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igurevich38
USA
758 Posts |
 Posted - 10 mai 2004 : 20:48:47
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PocketMap Navigator 2004 R3 Review
by igurevich38
Overview:
PocketMap Navigator 2004 R3 is a full GPS Navigation software that runs on Pocket PC. It comes with complete map coverage of the 50 US States. In this review many of its features will be compared to Destinator 3 and Mapopolis 4. I used Dell Axim X5 400 MHz with a 256 MB card and Haicom 303MMF GPS Receiver while testing PMN.
Look and Feel:
PMN is separated into 5 separate views between which the user can switch to clicking on the icons at the top of the screen, or using the 1st hardware button, at any time.
The views are:
1) Main View, which allows easy access to all 5 views, finding locations and creating directions
 
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2) GPS Information, which shows the satellite lock, location and other various information about the GPS signal
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3) Map View, which shows the map view of the area and allows panning around the map and selecting locations or just browsing around
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4) Directions List, which contains the list of directions that you have to take to reach your destination once a route has been created
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5) Navigation View which actually moves your location on the map as you're driving and provides navigation instructions
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Each view comes with a separate list of menus at the bottom of the screen from which additional features can be reached.
Besides the on screen buttons and menus, all 5 hardware buttons of the Pocket PC are preprogrammed to do specific functions. The functions are hard coded into PMN and cannot be changed.
1) 1st button: Switches between the 5 views
2) 2nd button: Switches between navigation and cruising modes
3) Middle Large button: Allows zooming in and out, repeating instructions, and saying previous and next instructions.
4) 3rd button: switches between 3D and 2D views of the map
5) 4th button: switches between Day and Night views of the map
Overall, PMN layout is very intuitive and easy to use. The only thing to remember is that depending on which view you're on the menus on the bottom are different.
The Options that control the behavior of the software are located on the Main View only. Route Planning (without GPS) is only accessible from the Map View. In the Navigation View, no menus are available and even the top bar of the Pocket PC is hidden in order that the screen is completely used for the Navigation instructions and map. On one hand this nice, but it's annoying that you can't see the clock unless you switch back to the Main View. While in the Navigation Mode if you tap anywhere on the screen, 5 buttons will pop up at the top which will allow you to switch to other views. If you don't do anything after a couple of seconds the buttons will disappear again.
One thing I found that PMN really rocks with is the Map View. The Map View is not related to your particular location tracked by the GPS on the Navigation View. So you can pan around all you want in the Map View without getting kicked back to your current location while PMN will continue routing behind the scenes in the Navigation View. This is really useful if you're looking for particular point on the map. This feature doesn't exist in Destinator or Mapopolis, which makes it very difficult to find anything on the map unless you actually turn the GPS signal off, which is a real pain.
Views of different options settings:
    
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3D View:
PMN has a great 3D view, which I actually found useful in comparison to the Destinator 3D view which is pretty much useless. In the 3D view, PMN has a horizon line above which, it shows a blue sky and clouds in the Day View and dark sky, stars and the moon in the Night View. The moon actually moves depending which direction you're driving in and can be seen only if its in your line of vision, just like the real moon.
All of this is very useful because it gives you a perspective of distance and the feel of the curvature of the road ahead of you. It also shows the street names. I am not sure if PMN's map contains elevation data, but in the 3D view it gives a very good appearance that it does. All streets look like they go up and down and are not just flat and tilted to create a 3D appearance as in Destinator. I tried to verify this with the actual terrain around me and it seems to be pretty accurate. When I would go up hill the road would look like as it was going up hill.
One really neat thing that struck me in the 3D view was that as I was driving in Pittsburgh, PA on top of a big hill, PMN showed me the river with its full width at the bottom of the hill, and as I was turning the river would turn as well. It looked almost exactly as the view out the window.
Here are 2 views of San Francisco, CA in Day and Night Mode:
 
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In Destinator 3D view all of these features are lacking. There is no horizon line, street names, and any perspective of elevation, which kind of makes it just a fancy look, but does not provide any benefit. Mapopolis does not have a 3D view at all.
