sent me off on a 49 mile journey just to get over the roundabout.
I also tried inverting a route. Obviously you need to duplicate the route and then invert the copy. The programme went into meltdown and just couldn't understand what was required.
These are just two of the numerous problems. It's little wonder that so many people just give up and use other programmes. You would've thought that Garmin would address that problem but they obviously couldn't care less.
Best of luck to you and other users.
BaseCamp™/Garmin GPS handles roundabouts just fine here in the US. The problem you describe leads me to think there is a problem with the map. It could be missing information that describes the roundabouts. To test this theory, you could zoom in all the way an try to create a route across the roundabout that gave you trouble. Thanks for watching.
Thank you Tim!
Thanks for watching.
Thanks Tim. I am a basecamp convert thanks to your video series. This is a great explanation as to why it appears to be so challenging to a beginner. Once you get used to it and experience how good basecamp is for trip planning your realise that other programs, including google maps are not as good as you first thought.
Thanks for watching.
Thank you, the overviewmap is very usefull. Regards Theo van Nunen Netherlands
Thanks for watching.
Thank you so much!👍
Thanks for watching.
This was helpful.
Thanks for watching.
great job.
Thank you for the compliment. I hope you enjoy the whole series. Thanks for watching.
Tim, there is another way to scroll or move the map while creating a route. You can use the arrow keys while in INSERT, ERASER, MOVE POINT mode and even use the mouse wheel to Zoom in and Out of the map all at the same time.
Yes, I left that out. I find using the keys a bit cumbersome and the Overview Map easier. Thanks for watching.
Yep, it's far superior to use the scroll wheel while rolling it off-center to "pull" the map the direction you want as you zoom. When you get good at this it becomes so intuitive and fast you never use anything else. It takes a bit of practice but it's well worth it to not have to move the mouse up, click, re-position the mouse, etc.
Basecamp hard?? I find it super easy to use. Like any software, once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake. I think one of the things Basecamp excels in is data manipulation.....being able to copy segments of routes and attach them to (or insert them into the middle of) other routes. Very useful! And of course, before I export any route out of Basecamp, I use Basecamp to convert it to a track, and then I export it as a track for use in Garmin gps devices for navigating. I do that because Garmin gps devices typically only accept a mere 250 control points as a "route" but they accept a whopping 20,000 control points as a "track", and most of my routes have anywhere from 2000 to 8000 control points for very detailed off-roading navigation in UTVs.
Excellent
Thanks for watching.
I believe you can press the center wheel and still pan the map.
Rolling the wheel zooms the map, but pressing down on the wheel and moving the mouse does nothing. Thanks for watching.
I have used Basecamp for a decade or more and find it powerful, but definitely not the most user friendly software. I especially like the trip planner as most of my trips are more than a week long and having daily routes is nice, however, the trip planner leaves much to be desired when modifying the trip by adding days and such. It seems that Basecamp doesn’t handle dates well and I end up with different dates embedded in different days and have to adjust the dates before loading to my GPS. If I don’t do this, I get some of my days categorized as something like “unscheduled” days. I forget the exact term and am away from home and can’t easily check it, but I have learned that when I see this split of my trip into different categories on the GPS that it is because of date issues.
The biggest issue with Basecamp is that I use it only a couple of times a year and each time it is almost like starting over trying to remember how to do things given that many aspects are not at all logical or intuitive.
Thanks for your insight into real-world use of the Trip Planner. I find it easier to create an end-to-end route as a template, duplicate it in a different list, and divide it into routes for each day. If I change my mind, I still have the template. Yes, you have to use BaseCamp™ regularly or you forget the details. Thanks for watching.
Tim, I have a question. Why does a route planned in BaseCamp and once loaded into my Garmin Zumo xt, Zumo, 595, and Zumo 590 change by adding more miles or taking different roads? I would love to get your take on this.
Gidday Tim, Happy New Year from across the pond in Melbourne Australia.
I too was grappling trying to come to terms with BaseCamp until I came across your tutorials. Thank you.
I have a Garmin Nuvi 2797LM approx 8 years old.
Could I ask a question. I like planning routes out of the way, away from traffic etc. If I went to my destination or Way point / Shaping Point, how can I return to my start point on the same route that I came on? I see some tutorials talking about TracBack, but I'm blowed if I can find it.
Hoping that you can help out,
Rick Polley.
To return by the same route, duplicate the route going out. Invert the duplicated route. Be sure to check all the points in the inverted route list to be sure each one is on the correct side of the road. Happy New (Riding) Year and thanks for watching.
@@EZMotoTim Thank you for your reply.
I think that you miss understood my question. Tim, I was referring to being on a trip with only my GPS unit. Is it possible to reverse the trip that I am on with my GPS unit only?
Thanks again,
Rick.
