If the Garmin fells an iPad BaseCamp app would sell enough GPS's to make the development cost effective we will get the app.ģ0% of free apps is not a cost to garmin. The question is why would garmin want to spend money to develop a free iPad app and what would it cost Garmin. I think it can be done and Apple would approve. I can connect a guitar or a camera to my iPad. I have been very impressed with the Garmin development team once they started developing for Mac. Until Apple removes those limitations there is no way. Those abilities are limited by Apple's choice. The iPad has limited ability to transfer (receive or send) files. Seeing as cameras like Garmin's GPS devices both use the FAT file system it may be possible to do this. Garmin would have to see if they could access their devices file systems using one if these adapters. Again, there may be technical hurdles to overcome with this method whether using the USB adapter or the SD Card adapter. Not a problem as far as I'm concerned, easily done.Īnother way to send the data may be accomplished by using Apple's iPad Camera Connection Kit. Garmin would also need to supply/sell a dock connector cable with mini USB on the other end. If not then Garmin would have to speak to Apple about whether they would be willing to make the necessary changes to iOS to allow this access. The other problem may involve whether iOS allows access to the file system on Garmin's devices. Whether the Garmin devices will still function with only their own battery power for such functions is not known. The Apple dock connector may not supply the power that Garmin's GPS units may be expecting. The way Garmin's devices seem to work is when they are plugged in to a host computer they receive power from the host. Not necessarily maps but routes and waypoints. Since BaseCamp is essentially a planning tool, trying to use it with a GPSr would required plugging the unit into the iPad to transfer data. Also, if they're going to continue bundling multiple application updates into each release without indicating as much in the name or description then make the installers smart enough to recognize when you have a newer version and don't mess with it!įinally, I don't see in the release notes that the problem with not displaying the latest BlueChart maps has been addressed in this update.I think there may be some technical problems with trying to deliver BaseCamp for iPad so it can be used with Garmin's GPS devices. I'm happy that Garmin is supporting the Mac but it wouldn't take much more effort to be clear about what these packages contain and what is going to be updated. Like I said in my previous comment for version 3.0.1, it is very poor practice to not identify in the installer description that it will be updating or downgrading applications other than BaseCamp. MapManager and MapInstall updates were released quite recently and listed on MacUpdate as separate updates but in fact both listings point to the same download/file which installs both applications, again, without indicating what version is being installed. It's very confusing the way Garmin is packaging updates. This should not even be an issue though because the installer should be smart enough not to downgrade applications to older versions. When you do a custom install it does show that it will be 'upgrading' MapManager and MapInstall applications but it does not indicate to what version which would allow you to unselect those applications if you already have a newer version installed to prevent an unintended downgrade. This version upgrades MapManager to version 2.1.3.1beta. If I were to rate this for a windows device it would be 2 stars. I gave this a 4 because of the difficulty in finding addresses. The trip is not complete but I will update what I find using the MAC. Even still, I am planning a trip to Italy and so far it has been very smooth. You would think that there is a way for the programmers to update the software with all the people who use it to add way points or places of businesses that people have found or at least work with Google Maps. I do this in conjunction with Google Earth. A lot of destinations are not there and you have to zoom into the map to find the right spot to make a waypoint. I recently loaded the program onto my older MAC (I had to upgrade the OS to make it work) and I am here to say, WHAT a DIFFERENCE. We set one with the hotels/B&B's and the other with the entire itinerary. We always bring two devices just in case. To date and the maps were always correct and led us exactly to where we needed to be. We have planned trips to Ireland, Germany, England, Scotland using BaseCamp. I used to use my dell laptop to plan our trips and the program took for ever to load and crashed during planning multiple times in an hour. It is a great tool to load our international vacation trips into our Garmin GPS. My wife and I have used BaseCamp for several years.

Garmin basecamp mac