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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
 Posted - 15 janv. 2005 : 11:54:56
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I just played with in the Registry and the only TextColor changeable there seems to be the color of the Text tool normally accessible through Drawing toolbar.
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 28 janv. 2005 : 15:10:31
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S&T + Voice
GPS Voyager shares with us how he uses his MS Streets & Trips:
Hi Marvin,
I have developed a simple method of getting voice prompted directions by using a macro program and a text-to-speech program running at the same time as Streets and Trips while I'm driving. One macro copies the list of directions from the directions pane into the text-to-speech program. While I'm driving, I request each direction by pressing the spacebar and another macro automatically gets the current direction and sends it to the text-to-speech program which reads the direction out loud. I then press the spacebar again to get the next direction, and so forth. A third macro automatically presses the "Go" button for me in the GPS pane so I can get a new set of directions while I'm driving in case I make a wrong turn. It works pretty decently, but is not a perfect solution. This text-to-speech program doesn't know how to treat abbreviations and ends up reading them literally as they are written. Also, sometimes the names of streets are difficult to understand. Have you heard anything on the possibility of adding voice prompts to the next version of S & T?
Thanks
GPS Voyager
Here are the details:
Hi Marvin,
the good part is my solution does not cost anything: you can get the Macro program for free from www.download.com (the program is called Macro Express 3). The text to speech program is also free and can be downloaded from the same web site (it is called "Natural Voice Reader"). As you will see below,
you will also need to have Notepad open as well to hold the list of directions and to keep a "pointer" to the current direction.
For everything to work, you need to position the windows for these 3 programs as well as for S & T in the same locations every time you set up your GPS for use in your car: S & T must take up most of the screen but it must leave about an inch or so of space on the left side of the screen to fit the other window. Then, the window for Notepad must be positioned at the left of the screen in the one inch area not covered by S & T. In the Natural Voice Reader window, you must check the "Read Clipboard Automatically" checkbox. The windows for Natural Voice Reader and for Macro Express are then minimized. At all times you must ensure the GPS pane is visible in S & T for the macros to work.
A macro, of course, is a simple set of operations that are executed at the touch of a key. You need to create the following macros in Macro Express only once, and then the macros can be executed automatically by pressing the corresponding activation keys:
1) Reroute (activation keys: Shift-spacebar) Record this macro by simply pressing the Go button in S&T to recalculate your route.
2)Directions (activation key: ctrl-spacebar) Record this macro by clicking the directions window in S&T, then press ctrl-C to copy them to the clipboard, then click the text area in the Notepad window, then press ctrl-A to select any directions already in Notepad, then press delete to delete those old directions, then press ctrl-V to paste the new directions in Notepad, then press the up arrow and hold it pressed for about 5 seconds to bring the cursor to the top of the screen in Notepad, then press home to bring the cursor to the beginning of the first line. We have now copied the new set of directions from S&T to Notepad and positioned the cursor at the first line of Notepad.
3) Instruction (activation key: spacebar) Record this macro by clicking on the window frame of Notepad to activate it (do not click on the text area because this will move the cursor in Notepad from its current location). Then press home to ensure the cursor is at the beginning of the current line, then press shift-end to select the current line, then press ctrl-C to copy the current line to the clipboard. This will automatically cause Natural Voice Reader to read the copied line from the clipboard and we will get a voice prompted direction right away. Then press the down arrow to go to the next direction in Notepad. The cursor in Notepad is now in position to get the next direction.
Once you have created your macros, you can execute them simply by pressing the corresponding activation keys. I made the retrieval of the next direction the easiest, i.e., just pressing the spacebar, so I can keep my eyes on the road while I drive. With practice, you can learn to press the activation keys while keeping your eyes on the road by "feeling" your way around your keyboard.
It is important to make sure your windows are always in the same place on your screen because the macros always go to the same exact locations on your screen to perform their operations.
This sums up how I created voice prompted directions in S&T using key activated macros. If you have any questions or need more details, just let me know.
GPS Voyager. |
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admin_0
1 Posts |
Posted - 29 janv. 2005 : 16:57:33
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Hello, I have posted a message as follows:
"I am looking to see if I can have push pins inserted from the driving directions.
So when I download the map to my phone and use a gps receiver I can see the route and directions on the map in the pushpin near the gps tracking icon."
I posted this because I was looking for another means to be able to have real-time direction while I am driving. I also wish that S&T as well as Pocket S&T had voice commands. Pharos has software that goes along with their GPS unit that does have voice. Why, if the new Microsoft software comes with the same gps unit, wasn't Microsoft able to create software that has voice.