@@rickpolley4197 Yes, I misunderstood. Some models of GPS may have a go-back feature, but I suspect it's not included because waypoints may be on the opposite lane when returning to the start. For instance, you may be returning on the southbound side of a highway and there is a waypoint on the northbound side. The GPS would have you exit, go over to the northbound side to pick up the waypoint, then send you out and around to resume your southbound journey. So the solution is to plan your return as a separate route using the invert and check method I described.
Aha. I went thru the same process. In the beginning it was hard and I gave up. But later as you say getting to know the main logic behind it, I got to used to it. But. I assume it is still ugly and looks old fashioned and need a fresh look as we are in year 2024 + an easy interface with google in several ways including map data, traffic information, and creating and transfering routes and waypoints between the two.
It is what it is and there is no prospect of improving it. Everyone is moving to apps at the expense of solid, comprehensive feature sets. Thanks for watching.
Garmin just released a new version of BaseCamp. Version 4.7.5.
Yes, I installed it. Apparently Garmin is making little tweaks. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for this! I do have a question about Basecamp in general. How do I hide routes and tracks? I click a folder and everything I have stored is on the map. I went up to VIEW and clicked ROUTES and they are still displayed though they disappear on the List Panel. All I have been able to do is create an empty folder and use that but everything is gone, no way points. I just want way points when creating a new route. I know I'm missing something obvious...
Use folders and lists to to organize your data. See my video on that. Whatever is in a list is displayed on the map. The filters only affect what is shown in a list. You can put waypoints and routes in separate lists under 1 folder, but that is cumbersome to work with and defeats the ability to insert waypoints in a route from the route details box. Thanks for watching.
@@EZMotoTim Thanks Tim. I was just trying that! Works great. Basecamp is just easier to use than Windows ever was. Windows gave us some bad habits. I can change a name on a route and that's it! No OK button to press, no ARE YOU SURE panel to go through.
I like the power of Base Camp, but whenever I switch to the hand and back to routing, I have start a new route. Seems like a waste to me.
True. That's a bi-product of the modal design. Remember you can join the two routes. I think I covered that in the video on Modifying Routes. Thanks for watching.
@@EZMotoTim , I have watched it, it’s straightforward to join them, just seems a tad awkward.
@@thomaslenzmeier183 Many things about BaseCamp are awkward. 😏😏
Question of the day for me. I was leading a ride today. We stopped for lunch. I turned off the bike, which included the Garmin, and when I returned to resume the route, the Garmin wouldn't continue it. Instead, it opted to ONLY route me to my final destination. Is there a setting I'm missing?
@@thomaslenzmeier183 It's impossible for me to answer your question exactly without much more detail. I put an example similar to that in the video, "Import from Google Maps and Tracks vs. Routes." What I can advise is to be sure you have plenty of shaping points along the roads you want to follow.
I find Garmin Basecamp unusable now . The latest versions for me are so slow and crash when trying to delete a large file . If I install an older version it works good except it will not import .gdb files . If I update it , it slows down to an unusable degree and just fails . I use Garmin Homeport now it works much better but I find it easier to build a route or mark a position in Google Earth when at home and save it as a .kml for waypoints and routes and .kmz for Overlays then import it into a Homeport file . That way you have the folder of .kml files on your computer separately to homeports cache . You can export Homeports files in .gpx .gdb and .kml onto a big USB drive as a backup .
Thanks for the info. BaseCamp does not crash or run slowly on either my desktop or laptop. Go with whatever works for you.
Garmin Basecamp should be a software industry case study in how NOT to design a user interface. Garmin should be embarrassed by releasing such a user-unfriendly product.
True. I've taken a pragmatic approach and learned to live with the UI. Doing so has unlocked the power of the tool. Thanks for watching.
promosm ☀️
Thanks for watching.
As a retired former user interface programmer this is without doubt the worst program I have ever seen. Say what you will it is plain horrible, not intuitive and I cannot believe Garmin would allow this abomination to exist with their name on it. Obviously it doesn't make them any money as their attention seems to have shifted to watches etc. I have managed to carve out a route on this thing but there are so many things going on that can and do screw up the route you have to dig in to escape the turmoil. I will have to see what is available out there for my next GPS and see what route planner it may work with but I will not go back to this abomination of a user interface. It's a dead program with no development so it's not going to change. Why even tolerate this thing? Garmin has no interest in it so why should potential customers? What a complete mess.
Why should I spend my valuable time learning a tool that the developer obviously spent no time trying to make usable? The only reason to continue to waste time on basecamp is stubbornness. The competition is better (and improving). Unless they get their act together, the market will take care of Garmin, and the time spent learning their tools will have been truly wasted.
Thanks for expressing your view from the opposite side of the coin.
Basecamp is probably the worst program ever created. Even worse is Garmin does nothing about it. Maybe the software designers need to watch a non computer minded person try to work it and then adapt it to their needs. Google Maps is 100 times easier to get the same results. I will never buy a Garmin device again! Just give me a map.
Thanks for watching.
Garmin software is absolute trash