Garmin BaseCamp Confusion
 

OK, I've got my maps, I've got my que sheets. Now I'm trying to lay out each days ride in BaseCamp so I can push them to my GPS.

This is near impossible ... wtf. The ACA GPS guide makes it sound so simple when using MapSource but I can't do jack $h1t with this thing.

Can anyone help me out?

(I don't have MapSource because my 800 came with the maps on SD card and apparently you only get MapSource if you get maps on CD/DVD - BOOO GARMIN!)

I thought you could download mapsource from the Garmin website. It is easy to use once you have it on your computer.

Nope. You can't download MapSource anymore. You can only get it by buying maps that come on CD/DVD. :(

Do you have GPS files or way points already, or are you trying to build up the route yourself?

Can you load the GPS files up into something else, like Bikeroutetoaster or MapMyRide, and then load into the Garmin?
The ACA files are cluttered with all kinds of other non-route waypoints, so they are really hard to use.

If you are building it up yourself manually, Bikeroutetoaster is great.

You might get help at the ACA forum as well: http://www.adventurecycling.org/foru....php?board=3.0

And there's someone over there who posted gps files for the route on his site, which was a big public service - thanks tsteven (if you are here too).
http://tsteven4.qwestoffice.net/

I was just at the site
http://www8.garmin.com/support/downl...ils.jsp?id=209
and was able to start downloading the exe file of mapsource. This indicates it is still available. Try it and see how you go.

It does mention...
WARNING: This software will not work unless you already own a MapSource product. I don't remember how I managed to install it on my computers but I have it on 3 computers altogether. It may be that you may have problems unlocking your map on the program but it is possible to source free maps on the web which can be copied onto the memory card and used on the GPS and on mapsource software without the problems of unlocking maps. I found it a steep learning curve but well worth the effort.

Thjat's not the full version.

Historically the best way to get it was to download Basecamp, then pull down one of the mapsource updates (like the one you linked) and it'll upgrade Basecamp to Mapsource.

Create your route with a GoogleMaps site like MapMyRide, then export a GPX file. Load that GPX file into BaseCamp and transfer it to your GPS. No MapSource is needed.

Using BC or MS to lay out a ride is not the way to go. Use one of the online mapping sites(I like www.ridewithgps.com) to lay out a route than, as suggested above, move the route or track file to your gps with either Mapsource or Basecamp. If you're talking about downloading an ACA file to the gps, I can't help you with that. Never done it. The link might have a helpful idea or two.

There are some instructions at CrazyGuy here that may help.....

you can export a gpx or tcx file from bikeroutetoaster directly to your gps. you might need to download the garmin plugin for the unit if you haven't already. Available at garminconnect.com free

Agree. I took one (brief) look at the ACA files and gave up: there's simply too much cruft for them to be useful! I use BikeRouteToaster or RideWithGPS to construct routes, then copy the resulting GPX or TCX file directly to my Garmin Edge 705.

You can delete all the waypoints, leaving only the route points with gpsbabel, e.g.
gpsbabel -i gpx -f PC01v007.gpx -x nuketypes,waypoints -o gpx -F new.gpx

See http://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-deve...nuketypes.html

My .gpx routes don't always work correctly. Sometimes it won't load all the waypoints, or will route me directly to the finish on a loop course.

So now I use .tcx courses and ride using Training-->Courses on the Garmin. And the purple course line on the map loads fast, and never fails. I don't get turn warnings in advance, but I do get "off course" warnings, and there is a display screen that shows distance and time to the next few turns. ( I turned off "Virtual Partner" in Courses on the Garmin, so I don't get messages that the virtual partner has finished the course while I'm still riding.)

The best route/course maker is ridewithgps.com. It's fast to draw the map, and I get a live elevation graph as I do it. There's a new feature: I can drag a route to a new road, just like google maps does.

Give your routes a fairly short name. My Garmin only displays the first 14-16 characters of the name when selecting a course.

I upload to the Garmin this way:
View the route on ridewithgps. On the Export tab, select .tcx export (I use this with a Garmin 705).

Now go to your Downloads folder to find these exported files.

Plug in the Garmin usb cable. Open the mapped drive and go to the Garmin\Courses folder. (I had to create this folder the first time)

Copy your .tcx files to this Courses folder. delete any older .tcx files you don't need. I keep .tcx copies on my PC, and only have a few files in the Courses folder, so I don't need to scroll down a big list on the Garmin.

On Windows, to close the connection correctly, click the green "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the bottom right tray area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ridewithgps is better than mapmyride for drawing routes.

I always got frustrated using bikeroutetoaster. It's just way too buggy when trying to undo a mistake. It doesn't keep track of all my drawn routes, either.

I haven't had much luck with .GPX files on my Edge 705 either. A day-long route seems like it will take 2-3 days to load. As a result I always use .TCX files, too.

I think that RideWithGPS just doesn't handle turn warnings properly. When I use BikeRouteToaster to create TCX files, I do get turn warnings in advance of the turn. IIRC, you can even set how far in advance you want the warning to appear (in the "Download" options).

That's probably the only reason to use bikeroutetoaster. It can insert turn warnings at a predefined distance before each turn. However, even that is broken. It doesn't just insert the course point warning into the actual tcx list of waypoints, but instead calculates a location for it, which usually moves the route way off the actual road.

BikeRouteToaster worked perfectly for me the last time I used it, though admittedly that was probably a year ago...