What are the Benefits of a In-Car GPS Unit?

Keith Willshaw wrote:
>
> As with any navigation aid you need to use a degree of common sense
> when using a GPS. I have had one try and direct me down what looked
> like a goat track leading down the face of a mountain. Thats when
> the sensible driver says 'you gotta be kidding' and ignores it.

I just bought one. The first time I used it, it tried to send me right
at a T-junction, where for more than a year traffic priority has changed
and signs direct you left, with a U-turn 200 yards later.

"Anonymouse" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message
news:isedneWdyNMf6VzVnZ2dnUVZ_vSdnZ2d@. ..
> Mike O'Sullivan wrote:
>> Keith Willshaw wrote:
>>> As with any navigation aid you need to use a degree of common sense
>>> when using a GPS. I have had one try and direct me down what looked
>>> like a goat track leading down the face of a mountain. Thats when
>>> the sensible driver says 'you gotta be kidding' and ignores it.
>>
>> I just bought one. The first time I used it, it tried to send me right at
>> a T-junction, where for more than a year traffic priority has changed and
>> signs direct you left, with a U-turn 200 yards later.
>
> Hi,
>
> these things are FAR from perfect.
>

Nothing is perfect. The simple fact is that roads are surveyed at
intervals that may be as long as several years.

One of the new features in the TomTom system is that users
can enter and share such restrictions when they log into
the manufacturers website so there's a better chance of such changes
getting corrected

> the first time I used one was in Chicago on a system install, it
> instructed me to go 100 yards or so down the street, under an interstate
> overpass, and take a left onto the interstate.
>
> to bad there wasn't a ramp there.
>
> this is why I buy Michelin maps when driving in Europe (or for just
> getting around Paris, London, or other BIG city)
>

And those maps also get out of date.

Keith

"Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.usenet@ardane.c-o-m> kirjoitti
viestissä:6ifluqFqa7d8U1@mid....
>>>
>> It is neither robust nor anyhow comprehensive a method. Only those who
>> actually build the road network can maintain such a database.
>
> It's still not perfect. Those who build the road network aren't
> necessarily those who install the road signs.
>
Good grief! We are not talking about installation of the road signs. We are
talking about an institution responsible for the road construction in any
given area in Europe (these units are typically European states and
sometimes provinces). It is typically, most often, nearly always a
government agency. And even if it is a non-government agency, it is obliged
to notify about all the specifications of the project to a government agency
responsible of the road construction........ This is how the things are
done in the civilized world. Engineers responsible for maintaining the
database should naturally make all the relevant updatings anyhow affecting
on the traffic.
>
> The problem here is: who gets the information, and who doesn't? Is anyone
> in charge of taking that decision?
>
In these projects there can be several operators but one body in charge.
Naturally one company can clear the trees. Another company is in charge for
mining the bedrock. One more company builds the gravel bed and drainage. Yet
another company paves the road. One more company is there to erect lamp
posts. And yes there can be one dedicated company to assemble the road
signs. No problem there.

"Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.usenet@ardane.c-o-m> kirjoitti
viestissä:6ifnkrFq3ge3U1@mid....
>
> We were talking about who should give information about changes to those
> who supply GPS-road-info.
>
This is settled already. The body (a state, a province, a city) who builds
the road. The constructor of the network.

> If you're saying that forementioned institution should do so, we agree.
>
> Now, do they have a list of GPS-suppliers that need that info? How does
> one get onto that list?
>
Good grief! GPS-cartographers get this information on request.

"Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.usenet@ardane.c-o-m> kirjoitti
viestissä:6ifpo5Fqbp7qU1@mid....
>> No phone calls are necessary for updates. Cartographers have a deal with
>> the owner of the dabase to utilize it.
>
> Whose database, Markku?
> Does that database have a name?
>
Good grief! No, it doesn't exist. I have said that such a database is the
only way to provide real time information on road conditions. Got it?

"Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.usenet@ardane.c-o-m> kirjoitti
viestissä:6ifq9sFqb6ieU1@mid....
> Markku Grönroos:
>> "Erick T. Barkhuis" <erick.usenet@ardane.c-o-m> kirjoitti
>
>>>> No phone calls are necessary for updates. Cartographers have a deal
>>>> with the owner of the dabase to utilize it.
>>>
>>> Whose database, Markku?
>>> Does that database have a name?
>>>
>> Good grief! No, it doesn't exist.
>
> But cartographers still have a deal with the owner of the non-existent
> database?
>
I don't believe anything makes you understand. I have said that the only way
to provide real time information on road conditions is that the road
constructors maintain a database. We all know by now that real time
information at large is not available......... Got it?

>> I have said that such a database is the only way to provide real time
>> information on road conditions.
>
> Good grief! We agree, then. Why didn't you say so in the first place?
>
I did say so in the first place

"Alfred Molon" <alfred_molonm> kirjoitti
viestissä:MPG.232cf4fff307255998be25@news.supernew s.com...
> In my opinion these GPS units are simply *GREAT*.
>
> We bought a Magellan 1215 for the trip to France. It cost 99 Euro and
> included maps of all Western European countries.
>
> The maps were not up to date (but what can you expect for 99 Euro?) so
> that a few times we took the wrong way, but all in all the unit
> performed very well. It was simply great just keying in the destination
> and being routed to it. Without the GPS unit, it would have been a
> nightmare of stop-and-go, consulting maps, asking people on the streets
> for directions etc.
>
Perhaps the greatest single shortcoming in gps-navigation today is the road
classification. Paths passable only on foot can be routed as roads suitable
for cars. GPS is a great help even if maps are not available and routing is
not supported. You just save the current position of your hotel, your rented
car, the most interesting sights in town and you will be the winner. For
instance most parts of Africa are still unknown as far as bulk gps maps are
concerned.

"tim....." <tims_new_home.uk> kirjoitti
viestissä:6ihi6aFq1uinU1@mid....
>
>
> I meant how do they work out the route that includes it unless they know
> the time of travelling.
>
The contemporary gadget routinely re-routes......

On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 12:58:45 +0200, me2@ (Mister Bartlett) wrote:

>Martin <me@address.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 11:24:39 +0200, me2@ (Mister Bartlett)
>> wrote:
>
>> >But in the Real World (TM) that is a second order problem, as the user's
>> >maps are bought some time ago, like my own, for example, bought 5 years
>> >ago and still fine for 99% of my journeys.
>
>> The other 1% is when you really need one.
>>
>> My wife was a passenger in a car with a woman who used one to drive to the
>> next town and she got lost. The journey involves 2 right turns and one
>> left turn. Complicated or what?
>
>Mine has paid for itself many times over in reduced relationship
>counselling fees.
>
>B;
>
>p.s especially in NL where there is no topography to navigate by -
>"Drive along the flat and anonymous road until the next junction. Turn
>left into a flat and anonymous road".

There are all those helpful traffic signs like
Get in right lane
Through traffic

and the total absence of "Amsterdam" on motorway signs until north of the
Hague, on any of the main routes going north towards A'dam from the Belgian
Border, and from the Europort. So many potential Belgian visitors and so few
arrive. One bunch gave up and went home after spending an afternoon lost in the
southern suburbs of the Hague.
--

Martin

On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 11:59:38 +0100, d4g4h4.uk (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

>Mister Bartlett <me2@> wrote:
>
>> Martin <me@address.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> > On Sun, 7 Sep 2008 11:24:39 +0200, me2@ (Mister Bartlett)
>> > wrote:
>>
>> > >But in the Real World (TM) that is a second order problem, as the user's
>> > >maps are bought some time ago, like my own, for example, bought 5 years
>> > >ago and still fine for 99% of my journeys.
>>
>> > The other 1% is when you really need one.
>> >
>> > My wife was a passenger in a car with a woman who used one to drive to the
>> > next town and she got lost. The journey involves 2 right turns and one
>> > left turn. Complicated or what?
>>
>> Mine has paid for itself many times over in reduced relationship
>> counselling fees.
>
>I find my approach works very well too! :)

LOL
--

Martin