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In both, PMN and Destinator, the 3D view can display POIs or they can be turned off.
Route Calculation:
PMN has 3 different ways to calculate routes:
1) Quickest
2) Shortest
3) Custom, in which you can control your preference for 4 different road types, interstate highways, regular highways, major roads, and local streets
In addition there are 3 more settings: Avoid Toll Roads, Avoid Sharp Turns, and Reduce Turns.
Destinator only has the first two ways, and has a setting to avoid toll roads, but you cannot control turns.
I found the Reduce Turns feature really useful. After I turned it on, PMN seemed to choose the routes that I would actually pick myself, verses trying to shorten the route by taking you along a spree of small streets.
Custom routing is some what tricky. Although it works as it says, by preferring road types, it doesn't always make sense. I tried the following setting. I set it really prefer interstates and really dislike local roads. IN the beginning it took straight to the interstate exactly as I wanted, but when it was time to get off the interstate and take a couple of local roads to get to my house, PMN wanted to continue on the interstate to a different interstate and only then get off at an exit which was right next to my house, although it added about 10 extra miles to the trip. When I actually did not listen, and kept on going the way I wanted to go, PMN kept telling me to make a u-turn and go back to the interstate, for a really long time, until I was literally a few hundred feet away from the destination. I guess it thought I was having a really miserable time driving around local roads since I told it I really dislike them, and wanted to quickly to put me out of my misery. 
Overall, I would recommend not to set the extreme settings in the Custom routing, because it can cause really odd behavior. However the mild settings may be very helpful, especially if you're in an unfamiliar area and don't want to be driving around local streets unless you absolutely have to. This can be really useful while driving through a bad neighborhood and want to avoid it as much as possible.
PMN recalculates routes extremely fast, much faster than Mapopolis, and I won't even mention Destinator, which is really terrible with recalculating routes. So far, I haven't missed a turn yet, because PMN was still taking time to recalculate a route, where as I have missed turns plenty of times with Destinator and even with Mapopolis, especially in downtowns.
In order to calculate a route the destination can be picked in a variety of ways. You can pick it form POI list, type in the address, chose it from Favorites if you saved any destinations, from Recent Destinations list, or you can manually pick it on the Map View. They all work well. Mapopolis and Destinator are similar to PMN in this, except the manual map picking in PMN is much better.
Long Distance Routing:
PMN is capable of creating long distance routes across the US as long as all the necessary maps are loaded. The longest I have traveled with PMN is from Baltimore, MD to Boston, MA. The initial route calculation took about a minute, but once the route was calculated if I would go off track PMN would recalculate pretty quickly. I was impressed with PMN's ability to create long distance routes and keep up with them.
PMN is not limited to map zones like Destinator, so if you have all the maps loaded between NY and CA it would create a single route, where as on Destinator this is impossible. Also, PMN is not limited to any kind of population density limitations like Mapopolis so no matter how many people live in the counties that you pass through, it will still create a route.
In case you don't have a large enough memory card to hold all of the full state maps that you need, you can cut a route on your PC with a given mile radius around the path and load that onto your card. This way you don't have to carry around complete state maps if you don't need them. Or you can just load particular counties, although it may get a little tricky trying to figure out which counties you would be passing through.
GPS Navigation Instructions:
PMN uses Text-to-Voice technology, just like Mapopolis, which reads the instructions together with street names. PMN has 4 voices, 2 male and 2 female. The voices sound much more realistic than Mapopolis voices, although the female voices still have a robotic sound to them (still better than Mapopolis), which is why I use the male voice. Also, PMN can be set to 4 different instructions modes: Regular, Concise, Verbose, and None. I really like the Verbose mode, because it gives you very detailed directions as far as keeping to a particular side of the road and what to do on following streets when turns come up quickly. Mapopolis lacks in this kind of flexibility and Destinator does not have it at all, because it uses prerecorded directions, so it can only tell you in how many yards will the turn be upcoming, but nothing beyond that.
