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BaseCamp has no rivers in Canada

Hammam

  • "Hammam" started this thread

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Thursday, September 15th 2011, 12:24am

BaseCamp has no rivers in Canada

To my fellow Canadians who plan to purchase a Garmin GPS with BaseCamp (their mapping software for Mac)
think twice. These people haven't bothered to draw most of the rivers, at least
in Quebec. More infuriating, most rivers who flow from the US into Canada are
perfectly drawn on the US side, and then disappear at the border with Canada.
Sure, BaseCamp is intended for automotive purpose, but even in automotive route
mapping you sometimes need to know where the rivers are. You may want to know
where a bridge is situated, for a waypoint, or a meeting point with fellow
riders. Or somebody has told you to follow the «wonderful little backroad along
the So-and-So River», but they can't remember the route number. Etc...

I have sent several messages to Garmin, asking, among other things, that they correct the situation and
publish a free update ASAP, but they just won't. Their argument is that it is
not their fault, and that I should deal with Navteq, the people who draw the
maps for them. A little like BMW telling me to deal with Rotax-Bombardier if I
have a faulty engine on my F800 (acually I have a R1200 GS), because they're the ones who make their
engines, and that it is not their problem. I insisted many times, but they
absolutely refuse to guarantee a future update because - quote: «We cannot speak for the NAVTEQ company. I am not informed of the
decisions that they decide to make when developing the Canadian maps» - end-quote. :wall: :O


I think this whole situation is outrageous, not only that they refuse to assume any
responsibility in the matter, even though I paid THEM a little fortune for the
Zumo 660 and a lifetime update to BaseCamp, but that the rivers were missing in
the first place. After all, I bought a map called «North America 2010.2», not
«US 2012.20.»


So, be
aware of that fact, and maybe have a look into Tom-Tom or some other company.
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Peter

Peter

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Friday, September 16th 2011, 10:47pm

Thanks for the information provided, Hammam.
Peter .PEOPLE WHO HAVE VISIONS SHOULD GO TO SEE THEIR DOCTOR

luckyll

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Tuesday, March 27th 2012, 1:37am

Sorry to hear that you're having problems with the Navteq maps. I was part of the beta-testing group for BaseCamp when Garmin was developping it (at the time it was called BobCat). Although I still find it a little quirky and some functions aren't necessarily intuitive, it's not a bad piece of software. The problems you appear to be having are more likely with the City Navigator - North American NT maps that you're using, and not with BaseCamp. BaseCamp will only render information (like rivers and streams) if they're in the mapping data to begin with. As the folks at Garmin have stated, for some unknown reason Navteq doesn't include detailed Canadian river & stream info in its road maps which are subsequently sold to Garmin. Oh, and for clarity, the "lifetime update" you bought is most likely for City Navigator maps, and not for BaseCamp. BaseCamp is free - and it always has been.

This being said, that Garmin simply refers you to Navteq is unacceptable. You bought a Garmin DVD of the map data that is clearly branded as a Garmin product. Kinda weak of them giving you the runaround like that.

Probably not the solution you're looking for, but Garmin also sells TOPO maps of Canada and the US. These maps include much greater detail about rivers, streams, ditches, trails, outhouses, and just about everything else out there. They also include decent coverage of roads. If you're serious about exploring logging roads or trails, the TOPO maps are a must. Problem is, you'll have to shell out another $70 to buy them, then transfer them onto your Zumo to make sure everything's in sync.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=…AMERICA&ra=true

By the way, switching to Magellan or TomTom isn't a guarantee that the maps will be any better. Most GPS manufacturers are only out to offer decent coverage of roadways, and since including vector data about topography and rivers chews up valuable memory in their GPS units, they'll often omit it to save space. Not to mention that the more data the GPS is crunching, the slower the screen's refresh rate will be. So if you are considering switching to a TomTom unit, I'd suggest you try it out in store before handing over some cash. At least with Garmin you can test-drive their available maps online before purchasing.

Cheers,
Lucky
1-Find road, 2-Aim handlebars, 3-Release clutch and twist throttle, 4-Repeat 8)

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