Garmin Cloud Storage lets you sync data between computers
UPDATE: Now available for Mac too.
UPDATE 2: Looks like it has been temporarily pulled.
BaseCamp 4.1.0 for Windows has been released and with it has come Garmin Cloud Storage. Here’s what they have to say about it in the Garmin BaseCamp forum:
Every Garmin user will have 150MB of cloud storage to sync your data (waypoints, routes, tracks, etc.) between different computers. This should be fairly seemless (sic), just log in with your MyGarmin account, drag and drop data into your cloud storage device and it will be synced on the cloud so can access it if you run BaseCamp on a different machine.
And if you need more than 150MB, there’s always Dropbox. As far as I know, Garmin Cloud Storage is only available in the Windows version at this time.
About Rich Owings
I will definately use this feature. With so many computers that I’m on daily it will make data storage and access a snap. Very handy in my opinion.
Currently on the mac side BaseCamp is still at 4.0.4 and Express is still at 2.1.0. Hopefully it won’t be too long before their on even footing again.
I was unable to copy a long list of waypoints to my cloud storage. It worked for a single waypoint and a group of maybe 10 waypoints. But if I did a “select all” and dragged 500 waypoints I got an error message. I posted about this on Garmin’s forum in the thread you listed and Falagar said they would look into it.
Also, I find it a bit of a concern that Garmn does not state a privacy policy for their cloud storage. I didn’t see it addressed in the Software License (EULA). So for all we know, they could sell you location data and e-mail addresses to companies in your area. Not saying that they *will* do this of course, but without a published policy, how can we know? I guess I’m just becoming an old f@rt, but I am not so keen on all this “cloud” stuff in general.
Garmin does address what can be done with your “adventures” in the EULA however…
“Adventure Data remains the property and copyright of the original author. However, by submitting any Adventure Data to Garmin, you give Garmin a transferable, perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable license and right to reproduce, create derivative works of, license, distribute, sell, publicly display and publicly perform the submitted Adventure Data for any purpose and without restriction or obligation to you.”
The absence of a privacy policy will worry users and may even annoy Groundspeak and other folks who might claim ownership of “your” data. GC.com terms of service prohibit users from sharing the data they download — that is, if I download a Pocket Query, GC insists they “own” the data and they’re only letting me borrow it for my personal use. Terms of service specifically prohibit uploading that data to any other service.
So if Garmin doesn’t explicitly guarantee privacy of the cloud data – or even goes further, and offers a way for users to share data – the froggie might pitch a fit about me uploading “my” PQ’s there.
I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve had the opportunity to observe them at close range. It hasn’t improved my opinion of them.
Are there other ways, perhaps in MapSource or just on the web, of accessing Garmin’s cloud data?
You should be able to find the data in the BaseCamp folder on your computer, but that’s the only way I know of.