58 Show Tracks with EXPLORE

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Showing Tracks if Explore is set up..

 

I run the risk here of making this into a ‘How to Use Explore’ section. That isn’t my intention, but I am going to hint at certain bits that I have come across. I am writing this in Aug 2021, and I get the feeling that the Explore website and features are still being developed. Things may change in the future.

 

Explore works by communicating with your Zumo XT via your Smartphone through the Garmin Drive App.



The Explore Website


The Explore website provides tools to create tracks, routes, Waypoints and collections. Whatever you put onto the website will appear, as if by magic, on your Zumo XT. As long as the two have synchronised with each other since you made changes. If you can’t wait for the synch to happen automatically, you can force it from your XT.


The website has different levels of mapping starting at world level and zooming in through different resolution maps ending with contoured maps and satellite imagery. Superb for planning road Trips and off-road excursions.



Collections on the Explore Website


Explore comes with one Collection already set up - ‘Unorganised’. Unless you create more Collections, then everything goes into ‘Unorganised’. At present, it is not possible to create a new Collection on the Zumo XT, so I reckon it is a good idea to create some empty ones. I created 5 called imaginatively 01 Coll #1, 02 Coll #2, .. etc.


As soon as the Zumo Synchronises with the XT, those empty Collections will be there on the XT ready to use without the need to access the Explore website again.



Accessing Tracks on the Zumo  XT

There are three ways to get hold of Tracks stored on the Zumo:

  1. Main Screen -> Track -> 2 Pin Icon -> Click Track
  2. Main Screen -> Where To -> Explore -> Tracks -> Select Track
  3. Main Screen -> Apps -> Tracks




Once the track has been selected, a preview map shows the track in its present colour (and width).


Click the Spanner Icon Pic 1. This gives access to these menus to set colour and width (screen #2, #3 & #4).


But note - and you need to be paying attention here - There is no longer the option to set visibility for a track.


Superimpose the Route onto the Track


Lets just skip past that tiny little problem that the option to make the track visible doesn't seem to be available.

The facility was there before we connected to the the Explore Website, so it cannot have gone far, can it? Let’s just assume that we can make it visible later, and continue as if we had already done it. (It is much easier to follow if continue reading as if we had made the track visible, rather than getting bogged down with how to do it. I'll explain that later.

So - once the track is visible, there is nothing left to do except load and run the route. Probably, you will not be able to see the track, but that is because the route is sitting directly on top of it - but if you set the tracks to display at their widest setting, then the edges may peek out at the sides from underneath the route.


Choose the colour that gives the best contrast for you. Black is surprisingly clear. And go and ride. If the XT calculates a route that is different from the original, you will see the track and the route heading off in different directions.


It’s your choice what to do next - go with the new (route), or stay with the original (track).



To Note


Width setting applies to all tracks, not to an individual track.


It is possible to make a number of tracks visible at the same time. You may wish to turn off the ones that you don’t need when you have finished with them - especially if they are in the same area.


I have not yet tested whether the visibility setting in Explore affects the visibility setting on the Zumo
 




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The information on these pages has been acquired from personal experience of using and testing the behaviour of Basecamp and my Zumo XT. I have no links with Garmin, and these pages should not be regarded as instructions. They are presented for interest only. The contents of these pages must not be shared, copied, transmitted, redistributed or re-published in any form without my permission. (C) JHeath 2021.