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Garmin BaseCamp/MapSource


Brian Kirby

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Anyone else use either of the above programs?

 

If you do, and you use the facility to view map locations in Google Earth, do you get a message that Google Earth is not installed?

 

If you do, have you spotted a new Google Earth log on your desktop over the past few days?

 

If so, as has happened to me, it seems you have fallen victim to a new Google policy that updates Google Earth to the latest version - whether you want to or not - and, apart from that new logo, gives no indication that it is doing so, and doesn't give an option of rejecting the update.

 

I have now uninstalled GoogleEarth twice and replaced it with an earlier version that integrates properly with both the above Garmin programs, only to have the latest version sneak back in which does not integrate at all.

 

Infuriating, as the facility to "View in Google Earth" is then lost in both programs, which is the main attraction of either of the above Garmin programs for me as it allows precise checking of PoIs.

 

Can't contact Garmin UK or US at present, they have simply shut up shop!

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Hi Brian.

I seldom use Base Camp which I find quite cumbersome although effective when used with a Garmin satnav.

Google Earth works fine on Base Camp version 4.6.2 installed on my PC.

 

A friend had warned me not to accept Garmin's suggestions to update it because Earth no longer work on new versions of it.

Likely because of licensing issues among Google and Garmin.

 

I know that version 4.6.2 is still available somewhere on the internet.

I will ask him for the site and if I find it I will notify.

 

Max

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Base Camp 4.6.2 works with Google Earth 7.3.2

 

But at the first opportunity the GoogleUpdate.exe process running in background will update to the new version and you will be back again.

 

You may disable its execution.

Look at https://www.askvg.com/how-to-remove-annoying-googleupdateexe-background-process-after-installing-google-chrome/

 

Be careful if you use Chrome, with this disabling also its updates will be blocked.

 

Max

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Thanks Massimo.

 

I came across this: https://tinyurl.com/yaafbtqr along similar lines, but dates from last year so is more recent, and followed it. There were bits of Google update variants all over this PC! I have now removed all that I could find (a complete pain!), uninstalled the updated version of Google Earth, and re-installed Google Earth Pro 7.3.2.5776 (the latest version that does not automatically update and integrates with Garmin MapSource) from Google's "Direct Installers" web page and, so far, no instances of Google Update have crept back in, and both Google earth and MapSource are running as before and are integrated.

 

I now have to do the same on my laptop. Oh joy!

 

Still, it will avoid using BaseCamp, which I find totally unintelligible and the latest version of which has removed the "View in Google Earth" pull-down.

 

I don't have Chrome installed, so no problems there.

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Glad to be of any help in this section of the forum.

Fortunately, there is not only "Chatterbox".

 

Max

 

p.s. Finally, my new campervan has been delivered to the dealer.

Due to covid, his shipment was delayed for two months.

Now only its registration is missing.

Also due to covid, all public offices here, including the equivalent of your DVLA, operate with reduced staff.

Hopefully it won't take long.

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If it is still available there was a Dutch site called 'Tyre' which was far better than Basecamp. It was a free site but started charging a few Euros. It was started for bikers but works (worked?) just as well for trip planning with any vehicle.
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Thank you all. Perhaps I should explain a bit. The late Eddie O'Callaghan (Judgemental) introduced me to Garmin devices (a nuvi 750) back in about 2008. I'm now on my third (Drive 51 LMT). (Between those was a nuvi 2495LM which I rate the best of the lot!)

 

Eddie also introduced me to MapSource, which was then a fully supported program (sadly no longer supported, although still downloadable free last time I looked, from Garmin's website). He used it to plot routes and upload them to his sat nav.

 

I had been using Autoroute for route planning from since it came on a floppy disk (which was before Microsoft bought it out) and found it superior to MapSource as a route planner. So, I persisted with Autoroute, and still use it (Autoroute 2012, its last iteration before M/S dropped it) for route planning. I still think its speed, and the ease of dragging the route around, far exceeds the capabilities of MapSource.

 

But, where MapSource really scores is for building directories of PoI files. I now have various directories of PoI files, split into categories, so that they load to the sat nav in discrete groups to make selection easy. There are about 63,000 files in total currently.