If you didn't hear the verbal instruction you can push on the Middle Hardware button in the center and the instruction will be repeated. If you want to hear the previous instruction or the following one push the same button to the left or to the right.
The verbal instructions are said when PMN switches from the previous turn to the next and then repeated at a few distances before the turn starting at 1 mile.
The visual instructions are also very good and clear. At the top of the screen PMN shows the turn arrow and the street name on which you have to turn next. At the bottom, it shows what street you're currently on, as well as the country and the vicinity of a city (really useful on highways). In addition the middle bar shows your Estimated Arrival Time (ETA), Distance to Destination, Speed, and direction.
click to enlarge
You can set PMN to zoom in to any level at particular distances away from the turn so that it's easier to see where you are turning.
Both the speed bar in the middle and the visual guidance bar at the top can be turned off by taping on them with your finger, which will show more of the map. You can tap back in that area to turn them back on.
The chosen route is highlighted in green so you can always see it.
PMN has a unique feature which draws the bread crumbs (dots) on the route that you have taken. This is very useful to see later where you were and to visually follow back the same route.
I found PMN's instructions to be much clearer and much more realistic. It used the names of roads as they are. For example, Interstate 70 is also officially called Dwight D Eisenhower Highway, but no one call it that or even knows that it has this name. PMN did not use this name at all in its instructions, although it was displayed on the map. Instead it used Interstate 70 as everyone knows it. Destinator, however would always display in its instructions exactly what the map showed, so unless you are really paying attention to the map, you don't really know where to go sometimes, because the road names are different.
While driving on the highway, PMN did not provide any intermediate bogus instructions, like Destinator does. If I did not have to switch to another highway for 200 miles, then PMN's next instruction showed that my next exit is in 200 miles. Destinator give sout a "keep right", "keep left", or even "exit to the right", "exit to the left" instructions, both verbally and visually, every time you pass a left exit or a sharp curve on the highway, which creates huge confusion, since in reality you have to go straight on the same road.
One thing that PMN's visual guidance lacked a little was exit numbers. On some roads it would display that I have to take an exit, but on some it would just display that I have to make a turn to the new road (i.e. from I70 to I76), but did not display, which exit I have to take. However, in the Voice instructions it would announce which exit to take and which side of the road to keep to in order to take that exit. It would be nice if the visual and voice guidance would be a little more in synch. So keep in mind to pay attention to the voice instructions and not just the map, or vice versa.
PMN was really great when you go off route. It never told me to make a U-Turn (except for that Custom road case above) on the same road, unless it there was a special place to make a U-Turn. Instead it would pick the next road to turn on and use it to turn around either by going around the block or use some kind of large parking lot if it was marked on the map. This is much more intuitive and easy, especially in an unfamiliar area. Destinator really lacks in this and always tells to make U-Turns, even if it's a road with 4 lanes each way or an exit of the highway.
One issue I found in PMN is road lock. There were a few cases where I turned not onto the street which PMN told me to turn on, but on the following street, which was close buy. But PMN failed to recognize that and kept telling me that I am on the right street as it intended. As soon as the streets would split a little further apart then PMN would recognize that I am off route and recalculate. The same thing occurred when I took the wrong exist of the high and then turned onto a bridge that goes above the highway. Until I actually crossed the bridge and started moving away from the highway PMN still thought I was going straight on the highway. Hopefully this would be fixed soon and the street lock on the chosen route would not be as strong.
Map Accuracy:
This is a complex subject that was heavily discussed when TomTom came out last year (see this thread. PMN uses TeleAtlas maps, whereas Destinator and Mapopolis use Navteq. In general there is a feeling that Navteq is better, but I found that not to be the case, but rather it would depend on the area and even on particular streets.
Below are a few snapshots of PMN (TeleAtlas) and Mapopolis (Navteq) maps where clear discrepancies can be seen. For comparison purposes I included snapshots from Mapopolis and Microsoft MapPoint which use Navteq and from Delorme Topo 5.0 which is based on the US government TIGER maps with Delorme's modifications.
