New to Mac Basecamp

[planzman]

I am a veteran of mapsource pc version, bought some garmin topo maps for off road planning.


Now that I am pc free and once again have a bike, I thought i would see what the Garmin Mac software is all about.

Frankly, my first impression is extreamly bad.

Not only are the maps not accessable from the original cd that came with my gps, but the topo maps are not readable.

and the thought that I have to go get a pc to open maps, modify them with some Garmin software, save them to a thumb drive, load them in my Mac and yet again use some Garmin software to load them into Basecamp/Roadtrip.

I tried to make a simple simple route on Basecamp, just a ride between two towns about 60 miles apart, when i ask it to calculate, it draws a straight line not following any roads, mapsource never did that

I am sure the failure is on my part, but what really am I doing wrong?
I need a guru.

[Steve W]

The conversion process for older maps is a pain, but a necessary one I'm afraid. Current maps and updates are Mac compatible.

In BaseCamp, under "preferences" make sure you have "Auto Routing" selected under the "Routing" tab. Note that the World base map included in the BaseCamp install doesn't autoroute, you'll need your converted or newly purchased maps installed in BaseCamp for that........ Don't shoot the messenger etc.etc.

[EmmEff]

Originally Posted by planzman

and the thought that I have to go get a pc to open maps, modify them with some Garmin software, save them to a thumb drive, load them in my Mac and yet again use some Garmin software to load them into Basecamp/Roadtrip.

This is really not nearly as difficult as it might sound. Yes, it's a pain but it's a one-time process and it's very painless to boot. Fault Garmin for this. They should be porting their MapConverter software to Mac/OS X, but alas, they have not.

[xymotic]

I don't think the Topo maps are routable, are they?

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by xymotic

I don't think the Topo maps are routable, are they?

Canadian TopoV2 are. The original US Topo is not. IIRC one of the new Topo series in the US is, but I can't remember which one.

[Riteris]

From the Garmin site:






TOPO U.S. 100K

$ 99.99 USD

Downloadable
microSD™/SD™ card ( $ 99.99 USD )
Download ( $ 99.99 USD )
DVD ( $ 99.99 USD )
Add to Cart

Outdoor enthusiasts: we've mapped every hill and valley for your next great adventure. Now with more detail than ever, this product covers the finer points of the outdoors with topographic maps comparable to 1:100,000 scale USGS maps. It also includes terrain contours, topo elevations, summits, parks, coastlines, rivers, lakes, geographical points and more.


Features
Requirements
Coverage Details
Compatible Devices

Provides detailed digital topographic maps, comparable to 1:100,000 scale USGS maps.
Contains detailed hydrographic features, including coastlines, lake/river shorelines, wetlands and perennial and seasonal streams.
Includes searchable points of interests, such as parks, campgrounds, scenic lookouts and picnic sites.
Provides elevation profile on compatible devices so you can estimate terrain difficulty.



Contains routable roads, trails and highways in metropolitan and rural areas so getting to your destination is easy by creating point-to-point routes on compatible devices.



Displays national, state and local parks, forests and wilderness areas.
(DVD only) Includes BaseCamp™ software for managing data on your GPS and computer, playing back routes and tracks, geotagging photos and more.

[flyingbeard]

Hey guys, I have been using the search for the last 2 hours and can't find the answer to my questions. So please educate me. I just bought a 60 CSx from REI and got it home and quickly learned I needed a better map data if I wanted to use it. So, I went to Garmin.com and bought the down load version of Topo US 100K. Now when I went to download it I got a error message of:

Preparing for download...

Computer ready for download

Device found




You are now ready to download and run the Garmin Map Update application, which will guide you through the map update process.

If you did not see the pop-up window for the Garmin Map Update application, check your pop-up blocker and try again.





Accept Agreement
TOPO U.S. 100K (3126MB) will be associated with the device below. Each download can only be associated with one device.

GPSMap60CSX Software Version 4.20 - S/N 118808375 (1876 MB available) Insufficient Space

I went out to the local computer store and bought a Micro SD card with 2GB of storage space, I thought that would be enough, do I need to format to Mirco SD card? and If so, how do I go about doing that. By the way I am using a MAC with Firefox. Thanks

Me thinks I should of stayed with my quest.....

[EmmEff]

I don't know anything about the 60CSx, but on my Oregon 450, with the card installed, there's an option under Setup to reformat the card. With that said, you probably don't need to.

After you installed the card, did you retry the download?

[flyingbeard]

Originally Posted by EmmEff

I don't know anything about the 60CSx, but on my Oregon 450, with the card installed, there's an option under Setup to reformat the card. With that said, you probably don't need to.

After you installed the card, did you retry the download?

Yea, I tried with the new 2GB card but still getting the message. I am going to call garmin in the morning. I'm tired of messing with it. I checked all the setting pages. No Luck. Maybe it's a MAC thing?

Thanks for the reply.

FB

[EmmEff]

From what I've heard, Garmin tech support is decent so they should be able to help. My guess is that the downloader is trying to put the map set in the built-in RAM and not on the card. Sorry I don't know enough about that model to help.

[ramz]

TOPO U.S. 100K (3126MB) will be associated with the device below.

3126MB is 3.126GB which won't fit on a 2GB card.


PS Never buy the download or micro SD card maps; always buy the DVD version.

Each download can only be associated with one device.

[EmmEff]

Doh, missed that part

[flyingbeard]

Originally Posted by EmmEff

Doh, missed that part

Me too......

[flyingbeard]

Thank's for pointing out my error of trying to load 3.1GB of data on a 2GB card.
Sometimes a good nights sleep helps one think clearly in the morning. I ran into Best Buy and picked up a 4GB card and download is now working.

Thanks again.

FB

[O'Ren]

Is there somewhere on ADRider a basecamp tutorial for Max OSX users ? I've done a quick search but haven;t found anything, maybe I'm not searching in the right sub forum ?