Tutorial 13: Trip Planning and Scouting from home. Creating Tracks and Waypoints in BaseCamp to send to your GPS

To watch a basic video tutorial on this process hit play below or continue below to read detailed instructions.

Having trouble viewing the video? Click here for the YouTube version.

  1. Open Garmin's Basecamp Software
  2. We may want to save a lot of different data for different trips we take, so let's try to stay organized.  On the left side of your screen under 'Library', right click on 'My Collection' (This is where the track and waypoint data you create is saved).  From the menu that pops up, select 'Add new list to Library'
  3. Name your list an appropriate name for your trip.  I like to organize my trips by Date (MMDDYYYY) and Location, so I am going to name this one '08162011 Wapiti Basin Elk Scouting'
  4. If you haven't already zoomed to the area where you want to take your trip, Select the map product you want to use by goint to 'View' - 'Map Product' - and selecting the appropriate map.  Most likely one of HuntingGPSmaps' state PLAT4GPS maps or BLM4GPS Topo maps (i.e. WY_PLAT4GPS).  Now zoom in to your area of interest.  (You will most likely want your Map Detail set to 'Highest' - see our other Tutorials if you need help with this) 
  5. To add a Track showing where you want to walk in BaseCamp - Select the drop down arrow next to the 'New' button in the Toolbar at the top of the screen.  Alternatively you can select the 'File' Menu, then 'New', and then select 'Track'.
  6. Now you can draw a line on the map by left clicking at each point you want to travel - essentially connecting the dots.  Or you can left click and drag to draw a continuous line wherever you move the mouse cursor on the map. 
  7. When you are done drawing your track you can right click anywhere on the map to complete the track
  8. You will now see a 'Track' in the My Collection area in the bottom left corner of your screen.  From here you can Delete or Edit the track you just made.
  9. To add a Waypoint simply select the 'New' button in the Toolbar.  Then click on the area of the map that you want to add the waypoint.
  10. Once you add the waypoint to the map you can edit the name and symbol in the My Collection area in the bottom left corner of your screen.  Right click on the Symbol and select 'Properties'.   Here you can change the name of the waypoint and change the symbol to something more meaningful to you.
  11. Continue to add Tracks as needed to show all the different routes you think may be beneficial for your trip.  It might be ridges or fingers you may want to walk, Routes to a specific Lookout point, or different possible routes that you might want to take back to your camp or vehicle.
  12. You can take a quick look at your Tracks and Waypoints in Google Earth on the satellite imagery to see if there are any major obstacles or clearings you might want to know about, or to find areas that may be good lookout points.  Simply select 'View' - 'My Collection in Google Earth'
  13. Now we're ready to send our tracks and waypoints to our GPS.  Plug in your GPS and turn it on if it doesn't automatically turn on.  Give it a minute and your GPS will show up on the left hand side of your screen under ' Devices'
  14. Right click on 'My Collection' under 'Library' on the left side of the screen and select 'Send to' and then click on your GPS's Name.  If you have a bunch of tracks and waypoints in 'My Collection' that you don't want to send to your GPS, then you can manually select the items that you want to send to your GPS.  Under the 'My Collection' Tab at the bottom of the screen you can left click on a feature, or hold the 'Control Key' on your keyboard and left click to select multiple waypoints or tracks.  Once you have selected all the waypoints and tracks you want to send, simply right click on any waypoint or track that is highlighted in the 'My Collection' Tab and select 'Send to' and then click on your GPS's Name.
  15. You can now pan map and zoom in to your area on your GPS and you should see the waypoints and tracks on your GPS.  You now have some great Reference tools for your use in the field!
  16. BaseCamp will automatically save the items you have in 'My Collection', but it's a good idea to save your own copy of your data to your computer and a backup drive.  Under 'Library' on the left side of your screen Right click on 'My Collection' and select 'Export'.  Save a .GDB file to your 'My Documents' on your computer.  Name it somthing like '08142011 BaseCamp My Collection'. Note:  You can also click on each individual 'List' you have created under 'My Collection' and save them individually to help keep you organized.  We'll save our list as '08162011 Wapiti Basin Elk Scouting.gdb'

Go have fun!

-Eric