Do you think that your macro concept can be applied to the Motorola MPX 220 Smart phone using the Pocket streets and Voice notes?
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 30 janv. 2005 : 01:10:28
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Hi Utsmvp,
I’m afraid there may not be any practical way to achieve that.
And as for the question why Pocket Streets & S&T don’t have voice commands… It doesn’t have much to do with which GPS receiver is used. GPS receivers tell navigation software our location and not much more than that. We can only speculate why a software developer (Microsoft in this case) doesn’t implement some features that we, as users, feel are very important to us. It’s likely a combination of factors like marketing, budgeting, licensing...
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 31 janv. 2005 : 01:09:38
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Detour around an area.
By drawing Avoid Area rectangles we can modify our route with extreme speed. A task that could quite often take a long time to complete using another software, can be done in MS Streets & Trips with ease and only in just few seconds by drawing one or several Avoid rectangles, which will prevent routing though an undesirable area or force routing though an area of our choice. Avoid Area rectangles can be of any shape and any size. They can cover a small segment of a street or even your whole city or a state/province if you wish.
By pressing the left button on your mouse and dragging the mouse diagonally, draw a rectangle around the area you want to avoid, and then right click inside the rectangle and on the menu that opens up select “Avoid Area”.
* You may create more then one Avoid Area rectangle if you need to
* To delete an Avoid Area rectangle first select it by a mouse click, then right click it and select “Cut”
* You can move or resize an Avoid Area rectangle by clicking it and then dragging the sizing handles.
 
Click on the above before-and-after pictures to see an example illustrating how I forced S&T not to route me through congested traffic of downtown Toronto, but rather via highways.
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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blackbeard
2 Posts |
Posted - 01 févr. 2005 : 01:52:54
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Ever since I discovered the one-second reg edit to fix my older streets and trips, I've been intruiged with the idea that other improvements might be out there. After using S&T for a few years now, there are several "wouldn't it be nice if?" things that keep popping into my head. Can anyone tell me if the following tweaks are even conceivable? Or perhaps even improved upon in 2005?
For one, the map does not re-center until the gps icon is almost off the edge. If you wish to actually see where you are going, you get in the habit of stabbing an arrow continuously. Very irritating. It would be wonderful if this could be improved. I like to use a small laptop on a pedestal. I have plenty of screen space. It would be wonderful if three windows could be tiled on the same screen each displaying a different zoom level. A simple (unshaded) black and white mode would be fantastic for bright sunlight use. The contrast would make information highly visible even on poor screens. I'm frustrated that this has never been included in their upgrades.
I guess there are many wibni's and few tweaks. Are there any available to download out there? Or instructions to DIY?
Thanks. Glad to have found this site.
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 01 févr. 2005 : 02:23:46
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Hi Blackbeard,
Welcome to GpspasSion Forums!
The "living on the edge" is a thing of the past ;-) Thanks to the new 2005 version. It was likely the most requested feature and Microsoft did listen. Here's what's new in S&T 05: click to read
You could have more than one instance of S&T running if you use GpsGate software. And you could create the black & white effect if you wish, read the Tips & Tricks section titled "Night glare – how to avoid it" and just change the background to pure black ;-)
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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blackbeard
2 Posts |
Posted - 01 févr. 2005 : 18:15:42
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Thanks Marvin,
Would'nt changing the background to black still enable so many shades of gray in place of colors? This might not be an improvement. What I would like is a toneless mode that only exhibits truly relevant info in black on a white background. |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 01 févr. 2005 : 19:06:04
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The black background has one problem: the street names are black, too. If you really wanted to change the background to white, you could, and it would like this: Click to see picture. I personally just use the Terrain Map style at all times (day & night).
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 14 févr. 2005 : 14:37:21
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Average Speed Settings
I have heard several old time users of S&T say that in Streets & Trips 2005 they don’t know how to set their preferred Average Driving Speeds in “More Route Options”. While previous versions of S&T did allow users to enter the speed in km/h or miles per hour, the new S&T 05 has new sliders with settings marked Slower, Average, and Faster.
I noticed that the “Average” (default) setting is a bit more optimistic in calculating ETA in comparison to S&T’s previous versions. I set the speed sliders to their minimum value and saved it as my template. That appears to give more realistic times.
