Mapping motorcycle-friendly routes with BaseCamp
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13 years
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Hello,
I've used my trusty 255w for years and have been riding vintage bikes for years as well. I recently got a nuvi 2596LMT and a RAM mount to go with my bike.
I live somewhere in Lancaster, PA and my girlfriend has family in Elmira, NY. My dad also has a cabin by the bay in Cambridge, MD. It was easy to set BaseCamp for Motorcycle pathing and then readjust with some custom waypoints that are hidden to "fix" the map so it wouldn't take 5.5hrs, just 4.5 (normally it is 4 in a car). That was easy because I know that certain highways are only 55 with some stop and go and not that bad of a ride on a bike.
However, I know absolutely nothing about the path up to upstate NY. It would be nice if BaseCamp was able to view in like a satellite view ala MapQuest and if it showed you the speed limit of the area you click on. I assume these features are not implemented. However, I guess it may be possible to add satellite maps to BaseCamp but I am unsure of which ones exist.
Basically, what I want to do is zoom in on these maps, see how much the elevation changes (the bike is old, it's a CB550 so it's not a powerhouse on huge, steep hills which is something I'd like to avoid as much as possible), see what the current speed limit is on those areas (I don't feel comfortable cruising above 60mph for extended periods with this particular bike, I prefer 55mph highways when possible). I have about 3 weeks left to try and plan a route. If I just trust BaseCamp to map it out for a motorcycle we're talking a 5.5hr ride which is very long compared to 3.5hrs in car. I'm sure I can trim this down to be 4.25 or 4.5hrs if I would be able to see this information.
It may be possible MapQuest or some other site allows me to input the route and just zoom in, see the data that I need and readjust, export it back to BaseCamp, fine tune anything else and then finally import it to the Nuvi. But again, I am ignorant to these things.
Thanks in advance for your help! 
Well
BaseCamp links to Google Earth, so you can create a route in BC then look at it in GE, however you need v4.6.2 of BaseCamp and early versions of GE. If you have later versions of both you can export the route then open it in GE.
Where there's a will ... there's a way ... DriveSmart51LMT-S, DriveSmart50LMT-D, Nuvi 2508LMT-D, 1490LMT, 1310, Montana 650T, Etrex 20
Try
Open Basecamp and Google Earth simultaneously using a split screen. Create a waypoint in BC for the place you want to view. Copy and paste the coordinates from BC to the search box in GE. This works with all versions of BC and GE.
Check as many points along your route as you wish and zoom in with GE to see details. Switch back and forth between Google Earth and Google maps to get more info. You can also use the GE time slider (the clock icon on the toolbar) to see what has changed over time. Keep in mind the GE map data can be a year or more out of date.
If you want to see the whole route in GE, do as Sussamb suggests and save your route file in BC and import it into GE.
Getting speed limits remotely without actually navigating the route is tricky. The only way I know is to subscribe to the HERE traffic service through Navmart which is pricey:
https://www.navmart.com/products/here-speed-limits/#:~:text=....
Perhaps someone else can offer a better solution.
That sucks. I was hoping GE
That sucks. I was hoping GE or MapQuest or someone like that would at least be able to show some kind of general MPH along a route. How does the GPS know what the speed limit is? I figured it was from map data.
Well
It is from the map data supplied to Garmin, GE etc can't access that though.
Where there's a will ... there's a way ... DriveSmart51LMT-S, DriveSmart50LMT-D, Nuvi 2508LMT-D, 1490LMT, 1310, Montana 650T, Etrex 20