Folsom, CA Area:
On these snapshots notice Iron Point Road. This road has been around for at least 10 years. On both PMN (TeleAtlas) and MapPoint (Navteq) Maps it is a single road, where as in Topo5 (Delorme/TIGER) it is cut in half which is not correct.
  
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Pikesville, MD Area:
On these snapshots notice the area around Woodholme Center Circle, which is a shopping center. This shopping center and the surrounding streets have been around for at least 15 years. All 3 databases have different representations of it. Notice where Castleton Avenue is located in PMN, MapPoint, and Delorme. All 3 maps have it, but you may not see it on PMN right away (see the Zoomed in snapshot). In this particular case PMN (TeleAtlas) is more correct than MapPoint (Navteq) because Woodholme Center Circle does connect with adjacent streets, but still neither map has the exact representation of the roads, because Castleton Ave is a through street, like shown on Delorme, but not shown on MapPoint. It's really the combination of all of them that shows all of the streets. Also, notice that PMN and Delorme maps have it spelled Castleon Ave which is incorrect. It should be spelled Castleton.
    
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Here is another spot in Pikesville, MD. Notice that in PMN, Avalon Way exists only on one side of Reisterstown Road, but in Mapopolis it exists on both sides. In this case Mapopolis (Navteq) is more correct.
 
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The bottom line of this comparison is that there is no bottom line. All maps have mistakes on them, and it really depends on the area, and even then you can have both maps have different mistakes in the same spot, as shown above (ed - based on some limited testing on my SF Bay Area test routes, it still seems that Navteq based products do better than TeleAtlas based ones - map accuracy is one aspect but speed attributes are just as important to determine a correct route and TeleAtlas appears to be lacking in this respect, at least for now)
Map Quality:
The look of the map itself in terms of lines and colors is really nice in both PMN and Destinator in contrast to Mapopolis which looks really choppy, and is almost a matter of preference. I do like the way the road lines are drawn in Destinator a little bit better, but it's really a minor issue.
Another cool thing I found about PMN's maps is that they post map updates for specific locations on their web site, so you don't have to wait for next year's software release. Mostly these updates include new POIs.
POIs:
PMN comes with a huge POI database, which to me seemed to be much bigger and much more useful than Destinator's, because it has more useful categories.
Sometimes I found some strange data missing in it. For example, in the Book Stores category it would only list private small book stores, but large chains like Barnes & Noble were missing in some places, even though the store may have been in that spot for years. But in other places it would be present.
I really like the fact that it has a lot of stores categories: Drug Stores, Supermarkets, and Book Stores, which are mostly lacking in Destinator 3. However, just like Destinator, PMN lacks in listing large retail store chains, like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CompUSA, Target and the like. It only lists Malls.
Saving and Sharing Data:
PMN has a unique feature that allows you to save and plan routes. You can pick Waypoints on the Map View and PMN will route to them as intermediary stops. Once you created the route exactly as you like it, you can save it and later retrieve it from a file and PMN will just route you along it, instead of recalculating a new route with different streets.
PMN allows you to plan route by putting in a starting address without using your current GPS location. The only thing lacking in this feature is that you must type in an address and you can't select a POI or a Contact as your starting location. Once this route is crated you can manually remove specific turns in the Directions List or adding places by setting Waypoints on the Map View.
These features do not exist in either Destinator or Mapopolis, so you always have to start from scratch and you can't modify routes in them.
There is a way to share POIs in PMN between different PPCs, by merging POI files (which are just plain text). There is a free tool called PMN Cacher that can merge PMN Favorites files or can import data from standard .GPX or .LOC files and then save them as PMN Favorites. There are many tools that can output .GPS and .LOC files or convert them from other formats so this is a really great method to share POIs.
PMN Cacher is a great tool for geocaching and is discussed here
The only down side to this is that in the current version of PMN all Favorites are listed in a single list, so if you add a lot of custom locations it may be hard to find them. Hopefully they will add a feature where Favorites can be split into Categories and also can be accessed from multiple files, then this would be truly customizable.
