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Garmin BaseCamp Released



If you own a Garmin mapset that includes DEM data, like their 1:24K topographic mapsets or Topo US 2008, you might want to download and take a look at Garmin’s new free 3D map viewer and GPS data editor, BaseCamp. Here’s a screenshot using Topo US 2008 data:

3-30-2009-11.10.29 PM

On the plus side:

  • 2D/3D/Overview map views
  • Elevation profiles along a track
  • Photo geotagging using a GPS track
  • Some advanced editing features, like a track split function and eraser

On the down side:

  • Program is slooooow, even on my fairly recent quad-core system
  • Default 3D view is too subtle, even with decent topography; go to the options section and change the elevation exaggeration to something more useable, like 200%.

It’s probably worth downloading if you have a compatible mapset, but I don’t find the new features compelling enough to make me switch over from Garmin’s older Mapsource program to BaseCamp, especially given how sluggish the latter is. Hopefully future versions will be snappier, and add more features.






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5 Responses to “Garmin BaseCamp Released”


  1. 1 Thomas

    This software is a joke. It must be a beta version of some early kind.

  2. 2 Leszek Pawlowicz

    Yes, BaseCamp is pretty sad. It did take Garmin years to produce a version of MapSource that was useable.

  3. 3 Igor Brejc

    Leszek,

    While we’re on the subject:
    I mentioned a while back I was developing a free software for generating Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap data. Well, the software (called GroundTruth) has been released a few months ago. Yesterday I released a new version which can also generate relief contours from SRTM data. Here are some links:
    http://igorbrejc.net/openstreetmap/groundtruth-v13
    http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/GroundTruth
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28786233@N03/tags/groundtruth/

    BTW: I haven’t updated all of the docs with new features, it will take a day or two to do so.

  4. 4 Thomas

    BaseCamp software version 2.0.6 released.

    Change History
    Changes made from version 2.0.5 to 2.0.6:

    * Added a worldwide base map for use with BaseCamp.
    * Automatically named routes will now be named correctly when created in a folder.
    * Improvements to undo and redo functionality.
    * Better handling of tracks that only contain 1 point.
    * Find now works if the location is set to ‘Center of Screen’.
    * Improved print preview functionality on smaller screens.
    * Grid lines print correctly.

    Download here:
    http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=4435

  5. 5 Leszek Pawlowicz

    Thanks, Thomas. It also seems to run quite a bit faster than the version I tested. Still not very compelling for use with the Topo 2008, but might make more sense with the 1:24K mapsets.

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