Re: TOT more about satnavs

"Bill Wright" <insertmybusinessname@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:XqidnR5MPag5gWLVnZ2dnUVZ8trinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxx
I was on the A15 at Caenby Corner and I asked Gertie to find the way
home. She suggested we went north to the M180, then onto the M18 to
home, a distance of 53 miles and a time of 48 minutes. Instead I went
along the A631 to Gainsboro, then Bawtry, then Tickhill, then home, a
distance of 30 miles and a time of 50 minutes.

I wouldn't want to drive at an average of 66mph for 48 minutes just to
save two minutes, when the alternative would be to drive at an average
of 36mph for 50 minutes.

The average speed for the shorter route seems low, but most of the
rural part has a 50mph limit.

Yes I know I could alter the routing settings, but I would have
thought there should be a setting called 'compromising travel time
slightly in a commonsense way in the interests of economy'.

Bill



Ah William, you have found the beauty of sat navs - NOT! They either go
the nearest they can to a straight line, or do anything needed to get
you on a motorway - and what's more they don't like you taking the route
into your own hands!

Late last year I went to meet a colleague at McD's at Junc 30 (M1) to
collect a spare. I took the opportunity whilst in the area to drop
something off to my sister at Eckington Health Centre. I was going from
there to Rotherham Fire Station so I though I'd use Digital Doris to
find my way.

Going to fastest route it insisted I go south(ish) back to J30, up the
M1 and M18 to J1, then - well you know the rest of the way to
Fitzwilliam Road. Total 19 miles and 25 minutes. Then I switched it to
shortest route and it came up with 11 miles and 31 minutes. I followed
this latter option as best I could until I got so frustrated I gave up.

It took me to the A618 - great I thought, that's the right road - but
every time it came to a long curve in the A618, if there was a cut
across the curve through a housing estate (speed bumps and all) it took
me through it. It took me onto, off, and back onto the A618 FOUR
times!!!

I now use it as a street map of the urban areas of the UK and use my
common sense and road signs to get across the rural bits.

There is however an alternative, especially for your motorhome. Maplin
are now doing a device called a ProNav - albeit a rather pricey one at
£199. It will work as an ordinary sat nav a la TT, or you can put it
into Pro mode. Here it will let you specify such things as train length,
width, height, turning circle, and weight - for use of truckers,
caravan/boat towers, etc - and calculate the optimum route. Note that
word - optimum - something that TT just cannot handle. Only catch so far
(at least for we caravanners) is that they only have UK maps available
at present.

It puzzles me how the Via Michelin or Autoroute.fr web sites can
calculate routes that will suite caravans and avoid/not avoid
motorways/toll roads from similar map info that TT cannot.

Finally I would add that, from what I can see, the Garmin satnavs using
Navteq maps are usually much better at routing than TT with Teleatlas.


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Ride The Lobster Qualifying Write Up - Nottingham to London
    ... The map was invaluable in getting me through the city, however, on the ... Eventually I pick up a sign for a cycle route to Milton ... I spot a sign saying I'm 8 miles from Dunstable, ...
    (rec.sport.unicycling)
  • Re: My trusted GPS failed me!
    ... "shortest distance" routing function. ... This worked quite well until somewhere in West Texas -- now, ... Miles and miles from nowhere, low on fuel, we had to turn around on ... smarter route in less time than you could've done using the paper map ...
    (sci.geo.satellite-nav)
  • Re: Pedometer Girl in Asia says Hi!!!
    ... it there was a discrepancy in distance cf the 25k map. ... straight-forward route and over 17.5 miles. ... I considered the map to be correct. ... Over the decades the above 'typical walk' has gone from easy to hard to ...
    (uk.rec.walking)
  • Re: Mapsource Mileages Generated Are Not Accurate - Question - Why?
    ... >> Your total discrepancy is about 15%. ... >> distance and that could reduce the distance by some fraction of one ... Did the cursor appear to stay on the marked route line ... know to be 343 miles) showed 378 miles. ...
    (sci.geo.satellite-nav)
  • Re: First Audax - well, nearly (long)
    ... > pages from a motoring map that correspond to the route to be invaluable. ... on the speedo (set to distance) and continually work out the difference ... be differential distances and grid references. ...
    (uk.rec.cycling)
Loading