Transferring Maps to the Pocket PC:
PMN comes with a really nice Data Manager software for the PC which is used to install maps on the PPC. Maps can be installed by states, counties, cities, or yu can cut a custom route. The maps can't really be copies directly from the CD unless you installed them at least once, because they must reside in separate folders for each county, and this sorting is done by the Data Manager, because on the CDs they are just sitting in ZIP files by states. The maps can be exported either with or without POIs in order to save space. Also, there are 4 separate maps for the high way grids that are used (behind the scenes) for routes over 150 miles long.
PMN maps are much larger in size than Mapopolis and Destinator maps, but they allow routing across the US without any distance limitations, where as both Destinator and Mapopolis are limited on long distance routes.
I was able to create a route from Baltimore, MD to Sacramento, CA, although it took about 15 minutes, due the memory limitations of the Pocket PC.
As long as you install maps of adjacent areas PMN will route seamlessly between them, completely transparent to the user.
Tech Support:
I have contacted PMN's tech support by email and on the GPSPassion PMN Forum and they were very responsive, just as much as Mapopolis. In comparison, Destinator has pretty poor tech support, although they also respond by email eventually.
Summary:
PMN is currently the best navigation PPC software that I've used (others include Destinator and Mapopolis). I have completely switched from Destinator to using PMN. It's the first software package that I tried that I don't really have any major complaints about. And for $80 it's also the cheapest. Space Machine did an incredible job designing this tool and if they keep on working on it as they are it is for sure the best investment in a GPS navigation software package.
Links:
User feedback on PMN: Luando |
Edited by - igurevich38 on 21 juil. 2004 05:30:14
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pli7
USA
82 Posts |
Posted - 11 mai 2004 : 17:27:16
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How do I view the screen shots?
Thanks for a detailed review. It sounds good. Wonder what other users think of the product. |
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gpspassion
84989 Posts |
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pli7
USA
82 Posts |
Posted - 13 mai 2004 : 21:26:14
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Will that be done soon?
Thanks. |
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dcrochet
USA
1044 Posts |
Posted - 14 mai 2004 : 06:49:57
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Great review! I’ve been chomping at the bit to give PMN 2004 R3 a test drive, and this is at least the second positive review by someone with multi-application experience, so I think it may be about time I took the plunge.
I’m familiar with Mapopolis 4 and noted a few clean-up items in your report. I’m certainly not suggesting that Mapopolis compares favorably with PMN but simply passing on some clarifications with respect to Mapopolis function:
quote:
Route Calculation:
PMN recalculates routes extremely fast, much faster than Mapopolis, and I won't even mention Destinator, which is really terrible with recalculating routes. So far, I haven't missed a turn yet, because PMN was still taking time to recalculate a route, where as I have missed turns plenty of times with Destinator and even with Mapopolis, especially in downtowns.
Are you saying that PMN recognizes the off-route condition sooner or that the calculation is actually faster than Mapopolis? This will make for some interesting tests on my part because I’ve previously been led to believe that Mapopolis was the route/reroute speed king. Hmm...
quote:
While driving on the highway, PMN did not provide any intermediate bogus instructions, like Destinator does. If I did not have to switch to another highway for 200 miles, then PMN's next instruction showed that my next exit is in 200 miles. Destinator give sout a "keep right", "keep left", or even "exit to the right", "exit to the left" instructions, both verbally and visually, every time you pass a left exit or a sharp curve on the highway, which creates huge confusion, since in reality you have to go straight on the same road.
Mapopolis has these intermediate bogus instructions similar to Destinator. This is my #1 bug fix request for Mapopolis!
quote:
PMN allows you to plan route by putting in a starting address without using your current GPS location. The only thing lacking in this feature is that you must type in an address and you can't select a POI or a Contact as your starting location. Once this route is crated you can manually remove specific turns in the Directions List or adding places by setting Waypoints on the Map View.
