Marika Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 Well, got the DeLorme Earthmate which plugs into the lap top computer and installed their 2004 map software program on my IBM lap top. I speak only from my experience of mapping to and from my home to job and back again. First off, make sure you ACCURATELY type in the address. It will offer you choices of addresses if it can't find an exact match. Be absolutely certain you pick the correct address or you will end up in the wrong place. Secondly, and I speak only for the map that was generated to and from my job which ran from Garfield to Hackensack, NJ; while the image of the map is fairly accurate, the voice commands telling you where to turn and when, are a bit off. At one point, the voice was telling me to make a left onto US Highway 46, when I knew that making a left would take me AWAY from where I was heading. The voice command was also telling me to make a left OFF the highway which meant I would have turned directly into a concrete road divider. Voice command seems to confuse right turns and left turns. What I found was if I followed the road map and the GPS "dots" that were being created on the map as I moved along, it was accurate, it's just the voice commands that seemed screwed up. The GPS unit itself is accurate, including the speed you are traveling at so I'm trying to figure out why the voice commands seemed to have some, but not all, of the turns backwards. Any ideas?? If you really want to make people safe drivers again then simply remove all the safety features from cars. No more seat belts, ABS brakes, traction control, air bags or stability control. No more anything. You'll see how quickly people will slow down and once again learn to drive like "normal" humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 Marika, the mapping in the software is only as good as the data they can acquire. Some data isn't as "clean" as others. And by "clean", I mean some might have double lines in some places, little lines that don't go anywhere, small "kinks" in the lines, etc. This is nothing you can really see at the scale that you're looking at (on the screen), but the voice commands are really following triggers in the mapping that it "sees" as you drive along. So although you may not see a double line in the map, one might be there, and the voice command is probably reading that literally and saying you need to get on the "other" line to continue on your journey. Just a guess... Remember that Delorme doesn't produce all the map data, but rather acquires it from a multitude of data providers. Some of their data might not be exactly the same or match cleanly together, etc. I'm a Geographic Information System professional, and learned very quickly that there's much more to it than it seems. Just chasing small errors in the data collection can be a bear. And off the top of my head, if there are no programmatical errors in the software, the voice commands are just reacting to small "glitches" in the actual map data. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marika Posted February 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 I ran another test, going to the Cadillac Dealership to order a part. I ignored the voice commands and simply followed what the GPS was "marking" as my path and it worked perfect. It just seems that the voice command is a bit odd. I can live with it. If you really want to make people safe drivers again then simply remove all the safety features from cars. No more seat belts, ABS brakes, traction control, air bags or stability control. No more anything. You'll see how quickly people will slow down and once again learn to drive like "normal" humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg P. Posted February 14, 2004 Report Share Posted February 14, 2004 Yeah I use the same software and found the same things to be true. It's especially bad in new jersey where you pretty much always have to make a right turn onto a jughandle if you really want to go left. The software seems to know where the major roads are but it doesn't seem to know where the exit ramps start. As a result, the voice commands are telling you to turn after you pass the ramp. It's fun to use, but I usually stick to the maps myself. Or just use the GPS by itself. I'd like to try a new caddy with the nav system to see if it's any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marika Posted February 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2004 Greg, the fun thing about this program and I'm sure other software programs do it as well, is that you can ADD roads to the maps and make other adjustments and save them as layers. Pretty interesting and very accurate for such an inexpensive package. The whole thing, GPS unit that plugs into the USB port of the lap top, PLUS the software and a really nice tutorial disk was only $125 and I'm sure it can be gotten for less elsewhere. If you really want to make people safe drivers again then simply remove all the safety features from cars. No more seat belts, ABS brakes, traction control, air bags or stability control. No more anything. You'll see how quickly people will slow down and once again learn to drive like "normal" humans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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