Help needed with Basecamp's activity profiles

[Nicobie]

I need some assistance with Basecamp's activity profiles and the influence any changes to them have on my routes that were planned with different activity profiles.

I use Basecamp V 4.7.2 with a Zumo 595 LM that I bought in May 2018.

I plan routes with different activities, on the same holiday/trip - eg Jhb to Upington on driving activity, and then from thereon to Richtersveld on offroading activity.

I transfer routes to the memory card inside the gps, from where I import them to the internal storage.
When I import them on the gps some routes do not import into the gps, and this drives me crazy.

I have tried to transfer routes directly into internal memory, then it imports, but changes the route completely, I suppose, according to the settings of the gps and not according to the settings on Basecamp.

I sat with Kevin Bolton one saturday afternoon and learned that the 2 devices' settings must be compatible, but one cannot keep on changing the settings with every route ??

Is there somebody in Gauteng that provides guidance/training with basecamp routing, to see what mistakes I make ??
I need to be a student again please !!!

Any advice/ suggestions will be much appreciated.

[Daniek]

Maybe I should start by asking why you create the Richtersveld routes using the Offroad function in Basecamp?

On my eTrex GPS unit I have 3 options when creating a route i.e. Time, Distance or offroad. Here the offroad function will draw a straight line between the points I am routing to and will not route on an existing road on the map. I have tried the Offroad profile in Basecamp and see that it also follows the roads. Except for plenty avoidance's that are active, I am not sure what the difference is between Driving and Offroad. If you do want to create a straight line between your points, Basecamp does have a profile "Direct" that will create a straight line between your points. I have not used this before and have therefor not transferred them to my GPS unit to see what it will do.

Secondly, as a standard, I switch off all avoidance's in the activity profile of Basecamp as well as on the GPS. These are known for causing problems with routing. When my wife did a tour with some ladies, I did activate the "Avoid gravel roads" avoidance, and that worked. But anyway.

As far as the routing in Basecamp compared to the GPS is concerned, I have even found that between 2 different Garmin units, the routing will not be the same. I suppose each unit uses different algorithms to do the calculating of the route. To limit the changes between the Bascamp route and the GPS route, I manually create more via points along my route, in Basecamp. It will then, to a degree "force" the GPS to follow the same route. I have created a short Youtube video to show how I do my routing including the adding of manual via points. The link can be found in my Basecamp Tips & Tricks thread, here. On a side note, the first post in this thread acts like an index listing all the topics of discussion. From this list, you are able to click on a link that will take you directly to the relevant post.

You are welcome to give me a call (0 7 8 4 2 2 3 4 9 5) if you have any further questions.

Cheers

Danie.

[Daniek]

As a side note, following your question on training, I have contemplated on the viability to start with "training" on Basecamp, GPS, Google Earth, etc. as tools for trip planning. I have a passion for this and have "played around" quite a bit. And since I was retrenched in April 2020, I have not found permanent employment again. Although I am fortunate to be able to do some freelance work that keep the motors turning, albeit in low range. I suppose that recent time have taught us that training is not necessarily physical classroom type training. Online training is an option to look at also. I must admit that an informal face to face sitting down and discussing just feels more right. I suppose that will have to change. If there is sufficient interest, I cam always investigate further.

If one can get sufficient "topics" for discussion/training, I suppose one can set up a Teams/Zoom/Skype session to spend an hour or so on "training". Although training sounds so formal.

I am currently based in Hermanus in the Western Cape. With enough motivation, it could also always be worth arranging a Basecamp/GPS get together weekend somewhere where the focus can be related to this topic.

Anyways. Maybe this could become a separate thread....I don't know.

[Ian.McM]

I am using a Garmin Nuvi 52.

From what I can gather from information on Google, I can't upload a track onto that device and then use it to navigate with?

[Stofkol]

@daniek,

Me, my Nuvi 67, Basecamp and google earth pro have all agreed to be your first students! After a fail as impromptu tour leader, I vowed to get to the bottom of this and understand the workings. So when is your first online session?

[Daniek]

I am using a Garmin Nuvi 52.

From what I can gather from information on Google, I can't upload a track onto that device and then use it to navigate with?

You are quite correct. One of the differences between your street navigators i.e. Nuvi's and your more offroad orientated units i.e. Montana, eTrex, etc. is that you cannot upload tracks (breadcrumbs of previous trips) back to the street navigators. However, in Basecamp one can convert a tracklog to a route by selecting the appropriate option after a right click on the track log. The route can then be transferred to the street navigator. The biggest advantage of uploading the tracklog to the more offroad units, is that one can see the line without actually navigating it. You will have to navigate the converted route to see it on the Nuvi. My experience here is that converting the tracklog to route works better when you have followed roads that are part of your GPS map. If you have been off any road that is displayed on the map it does struggle some time. Here your more offroad bias units also works better. In fact you can even navigate/route directly from a tracklog on these units.

It probably does not solve your problem, but I hope you can find a work around.

[Daniek]

@daniek,

Me, my Nuvi 67, Basecamp and google earth pro have all agreed to be your first students! After a fail as impromptu tour leader, I vowed to get to the bottom of this and understand the workings. So when is your first online session?