These features do not exist in either Destinator or Mapopolis, so you always have to start from scratch and you can't modify routes in them.
You might want to revisit the planning options in Mapopolis. Not only do you have far more options for both Start and Destination designations with Mapopolis than you’ve mentioned for PMN, you can do infinite user modifications to a route, as well as save/recall routes with Mapopolis as well.
quote:
PMN maps are much larger in size than Mapopolis and Destinator maps, but they allow routing across the US without any distance limitations, where as both Destinator and Mapopolis are limited on long distance routes.
I was able to create a route from Baltimore, MD to Sacramento, CA, although it took about 15 minutes, due the memory limitations of the Pocket PC.
Okay…I’m thrilled by this statement to say the least! Are you saying that PMN is ready to dethrone Mapopolis as the long distance routing king (3600+ miles with route-length detail)? Please post your longest route here. BTW, Baltimore to Sacramento would take about 30 seconds using Mapopolis to generate a route, plus about 10 minutes to [optionally] open a detail corridor manually, so they sound comparable in terms of time on this issue.
Dell Axim X5 400MHz A04, PPC2002 OS, Mapopolis 4.xx, Fortuna PocketXTrack CF GPS |
Edited by - dcrochet on 14 mai 2004 15:26:29 |
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igurevich38
USA
758 Posts |
Posted - 14 mai 2004 : 18:09:36
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drochet.
Thanks for your feedback.
I haven't timed Mapopolis and PMN exactly to measure the difference between the reroute times, but just from the feel of it, PMN feels faster to recognise that you're off route and to recalculate the new route, especially for longer routes.
Regarding the longest route calcualtion, I don't have all the maps loaded in order to do this. But the altimate test would be to generate a route from Bangor, ME to San Diego, CA. May be paulkbiba can help us out with this.
Also, my test from Baltimore to Sacramento was a little messed up, because I didn't have a bunch of states in between loaded, so it only used the highway data and I didn't clock it perfectly, but estimated the time (which is why I wrote "about 15 minutes"), because I got tired from sitting around staring at the screen. The times may change if all the in-between states are loaded. To get the calculation times correctly you really need to explore all of these options and time it on a stop watch.
One more thing regarding route times that I have not compared. In PMN you can create a pre cut route on your PC and then port it to the PPC. This way you will save space on maps. I couldn't test this extensively simple because I don't have enough space on my PPC to laod all 48 continental states, but I have a feeling that if you cut a route on the PC and then try to calculate it on the PPC, it will do it faster than if you just load complete state maps and try to generate the same route. I could be wrong, but it makes sense since there is less map data to parse through and there would be a lot less options for the PMN to chose from regarding which roads to take, since the route is precut and a lot of roads are not available.
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serpa4
USA
97 Posts |
Posted - 14 mai 2004 : 20:31:33
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Summary:
PMN is currently the best navigation PPC software that I've used (others include Destinator and Mapopolis). I have completely switched from Destinator to using PMN. It's the first software package that I tried that I don't really have any major complaints about. And for $80 it's also the cheapest. Space Machine did an incredible job designing this tool and if they keep on working on it as they are it is for sure the best investment in a GPS navigation software package.
I agree totaly. PMN is a great program. The best of my past programs, destinator 3, TType, and close to Ique3600.
HP2215, Fortuna Clip-on BT receiver, MPN, Destinator 3, Teletype V 062004, Garmin IQue 3600. |
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as77
82 Posts |
Posted - 16 mai 2004 : 08:25:29
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The price of PMN is not $80, it's $89.95.
Routis is actually cheaper now ($89.90 while it's on sale) and it includes Canada (unlike PMN).