I did a little test to determine what the speed slider setting values are, since there is no actual numbers. I set Start and End points on a highway exactly 100 minutes apart (1 hour and 40 minutes). That was done with the speed sliders at their default setting right in the middle. Then I found out travel time under all other settings (all 3 settings bellow and also all 3 settings above the default middle setting). These were the travel times in minutes(the 100 minute value represents the default setting):
117-111-105-100-96-91-88
This quick and simple test leads me to believe that we could perhaps generalize and as a rule-of-thumb remember the settings represent:
-15% -10% -5% Default (Average speed) +5% +10% +15%
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 17 févr. 2005 : 14:54:12
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Garmin USB GPS receivers & how to use them
Click to enlarge
Some USB GPS receivers do not support NMEA standard, but only use Garmin's proprietary protocol which is not able to communicate with software other then Garmin's. GPS Gate, the same software that makes it possible for us to "share" one GPS receiver among two or more applications, now is introducing a beta version number 1.10 which adds support for Garmin USB receivers. All you need to do is go to Settings and as Input select "Garmin USB". No need to spend a hundred or so dollars on a new NMEA GPS. Thanks Franson GPS Gate!
Link is here: >>Click<<
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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TheBard
11 Posts |
Posted - 22 févr. 2005 : 21:27:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Marvin Hlavac
It is not a cheap product at $99.95 per one user license, but if you think it will help you, it may be worth it.
Martin -
You might want to try the freeware hotkey application found at
http://www.autohotkey.com/
It seems to have most, if not all of the features offered in QuicKey, and is much more affordable (since it is freeware) 
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 22 févr. 2005 : 22:44:59
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Hi TheBard,
Welcome to GpsPasSion Forums !
I'll have a look at the application, thanks. I realize QuicKeys at $99.95 is a lot more expensive than S&T and I'd like to replace it in Tips & Tricks with something which is either free or a lot less expensive, so more people can take advantage of it. Two features are important, though: First, it has to be easy enough to use for people, and second, it has to be able to create shortcuts that will only work with the application they are designed to work for. I will explain what I mean by that by giving an example. Currently when I'm working on S&T when I hit F11 it will zoom in, when I hit F10 it will zoom out. But when I work on iGuidance and I hit F11 I want iGuidance to "include" toll roads, and when I hit F10 I want iGuidance to "avoid" toll roads. And finally, when I'm not using any program for which I haven't assigned F10 or F11 as shortcuts, I do not want any action to be performed. This may not be easily achievable by similar applications, but it can be achieved virtually by a click of a button within QuicKeys.
However, my hope is that when MS releases S&T 2006, single-key shortcuts will be built-in, and we will be able to delete this one "Tip" from our list ;-)
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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TheBard
11 Posts |
Posted - 23 févr. 2005 : 13:38:34
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Marvin -
First, apologies for having misspelled your name,  and thanks for the welcome. Your Tips & Tricks are both interesting and useful! I look forward to an edited, printable FAQ, or maybe sub-sub headings in this board.
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin Hlavac
Two features are important, though: First, it has to be easy enough to use for people, and second, it has to be able to create shortcuts that will only work with the application they are designed to work for.
Ease of use:
I am just learning the AutoHotKey language, but was able to duplicate your ALT-T series of actions to zoom, center, etc with just a few minutes of reading the documentation.
I think I left a snippet in the USENET newsgroup posting. If anybody wants to see a small and fairly rudimentary script to make a few hotkeys for S&T, I can try posting it here, with your permission.
Limiting keypresses to certain programs:
That adds more complexity to the simple scripts. However, it seems do-able. AutoHotKey has a command, "IfWinActive / IfWinNotActive" --
Checks if a specified window exists and is currently active (foreground). So, one could apply a different set of shortcut keys, depending on what window was in the foreground.
I too hope the next version of S&T has this feature built in. I use a tiny Libretto 100 CT, which has only 64 meg of memory, for my mobile GPSsing so I am very careful about resource usage.
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Marvin Hlavac
Canada
6902 Posts |
Posted - 23 févr. 2005 : 14:49:34
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;-) I suspected “Lou” was either you or someone who read your message here.
AutoHotKey is definitely a viable alternative to QuicKeys. I actually downloaded it last night on my home pc and installed it. After reading the instructions on script creation I decided to perhaps try it at a later time, though. But if you publish here some of your scripts I may try it again. So please do...
Within QuicKeys, if you wish to specify that a particular shortcut is to work only with a certain program, all you need to do is select "Program" from a drop down menu, and then browse to it. It’s very simple. The difference between these two apps is like the difference between Windows and DOS, but the freeware aspect of AutoHotKeys cannot be overlooked.
Since we have limited number of F-keys, do you know if it is possible to assign one F-key to do something e.g. within S&T, and then "re-use" the same F-key to do something else in another program?
Marvin Hlavac - Toronto, Canada |
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Tips & Tricks for MS Streets & Trips / AutoRoute
