Garmin basecamp for android Bluetooth#
Garmin basecamp for android download#

Use Garmin BaseCamp to plan your next hiking, biking, motorcycling, driving, or off-roading trip. Garmin BaseCamp lets you plan outdoor activities, organize your data, and share your adventures with others. Nope.Make the most of your next outdoor activity or relive the trips you’ve taken. I was hoping some way of pulling existing activities from the website or something. You would think garmin and all there mapping products they offer would have thought about this – and another way to charge for them (see my original comment).īut like Jeff said, without a fenix (or iPhone 4S), it doesn’t do much at all. Google terrain layer would be ok (but it is limited in how much you can zoom) but won’t fix issue number one. Arial photos are ok, but I strongly prefer topo maps when ‘out there’.

I know several iOS apps use OpenStreetMap for this reason and give you a vehicle to cache map data.Ģ) topo maps – at least that is what I want on there. Insane to me they would release something without this. Their solution needs persistent map storage. So there are a few key things they are missing:ġ) assume no cellular connection. The watch is designed for use in the backcountry. So regardless of which venue they chose (Google or iOS maps), its the wrong approach. I believe the Google Maps API expressly forbids downloading of maps data. (but I also told them if they let me share the 24k maps between phone and say a 62s, I would actually be willing to pay for the 24k maps – something I’ve seen no point in doing yet). This is a fascinating idea really.īut yeah, I would hate to have to pay again for Topo maps. But hey, if the watch is doing the heavy lifting in terms of GPS tracklogging, that means now and I only need to peek at the phone when I really need to – that changes my thought process a bit. One of my biggest complaints about using my phone as a GPS unit is the horrible battery life. I personally still prefer a dedicated handhelp GPS to using my phone, but I could change my mind if they do it the right way.

Hopefully they’ll put that on the roadmap as I think storing the map data on the phone is the way to go if you are going to bother with a smartphone app at all. That’s neat and all, but the idea of a backcountry watch is you use it… you know… in the backcountry… where cell phones don’t work (or data doesn’t anyway). I was told all it would do is basically plot your tracks against Google Maps (topo, satellite, etc). I don’t think it has even crossed their mind that people might want their map data stored in the smartphone app. Talked with Garmin folks at OR show today about this very thing. What do you think about all this? What kind of things would you like to be able to do with a Garmin handheld that can communicate with your smartphone? A Garmin handheld/mobile ecosystem may well be on the horizon.

Garmin basecamp for android download#

I also wonder if we’ll see a Garmin Connect app that will allow you to wirelessly download tracks to Garmin handhelds.

Garmin basecamp for android Bluetooth#

So what are the implications of this? If I’m correct on it using Bluetooth for data transfer rather than ANT+, expect to see new Garmin handhelds with Bluetooth (and that in itself should open up some interesting possibilities).

Using Bluetooth would also mean you don’t need an ANT+ adapter for your phone. For one thing, the “In the box” section of the fenix page doesn’t mention an ANT+ USB stick in the package. I’m assuming that, unlike Forerunners (which typically use ANT+), the fenix will use Bluetooth technology to transfer data to and from your smartphone. The availability of Garmin’s Basecamp app might differ from the market availability of fēnix. So this is big news, eh? I’m not sure how soon we’ll see it even though the fenix is slated to hit the market by late August, Garmin seems to think the app might not be ready by then, since they left this little out in a footnote: Thanks to a sharp-eyed reader for pointing it out. A Basecamp mobile app allows users to transfer waypoints and tracklogs to view them on a more detailed map and larger screen of select smartphones.