GPS are becoming so popular these days with avid outdoors people and folks cruising around cities. If you own a smartphone, you already have a gps in your pocket. Knowing which streets to take to an address is great if you’re driving but how do you follow the maze of logging roads and trail networks through the woods to exactly the spot you want to go? Trail GPS and the software that comes with it can help you there. Garmin is one company that makes excellent GPS and they have a great piece of software to help you get the most of that high-tech little gadget in your pocket.
This is the first post in a series on the features of Garmin Basecamp and how to use them. Follow these and you’ll spend less time fiddling around with Basecamp on the computer and more time outside hiking.
What’s Garmin Basecamp?
Garmin’s GPS software is called Basecamp. If you’ve had a Garmin for a while you might remember MapSource, a clunky program for loading maps and tracks onto Garmin GPS.
MapSource is still around but you probably don’t want to download it since a much nicer program has replaced it. Garmin Basecamp is far easier to use, nicer on the eyes and has better features.
Anything you want to do with your GPS software you can probably do with Basecamp. There are some limitations and things you’ll need to pay for but if you use your GPS regularly it’s worth it.
What’s in the rest of this series?
The rest of the series will include (eventually) everything you can do with Basecamp. They will come out with new versions and (hopefully) more features to make our lives easier. I’ll link to all the posts below when they come out.
Here’s what we’re going to start with:
How to export GPS tracks from Basecamp to Google Earth
How to view a track from your GPS
How to create a track in Basecamp and send it to your GPS
How to view photos in Basecamp
How to create waypoints in Basecamp and send to your GPS
How to edit and clean a track from your GPS