 

The pièce de résistance of MapSource is that with a PoI file open and all its PoIs visible on screen, one can zoom right in to a single PoI, and then pull-down a "View in Google Earth" command that transfers the PoI locations to Google Earth while opening it, and zooms in to the same location to show the position of the PoI on the ground. One can then switch between MapSource,and GE, making any necessary adjustments to the actual PoI location and, where necessary, switch to Street View for final confirmation. It is quick and simple (although it sounds laborious), and the end result is a PoI accurate to about 2 metres on the ground - which greatly aids the accuracy of the sat-nav when driving! :-)

 

I have also imported all the PoIs to Autoroute as "Pushpins" for use when route planning. So, I plot the route in Autoroute, select the various stops I want to make (campsites, filling stations, parking places, supermarkets etc), switch to MapSource, open the relevant PoI file, and check and adjust their positions as necessary in GE. When happy I use PoI Loader to transfer all the PoIs to the sat-nav.

 

I then build the actual route direct onto the sat-nav using its "Trip Planner" function, leaving it to select the best route between points. I check any bits where I suspect it may do daft things, and amend its route accordingly as necessary, but it generally goes where I expect it to go. All I can say, is it works very well for me - with (excepting the odd, inevitable, "deviation" :-)) virtually no unwelcome surprises! :-)

 

Which is a very long way around asking Jim (747) if he knows whether "Tyre" allows that kind of use? My impression, from their website, is that it is more aimed at transferring routes than PoIs.

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From memory it was very similar to use as Basecamp, had most of the features but was much easier to use.

 

I tried Basecamp but soon gave up as it was a pain.

 

The links given by Derek should show if it is any use to you Brian.

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Thanks for this Jim. I can't make BaseCamp work for me at all, so you obviously got further with it than I could! I think, rather than jumping ship, I'll persevere with MapSource, which I now understand, and providing I am able to go on keeping GE from updating, gives the combination that suits my needs. For how far into the future, I don't know - but nor do I know how long I'll be able to go on using it! One or other will get me sooner or later! Nothing new there, then! :-D
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Brian, your way of planning is exactly the same as mine.

Autoroute and sometimes BaseCamp.

 

I also load the databases of areas and campsites in Autoroute.

Mainly Campercontact, Campingcar-infos, BoardAtlas, Areasac, Lapaca, Archiecampings.

The latter also with only the winter campsites obtained through some pre-processing with excel filters.

I also build personal .csv files with other data, for example those of parking places near museums, castles or the attractions I wish to visit.

 

But I'm less obsessive in planning, sometimes I use the Google Earth commodity of BaseCamp but I never push myself to the definition of Street View.

Another convenience of BaseCamp is to be able to connect the satnav with the updated maps (I have the Lifetime update) and to be able to download the itinerary in it.

 

TYRE: I had tried to use it when on the PC I used Windows7 professional but it never worked.

It simply crashed but I never investigated the reasons and abandoned it.

 

Max

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The main reason I resort to Street View, Massimo, is to check the entrances to supermarket car parks for height barriers. There often are, but in many cases there is an alternative entrance with no barrier. I then shift the PoI to that entrance.

Yes, I've used all those web based sources - which is another reason why I check the PoI locations in GE. I've encountered several instances where people have added PoIs while in car parks, or on camp sites, at positions remote from the entrance, and consequently been guided down a road (the nearest road to the PoI coordinates) from which there is no entrance! So, if I intend going there, I now check! :-) I find MapSource the ideal program for creating and correcting PoI files - providing it works with GE. It is a bit prone to the odd crash - but it re-opens without fuss so I just carry on. Shame Microsoft dumped Autoroute, isn't it? It's a really useful program.

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Brian Kirby - 2020-05-25 12:23 PM

 

The main reason I resort to Street View, Massimo, is to check the entrances to supermarket car parks for height barriers. There often are, but in many cases there is an alternative entrance with no barrier. I then shift the PoI to that entrance.

Yes, I've used all those web based sources - which is another reason why I check the PoI locations in GE. I've encountered several instances where people have added PoIs while in car parks, or on camp sites, at positions remote from the entrance, and consequently been guided down a road (the nearest road to the PoI coordinates) from which there is no entrance! So, if I intend going there, I now check! :-) I find MapSource the ideal program for creating and correcting PoI files - providing it works with GE. It is a bit prone to the odd crash - but it re-opens without fuss so I just carry on. Shame Microsoft dumped Autoroute, isn't it? It's a really useful program.

 

I agree. It is an easy to use real super app.

I started with its predecessor, Mappoint, Autoruote being a great improvement.

But like any other vendor they want us on the internet, no offline use.

 

Max

 

 

 

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