Max number of waypoints exceeded. Convert some to non-alerting?

[Peobody]

I have just created a daytrip in Basecamp that contains 38 via points. Will converting 9 of them to shaping points by setting them to non-alerting be enough for the XT to accept it as one route (instead of removing VPs and creating SPs with the BC Insert tool)?

[sussamb]

Really convert as many as you can, but yes, once below the magic figure it'll be treated as one route

[Peobody]

I know that some need to be converted. What I don't know is whether marking them as non-alerting is enough vs. the alternative of replacing some with new points created using the Insert tool.

[sussamb]

Yes that's enough. No need to create any new points

[Peobody]

On a related note...
AFAIK, the XT has a limit of 30 Via Points in a route. Does this mean 30 unique Via Points or can there be 38 in the route if 8 are used twice (loop route)? Edit: It's a 200 mile loop route with 40 miles being the same both ways.

[rbentnail]

You will save yourself a lot of grief if you make 2 routes or split the one route you have. From my experience, the XT doesn't handle loop and overlapping routes well at all.

[Peobody]

You will save yourself a lot of grief if you make 2 routes or split the one route you have. From my experience, the XT doesn't handle loop and overlapping routes well at all.

I hear you. I have experienced the nightmare of a recalculated figure 8 route. In this case the route is to a meeting point, then a loop back to that meeting point, then home the way I got there. I think this should be OK but I distrust routes that contain shaping points so perhaps a separate route for the return leg would be wise. I'll sleep on that.

[rbentnail]

You will save yourself a lot of grief if you make 2 routes or split the one route you have. From my experience, the XT doesn't handle loop and overlapping routes well at all.

I hear you. I have experienced the nightmare of a recalculated figure 8 route. In this case the route is to a meeting point, then a loop back to that meeting point, then home the way I got there. I think this should be OK but I distrust routes that contain shaping points so perhaps a separate route for the return leg would be wise. I'll sleep on that.

That's funny- I distrust routes with via points . I have nothing but trouble with them.

[jfheath]

@Peobody and I have both noticed a difference between a shaping point in a route and a via point. I'm not clear what the difference is and when it occurs.

But to answer the question - the issue isn't with Waypoints as the title (and the Garmin screen) suggests - it is to do with the number of alerting Via Points. Any Waypoint that is put into a route is treated as either a Via Point or a Shaping Point.
So the limit is 29 Via Points plus a start and a finish (which are also Via Points). So you can use as many Saved Waypoints as you wish, but you may need to set somw of the Waypoints as non-alerting if you do not want your route to be split.

You can actually have 31 Via points in a route (including start end finish) - the XT will accept that. The reason that 29 is the quoted figure is that it does not include the start and end point in the count. If the route contains (say) 80 Via Points, it has to split the route into three separate route sections, and it need a start and an end in each one. The section in the middle is composed of 29 route points plus a start and an end . The start point will be a duplicate of the end of the previous section: the end point of this route section will also be used as the start point of the next route section.

To verify this (because it has been a long time since I tested this) I created 41 Waypoints using the flag tool in Basecamp
and built a route using all 41 waypoints. I made two copies and made slight changes to the copies.

The original had all Waypoints set as Via points.
This imported to the XT but was split into two routes as it said that it had more the 29 Waypoint.

One duplicate route had all of the Waypoints set as non alerting Shaping points - ie I changed 39 points to be non alerting. The start and finish must remain as alerting Via Points. The XT imported this OK with no splitting - even though it consisted of 41 Waypoints.


The other duplicate had all of the middle 39 points set to shaping points except for 3 - roughly equally spaced. These 3 were set to Via Points.
This imported OK

I also double checked by setting just 10 Via points to Shaping points. The route then had 31 Via Points (including start and end) and this route also loaded successfully without splitting.

All 41 Waypoints were transferred to Favourites / Saved on the XT.

This is one of a number of examples that I have come across where the software writers seem to think that a Waypoint is a Via Point. They seem to forget, or don't know, that a saved waypoint can be set as either a via point or a shaping point.

So - yes. Convert some of them to Shaping points to prevent the route from being split. It doesn't matter if they are all Waypoints. That caption is not correct if you use Garmins definition of a Waypoint.

[Fxwheels]

I see no point in creating all via points instead of shaping points. Via points should be set precisely on route to avoid nagging you to go exactly there, and that creates annoyance in planning and navigating.
A via points can be start, end and maybe some in between as a particular places to stop. And even that can be a shaping point unless you want to display the miles or the time to the next via point on the nav and maybe announcing it.