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gpspassion
84989 Posts |
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Godis4unme
44 Posts |
Posted - 18 mai 2004 : 14:50:22
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| Would it also run on a laptop? I don't recall reading anything about it. |
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gpspassion
84989 Posts |
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paulkbiba
USA
5024 Posts |
Posted - 19 mai 2004 : 00:55:43
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I had intended to also post a review of PMN 3, but iqurevich38 did such a good job there is not a lot for me to add. I would like to make the following contributions, however:
1. Earlier releases of PMN were noted for instability problems. With version 3 this has been cured and everything is rock solid. Anyone who had poor experiences with the earlier versions should give this version a try.
2. PMN is the only program I know of that will display WAAS lock-on on the GPS screen. If you have WAAS enabled, and have a lock, a green satellite labeled WAAS will appear. This is very interesting to watch, as it comes on and off quite a bit and doesn't seem to get a stable lock at all here in NJ.
3. If you check the screen shot above you will see that the GPS screen is more informative than many other programs. It displays "Active Satellites", number tracked and number in view. When I asked PMN about what "Active Satellites" meant they replied:
The "tracked satellites" are the ones that the GPS receiver has
established communications with (i.e., it is there in the sky with direct
line of sight and signal strength is good). In other words, the GPS receiver
can "track" the satellites by continuously getting signals from them.
Since no more than 4 of the tracked satellites are needed for 3D-fix
position calculation at any one time, the GPS firmware "decides" to
choose the best 4 (sometimes best 5 or 6) out of the tracked satellites
to "actively" contribute to the position determination. The satellites
that participate in the position determination are thus the "active
satellites."
The set of "active satellites" could vary from second to second based upon
optimization algorithm in firmware as well as geometry of configuration
and visibility.
Using a meeting analogy, think of the "tracked" satellites as people that
actually show up for meeting (and they come and go), the "active" satellites
as the ones that actually vote on issues (and there are different hands on
different issues). You need at least 4 votes to pass an issue (which means
there must be at least that many people in the room).
4. Also, although not visible in the screen shot above, PMN displays a number (in feet) just to the left of the satellite bars. I asked them if this was HDOP (horizontal dilution of position) and they replied:
No, it is not HDOP. That number is what we call "estimated position
error", or simply a measurement of horizontal position error in feet based upon a
variety of factors including DOP, satellite signal quality and active
satellites geometry. You will notice that estimated position error decreases with more
active satellites because the "geometry" is better (triangulation is
improved when the "active" satellites are "evenly spread out" in the sky). It is
quite a complex formula but it takes into account more factors than just HDOP.
5. I often use XT mode in the summer in NJ because of the heavily tree-lined streets. Foliage is one of the most effective signal blockers. I have noticed that PMN3 displays little or no lag when used with my Clipon in the XT mode. I asked them about this and whether my inpression was correct. They replied:
Yes. Our engineers did some optimization on PMN so that it works better with the XTrak algorithm.
6. I also asked them about their feelings regarding Navteq vs Tele-Atlas maps. They replied as follows:
We think both TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ have their respective strengths,
as well as their respective share of map data errors. That is simply
the nature of the map data business. After all, keeping track of
20,000 miles of new roads being constructed in the U.S. every year
is a daunting task for *any* organization.
Our product folks have worked with both TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ people
to assess their claims of superiority of one versus the other. For
the most part, the evidence are more anecdotal examples rather than
quantifiable objectives (and the metrics change from year to year!).
In fact, they are becoming more like each other from what we can see.
TeleAtlas has been investing in building out field offices in
U.S. for better road data collection (to be more like NAVTEQ), and
NAVTEQ has been building out their data operations team for better
coverage (to be more like TeleAtlas).
NAVTEQ had invested a lot in marketing their brand for
the past few years, perhaps that shapes perception a bit. We choose
to be map data neutral in our positioning for the most part and try
to stay above the fray when it comes to NT vs TA.
However, there are cases where our engineers have found TA map data
to be better digitized than NT (more shape points), and that some
roads with divided lanes are "double digitized" for more accurate
shape representation in certain areas. Our engineers believe this
could provide certain advantage for internal algorithms that snap
GPS to roads. Of course, having better coverage beyond the metros
as well as having Alaska is a plus as well for TA.