HaHa, you are putting on me the spot here. But I suppose I have opened myself up for this.

[Ian.McM]

You are quite correct. One of the differences between your street navigators i.e. Nuvi's and your more offroad orientated units i.e. Montana, eTrex, etc. is that you cannot upload tracks (breadcrumbs of previous trips) back to the street navigators. However, in Basecamp one can convert a tracklog to a route by selecting the appropriate option after a right click on the track log. The route can then be transferred to the street navigator. The biggest advantage of uploading the tracklog to the more offroad units, is that one can see the line without actually navigating it. You will have to navigate the converted route to see it on the Nuvi. My experience here is that converting the tracklog to route works better when you have followed roads that are part of your GPS map. If you have been off any road that is displayed on the map it does struggle some time. Here your more offroad bias units also works better. In fact you can even navigate/route directly from a tracklog on these units.

It probably does not solve your problem, but I hope you can find a work around.

Many thanks for the confirmation, Danie. I now known where I stand and that I am not missing something hidden in the menus.

Work around will be to create a hard copy map of my full route, and set destinations in shorter hops on the Garmin.

[Sp1d3rW1r3]

I had the same problem with Basecamp. I use a Garmin Zumo 400 gps, yes its very old but still operate perfect.

I had the same problem when transferring routes to my Garmin, it always came out wonkie and not what was planned. My solution was to extract the file from Basecamp to my PC and then open it with MAPSOURCE then transfer it to my Garmin. Works perfect.

What I plan now shows on my garmin. I have also switch off AUTO Calculating route on my Garmin so that it stick to the route I have planned.

[Nicobie]

As a side note, following your question on training, I have contemplated on the viability to start with "training" on Basecamp, GPS, Google Earth, etc. as tools for trip planning. I have a passion for this and have "played around" quite a bit. And since I was retrenched in April 2020, I have not found permanent employment again. Although I am fortunate to be able to do some freelance work that keep the motors turning, albeit in low range. I suppose that recent time have taught us that training is not necessarily physical classroom type training. Online training is an option to look at also. I must admit that an informal face to face sitting down and discussing just feels more right. I suppose that will have to change. If there is sufficient interest, I cam always investigate further.<br>
<br>
If one can get sufficient "topics" for discussion/training, I suppose one can set up a Teams/Zoom/Skype session to spend an hour or so on "training". Although training sounds so formal.<br>
<br>
I am currently based in Hermanus in the Western Cape. With enough motivation, it could also always be worth arranging a Basecamp/GPS get together weekend somewhere where the focus can be related to this topic.<br>
<br>
Anyways. Maybe this could become a separate thread....I don't know.

Danie, thanx for the reply, and here's your first "assignment" as educator for your second student.

This is a simple route I planned with the "new route" tool, going from one point to the next, not creating waypoints but tick as I go along.

The settings on basecamp and on the GPS unit are the same, avoidances all disabled, both on shorter distance and still no import of the route.

I am always open for further knowledge but I think in my case I need somebody to sit beside me and see where I go wrong. What can work though, is team viewer for you to plan the route and I can see where you differ from me.

I must say that I am already more than 15years doing this, firstly with Mapsource and Zumo 550, then onto Basecamp with the 550 (never any problems) and in the beginning also no problems with basecamp and the 595, but recently ?

Maybe my unit needs a reset ?? or an update on Basecamp.

I hope the attachments come out on this thread, if not I must email to you.

I am now going to play around with the various maps - T4A same versions, City Navigator SA same versions, as I see my T4A on basecamp and the unit is not the same version, the unit is 180504 and basecamp is 200301

Thanx for your interest.

Nico

[Daniek]

Danie, thanx for the reply, and here's your first "assignment" as educator for your second student.

This is a simple route I planned with the "new route" tool, going from one point to the next, not creating waypoints but tick as I go along.

The settings on basecamp and on the GPS unit are the same, avoidances all disabled, both on shorter distance and still no import of the route.

I am always open for further knowledge but I think in my case I need somebody to sit beside me and see where I go wrong. What can work though, is team viewer for you to plan the route and I can see where you differ from me.

I must say that I am already more than 15years doing this, firstly with Mapsource and Zumo 550, then onto Basecamp with the 550 (never any problems) and in the beginning also no problems with basecamp and the 595, but recently ?

Maybe my unit needs a reset ?? or an update on Basecamp.

I hope the attachments come out on this thread, if not I must email to you.

I am now going to play around with the various maps - T4A same versions, City Navigator SA same versions, as I see my T4A on basecamp and the unit is not the same version, the unit is 180504 and basecamp is 200301

Thanx for your interest.

Nico

Nico, I did manage to download your GDB file and import it into Basecamp. I have started a thread were I plan to set up a "training" session where we can go through a couple if things. If it is OK with you, we can use your file as a starting point and work from there. Let us see what the response is there. If it is going to slow, we can always have a discussion between ourselves, using one of the platforms available i.e. MS Teams, Zoom, Teamviewer, etc.

Danie.