HumVee

This is a work in progress. I plan to post a revised document at post #1 (here) once completed.

I decided to create this tutorial after borat inquired about managing tracks in Garmin applications in this thread. I started this new thread after searching the GPS Discussion forums to see what might have already been discussed. While there are lots of posts involving MapSource and/or tracks - I didn't see any that addressed borat's question about managing multiple tracks within Garmin applications such as BaseCamp and MapSource.

I've started crafting a tutorial (see the attached draft), but I've run out of steam this evening. I've attached it to this post, along with a screenshot from BaseCamp & MapSource. I will be happy to continue to work on this tutorial this weekend, if folks think it would be a worthwhile contribution to the forum. Please let me know, and let me know of particular areas I should be addressing, etc. I welcome any constructive criticisms.

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Attached Files

Managing Multiple Tracks in Garmin BaseCamp & MapSource - draft.pdf (3.12 MB, 211 views)

MTalvola

Looks like a useful project and thanks for doing this! Boy, I wish we could make our 60 and 76CSx's look like those screen shots.

Andy

Great idea HumVee! Looking good so far!

HumVee

Thanks, guys! I know that the tutorial doesn't actually deal with borat's question yet - but I wanted to make a more rounded document that deals with all aspects of track management. I'll depend on you guys to point out what I've missed, once I get a little closer to the final document. I'll work on it more tonight....

MTalvola...it will be awesome when handheld GPS's reach that kind of level of detail and functionality! I suppose you could do the same thing with a netbook now, but they just aren't built rugged enough to be used as a wilderness device. I haven't used MapSource on my little Samsung NC10 - but I bet redraws would be painfully slow relying on that Atom netbook processor & Intel integrated graphics processor. I'll have to try it out sometime and let you know....

borat

Nice of you to take on this project. Will be nice for PC users. As you mentioned, the Mac aspect will not only be different but probably unlikely to work. The BaseCamp tool bar is missing some critical components . Here's what the BaseCamp tool bar looks like on the Mac.

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MTalvola

I was just taking a stab at our "old tech" 60 and 76.

But, can't the Oregons and other high res new units display stuff like this? I've seen some pretty impressive screen shots.

HumVee

Yeah - but at least we can SEE our displays in broad daylight! That's still a challenge on all of the touchscreen handheld GPS units (including Lowrance).

The Colorado's, Oregon's and Dakota's have very nice displays, and the full color topographic maps are great - but the resolution is still too low (240 x 400 or less) to make it a wonderous experience. When they reach the 480 x 854 resolution like the Motorola Droid, with a daylight viewable touchscreen - then I'll be dazzled!

HumVee

Yes, I can see how sparse the interface is on the Mac OS version, borat. However, it does look like it has much of the same functionality. I see the Track Tool icon on the menu bar. It doesn't look like you've loaded a topo map onto the computer yet?

I'm not a Mac user, but we do have one iMac 20 running OS X v10.6 at work. It's horribly under-utilized (we only use it to test how the web-enabled applications we support look on Safari and Firefox on OS X)! Perhaps I'll stay after work some evenings, and see what I can do in BaseCamp on OS X. I'll need to figure out how to take screen captures in OS X, so I can add them to my tutorial....

borat

I've had Topo Canada loaded on the Mac since I bought it. I just didn't have that map selected when I did the grab. The "Track" feature is pretty basic. When I click on it, it just allows one to draw a track. Similar to the "pencil" icon in your example. There is no drop-down menu for the "Track" feature.

To grab screen shots with a Mac, do the following:

Go into the Applications folder, find the Utilities folder, open it and find the "Grab" application and open it. Not sure how your Mac works but everything on mine opens with one click. When Grab is opened, look up to the top of the screen and click "Capture" then "screen". A window will pop up. Click outside the window and you will have captured the screen shot as a .tiff file. You have no choice for any other file type when using "Grab". Watch to make sure you know where the file is being save to. Probably in the "Documents" folder.

In order to attach your screen shot to this forum, you'll have to change the .tiff to a .jpg. Go to your documents folder and find the .tiff file you saved. Right click the file and select "open with preview". The file will be displayed in preview. Go to the top and select file then save as. Look for "format" and use the drop down menu associated with it to select the file type you want to save it as. Change it to .jpg or whatever you choose, give it a name if you so desire, then save it.

Who said these Macs are so great?????

They do some things very well, other things, not so well. If it weren't for the rock solid operating system and trouble free operation, the Mac provides, I'd have stuck with PC. Having both is nice though.

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MTalvola

I've never been a Mac user, but I thought they had progressed to the point where they could run pretty much any Windows application these days, either as a dual boot machine or with an emulator.

HumVee

Good point, MTalvola. I will have to add running Windows OS based applications in emulation on Mac OS X to my "To Do" list. That may work for borat. There are certainly users out there who are very anti-M$ and anti-Windows and who balk at the thought of having to run apps in emulation - but there's many folks who just want to "get it done" and are looking for the best solution they can manage within their means....

borat

New Macs provide an application called BootCamp to allow the creation of Windows XP with Svce. Pack 3, Vista or Windows 7 OS. Personally, I don't recommend it. When I first got the Mac, I was keen on doing it until I did a bit or research. Didn't take too long before I changed my mind.

If you're looking for a way to introduce virus problems, that's the way to do it. I know a couple people who installed a Windows operating system on their Macs and ended up with a virus. They've since changed back to the Mac OS only.

HumVee

LOL...but the virus would only affect the Windows OS! BootCamp is a method for booting more than one OS on your computer. Reasonable precautions and installing an antivirus program are of course strongly encouraged. I know most Mac users have no idea what AntiVirus is, but if you're going to play in the Windows world, you need to do a little bit of research. If folks don't want to pay for a commercial AV solution, there's a number of really good ones that are free, including Microsoft Security Essentials and AVG Free.

I was thinking more along the lines of running WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator...stupid recursive abbreviations, heh, heh)! I see that there is a version compatible with Mac OS X on SourceForge.

borat

I was also told by Mac users that Windows OS are pretty slow on the Mac.

HumVee

Whenever you're emulating anything in another operating system, you're introducing a translation layer that can slow things down. However, from my limited understanding of BootCamp, it's just a boot loader that allows Mac users to have more than on OS able to be chosen at boot up. We've got one tech at work with a MacBook Pro, and I'm pretty sure he's triple booting Mac OS X, CentOS (Linux) and Windows (XP or 7, I can't remember). I'll chat with him on Monday, and get more details about what his experience has been.

HumVee

I got some more work in on my tutorial, but now I've got to move on to familial duties. I've posted the latest draft at the top, and will continue to post them as I make significant progress.

dav

Thanks, HumVee!

vds

You were told wrong. Running Windows (even Win7) under Parallels is nice and snappy on the Mac.

cybermoser

Does anyone know how to install more than one map set, say from more than one state at one time? The maps come from different CD's.