Basecamp, quick-start guide and tips.

Beta versions are available here: https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?179-BaseCamp The

version used in this guide contains the function “curvy roads” which is not available otherwise.

First off, launch Basecamp and set it up with a map. You might need to connect your GPS to your

computer and using Garmin updater choose to download the map to your PC, this way you do not

need to have the GPS connected while mapping. Do not try to route using the “global map”.

Also I recommend connecting a mouse if you are on a laptop since routing is way easier when

scrolling to zoom in and out.

One important setting to know

about is the Activity profiles. You can

access them either by clicking the

activity profile button and

choose “Edit activity profiles” or you

click “edit”, “options”, and choose

“activity profile”. Within the

motorcycling activity profile choose

the tab “routing”. Here you need to

make sure that the settings you want

are the same on your GPS! If not the

routes may be different once on

your GPS. This is also where you can

choose the new “curvy roads”, this

can help while exploring alternative

roads in basecamp but make sure to

change to a setting your GPS handles

(I recommend “shorter distance”)

once your route is done and you

have added lots of waypoints along

the way to make the route choose

the roads you want!

Most of the time when working in Basecamp you use the “Pan” tool , this way you click and drag

anywhere on the map to move around, to zoom you use the mouse to scroll with so no need to

switch back and forth between the zoom tool and the pan tool.

Also it might be good to change detail to a higher

setting sometimes to see more smaller roads and

perhaps a lovely section of gravel road (although

these are sometimes hardly a road). If you can’t

see some buttons or settings just right click

somewhere in a blank grey area above the map

and check the boxes in front of what you want

the program to show. Just hover for a sec above a

button to see what it does or what it is called.

Once you have launched Basecamp, got your activity

profile set up and selected your map, right click on

“My collections” and choose “New list” or go

through “File”, “New”, “New list”. Name it whatever

you want. Keep one list per journey/week/trip or

however you prefer or you end up losing control of

all waypoints and routes.

Click on your list to make it active and start by putting some waypoints on the map. Place for

example your home, friends’ houses, camping sites you like, places you want to go, things you want

to see and so on. Either use the waypoint button , or right click where you want it on the map

and choose “new waypoint”. Make sure to zoom in so the waypoint is located where you want it and

not on a small road on the side of it.

You can double click waypoints and rename them, change icons and add notes. I prefer to first write

the common name of waypoints when renaming to keep the list nice and tidy and for nice sorting by

name. I also like to

use similar icons for

similar waypoints to

get a better overview

in the list and easier

navigation once on

the bike. Here I show

an example list of

waypoints.

Now you know where you want, time to plan how to get there. Click the “New route” button . *

It is recommended to have 1 route per riding day. The problem with having 1 route for several days

of riding is that if you go on a 2 week trip with loads of waypoints that you want to visit your GPS will

take forever to re-calculate the route. Older/slower GPS models might also be very slow to use with

large routes or even crash and if the route becomes corrupt the whole trip is lost.

So for the first riding day I drag my “House Home” waypoint to start and “Camp nice 1” to end. The

route properties are now displayed, another small tip here is to choose different colors for different

days to make your overview look nicer. I rename my route to “01 Home-camp nice”, this way I know

it is the route for day 1 and it is also placed at the top of my list! If you close the route window you

see the route on the map. To open it again just double click it in your list.

But in this example let’s say you want to see the sight “Cool Bridge” on the first day and before that

also go by your friend’s house. So double click your route, press the + symbol and insert both

these waypoints. They will be added to the end of the route so you need to re-order them using the

up and down arrows. The route should now be in order.

However the departure time is by default set to the current time on your computer. By double

clicking the first waypoint in the route you can enter the date and time when you plan to depart. By

doing this you can see what time you will arrive. Also if you know that you will spend for example 2

hours at your friends house you can double click that waypoint in your route and set layover time to

2 hours or manually enter your desired departure time.

So you noticed there is not enough riding on your route or you want to choose certain roads that

looks curvy and nice? Easy, select the route you want to edit in your list, look at the map and click the

“insert” button , place it over the section of the route that you want to edit and click once. In this

example l click near where it says “Täljö”. Next I click on a road that I want to ride.

Now since the map suggests a U-turn I click one more time on another road to get a nice bend. Keep

adding waypoints until you’re happy then right click or choose the pan tool.

These waypoints that I just click out might sometimes end up on small gravel roads next to the larger

road you were aiming for, so zoom in to check each waypoint you put on the map to make sure it is

just where you want it, otherwise this will screw up the navigation and also the time calculation. To

move a waypoint just use the “move point” button . These waypoints that help you go on the

roads you want are added to the route tagged with “won’t alert” and a small dot symbol. The more

of these assistant waypoints you add you will decrease the risk of your route being calculated wrong

once on your GPS. Don’t be afraid to try out adding points to see where you end up, if you don’t like

the result simply click the “undo” button (or keyboard combination CTRL+Z).

One more tip, when you are satisfied with your route, in the route window click the tab “Route

directions”, at the top you will see total distance and total time. To further improve overview I like to

add this to the route name. For example: “01 Home-Camp nice, 0:51 - 35km”

This is basically what you need to know, however I will quickly do day 2 for another example.

1. Click “new route”, drag Camp nice 1 to “start” and Camp site 2 to “destination”

2. Click +, add “Sight Great bike road” and “Sight Go swim”, re-order using up and down arrows.

3. Rename route to “02 Camp 1 - Camp 2”, and change color on this second route!

4. Double click first waypoint, change depart time. Also change depart time after having a swim

since this should take a few hours.

5. Add waypoints on map to roads that look attractive, zoom in to check these waypoints.

6. Check “route directions”, rename route; “02 Camp 1 - Camp 2, 0:51-30km”.

The result looks something like this:

As you can see it helps to have different colors on your routes to keep them apart. You keep going

like this until you are finally back home.

When you click a route in your list it will light up and show in a more clear solid color on the map, if

you want to see your whole trip like this you can of course select several routes by either holding

down CTRL and choosing the routes you want or by clicking the first and while holding down SHIFT

click the last.

When you are done it is a good idea to share the trip with your fellow riders, this way you wont be

lost if one unit breaks down. To share your trip simply select the Collection and click “File” – “Export”

and choose “Export [your collection name]”. Select a fileformat (usually gpx or gdb are used) and

save the file to wherever you like on your hard drive. After this you can email the file to your fellow

riders who can import it to their Basecamp.

Last but not least, connect your GPS to your computer, select your collection and click “Device” –

“Send to Device” and choose “Send [your collection name] to device”. Now your trip is on your GPS.

Once you turn on your GPS it might want to re-calculate these routes. If you have the same settings

on the GPS as in your Basecamp activity profile this won’t be a problem. In rare occasions the GPS

flips out, if this happens it also helps if you have some assisting waypoints along the way to use for

re-calculating and route changes on your GPS device.

Below are 2 examples of planning. They are screenshots showing a map overview for 2 of the trips I

planned. First a 1 week trip to southern Norway:

And another, this one to North Cape and back down along the Norwegian coastline. Here I have

lowered the detail level some on the map and selected all the routes to see them clearly.

Thats it basically! Happy map planning!

Cheers! /Jimmie