7. Iqurevich38 and I must think alike because I asked them if there was any way to turn off the annoying welcome and goodby messages! They replied:
Your request is noted. Is it really that bad? :-)
Finally, I asked them for a list of new and improved features in version 3. They replied:
WHAT’S NEW IN R3:
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NEW! Demo route feature!
NEW! Integrated Outlook Contacts support!
NEW! 3-D perspective view for better visibility!
NEW! Points of interest searchable by proximity!
NEW! Real-time detour to go road works or congestion!
NEW! Selective routing to avoid specific roads!
NEW! Alternate route to give user another way to get there!
NEW! Routing by highways, major roads or local roads!
NEW! Choice of quickest or shortest route!
NEW! Choose routes that avoid sharp turns!
NEW! Choose routes that avoid toll roads!
NEW! Choose routes that reduce turn maneuvers!
NEW! Quick Find interface for easy finger operation!
NEW! Points of interest coverage expanded to 40 categories!
NEW! Auto detect most GPS devices for easy setup!
WHAT’S IMPROVED IN R3:
----------------------
- Faster long distance routing
- Improved highway grid for nationwide/regional routing
- Better street label rendering with nicer fonts
- Easier user interface for finding destination quickly
- Expanded map view area to entire screen for navigation
- Cruise mode now turns off auto-reroute and voice prompts
- Guidance mode now turns on auto-reroute and voice prompts
- Smaller map memory footprint improves system performance
- Better user interface design for desktop Data Manager
- Increased recent locations saved from 10 to 15
I should also make mention of the fact that they have a pretty complete manual on the CD which explains a lot of the operations in detail. It is really very well done.
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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astro_turf
12 Posts |
Posted - 19 mai 2004 : 03:17:28
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Great additions, I found this thread very helpful in making a choice between mapping systems.
And yes, the greetings really are that bad. Try starting it up in a quiet restaraunt and you'll see what I mean! |
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paulkbiba
USA
5024 Posts |
Posted - 19 mai 2004 : 04:23:48
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Actually if you turn of all sounds in the settings menu you can get rid of these, but then you have to turn them back on again to use the program. I have had the same restaraunt problem you have experienced!!
Moderator
Don't forget the GPSPassion Club! |
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RandyH
12 Posts |
Posted - 22 mai 2004 : 22:06:26
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I just returned from a trip in which I used PMN with a Globalsat BC307 and my Dell Axim x5 basic. The trip was from Jasper, Alabama, to Bellevue, Nebraska(~900 miles). The return trip included a stop in Branson, Missouri. The total trip was over 2300 miles. PMN and the compact flash gps performed well, but now without a few problems.
Here are the problems I had with PMN:
1. The routes calculated on a computer and downloaded to the Axim did not always correspond to routes calculated on the ppc. The may have been due to the preferred roads I had selected on the desktop.
2. Alabama HWY 4 (soon to be I-22) is shown on PMN routes, but it doesn't show you on that particular road when you are driving it. Consequently, it it constantly rerouting and saying you are off route. After I got on I240, it was right on the money.
3. Sometimes, PMN tells you to go east when you know you should be going west. I emailed the PMN folks about this, didn't get a reply. For example, it tells you to get on I240 east to I55 in Memphis, but you have to go west to get on I55.
4. The PMN voice directions do not have enough volume. I used an arkon multimedia mount and it worked great.
All in all, this is one of the coolest toys I've got. It's great knowing you will never get lost again.
Randy |
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igurevich38
USA
758 Posts |
Posted - 23 mai 2004 : 04:35:19
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Regardign you issues 2 and 3, I had very similar problems in MA.
On Route 9 from I495 to Boston PMN was going crazy and announving the same street over and over every 0.1 miles. This lasted the whole road (about a 20 mile section) in both directions.
In downtown Boston, it was going in a circle ona few streets and wouldn't announce turns, and kept bringing me back to the same spot.
I still have to send the exact roads to PMN, so will see what they say. |
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PocketMap Navigator 2004 R3 Review
