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Old 05-07-2017, 04:10 PM   #121
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Even the best GPS can steer you wrong.

Two years ago I was driving a rental car in England, using my own GPS (they call them SatNavs over there). Before leaving home, I made sure to update all the UK maps on it.

Well, driving through the Lake District, it routed me through smaller and smaller roads, until finally it told me to turn down a lane that was just barely wide enough for the car, no shoulders, just crops growing on one side and a drystone wall on the other.

Normally I expect the GPS to send me on the quickest way but this was clearly beyond the pale. Fortunately there was a well dressed woman in her garden nearby and I asked her how to get to XYZ Inn where we had a reservation.

She looked at me for a moment, then said "Are you using SatNav?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Well, don't."

Then she kindly gave me good directions to the place. It made me realize that when you're far from a decent sized city, you have to take the GPS routing with a grain of salt.
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Old 05-07-2017, 04:16 PM   #122
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But at least GPS maps are being updated and you can have the most updated map -- updated, not necessarily the most accurate.

Yeah of course we all dealt with paper maps back in the day. I've even taken some from AAA.

However, you have to unfold them and then locate where you are relative to your destination all the time.

No way that beats a GPS showing you where you are centered on the screen, which you can pinch-zoom in and out.

No doubt GPS routing can be wrong sometimes, especially in some relatively unknown places.
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Old 05-07-2017, 06:17 PM   #123
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We just drove from Phoenix to the Chicago area. I wanted to take old Rte 66 whenever possible. The GPS really didn't help much there because it wanted to take me the fastest route. I had paper maps and a book with turn by turn directions that DW read to me. Simple.
The ability to enter my own route in a computer and download to GPS would have been great for this.

The GPS was great in finding our hotel each night, restaurants, gas stations, etc.
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Old 05-07-2017, 06:52 PM   #124
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Roundabouts are way more efficient than intersections.

If you hit the right traffic flow, you only have to slow down, not come to a full stop, to get through what would have been an intersection.
+1. They're called "Rotaries" around here and they're everywhere. Traffic moves around them much more efficiently than intersections.
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Old 05-07-2017, 09:11 PM   #125
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Google Maps on my Android phone works fine for me in the US and Canada. And it worked pretty well in Berlin, Prague and London. The main problem in Europe was in using it for transit and walking directions. The offline maps only work for driving directions, not mass transit or walking. So sometimes, usually bigger travel days, I had to turn on the ripoff $10 a day Verizon wireless service. Wi-fi worked fine for phone and text messaging and internet, but the GPS cost a bit.
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Old 05-08-2017, 08:30 AM   #126
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I now have maps from both Google Map and MAPS.ME loaded on my phone for the long Europe trip. There are of course differences between the two maps, although they both have good coverage of streets and highways.

Here in the US, MAPS.ME does not have street addresses of my home area, only the streets. But it has street addresses in Europe, at least of the towns I will be visiting. Google does also.

However, I had problems locating some apartments that I rented on Airbnb. Some of the addresses are recognized by neither apps. I could locate the streets, but the house number could not be found. I had to do a bit of sleuthing such as using Google Street View to look at address plates affixed to the facade of homes. In one town, the tiny and crooked pedestrian street of the rental flat is more like an alley than a street, and Google misses it altogether, yet MAPS.ME has it. Very interesting.

By the way, as I need to find places to park the rental car, the only tool useful for that is Google Street View. I use it to "tour" the neighborhood, looking for street parking which may be 1/2 mile from the lodging.
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Old 05-08-2017, 08:37 AM   #127
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The GPS on my phone got me out of a pinch the other day. Meeting friends at an out of town restaurant and my Garmin was acting quirky. Darn thing has a tough time getting going after a long deep sleep. But my phone worked great so nice having it as a backup.
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Old 05-08-2017, 08:45 AM   #128
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I now have maps from both Google Map and MAPS.ME loaded on my phone for the long Europe trip. There are of course differences between the two maps, although they both have good coverage of streets and highways.

Here in the US, MAPS.ME does not have street addresses of my home area, only the streets. But it has street addresses in Europe, at least of the towns I will be visiting. Google does also. ....
Also try Here-We-Go - offline maps, and I think better detail than the open source maps used by MAPS.ME (note, you can edit the open source maps and add the details you need, and they will be shared with all).

https://wego.here.com/?x=ep&map=41.8...9218,13,normal

I find it helpful to run Here-We-Go on line when you have wifi to get destinations, it has access to mre detail online, then it will remember those offline.

-ERD50
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Old 05-08-2017, 10:16 AM   #129
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We're using the phone GPS more and more these days. Especially since it talks to my watch which taps me on the wrist with the rhythm of a turn signal right when I get to the turn, which is nice because it resolves a lot of ambiguity about exactly which turn. And I can talk to my watch and tell it to route me somewhere. And glance at my wrist to see how close to the next turn.
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Old 05-08-2017, 10:18 AM   #130
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In fact, if you're shopping for a nicer car, you're often stuck taking a package which includes Navigation systems.

These are often inferior or use and have outdated maps. Dealer tries to gouge you for hundreds of dollars to update the maps.
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Old 05-08-2017, 10:22 AM   #131
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In fact, if you're shopping for a nicer car, you're often stuck taking a package which includes Navigation systems.

These are often inferior or use and have outdated maps. Dealer tries to gouge you for hundreds of dollars to update the maps.
When I was looking for a used car, I specifically wanted a car without a navigation system. Thanks, but no thanks. Happy with my old portable Nuvi with lifetime map updates which I paid a one time $100 subscription cost.
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Old 05-08-2017, 11:08 AM   #132
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I just bought a new car, and one of the main reasons/excuses for doing it was to get Android Auto in the dashboard display--which means Google Maps on that nice big screen instead of the Ford navigation system. And I set it up for my 83-year-old father in *his* new car that also is Android Auto capable, and he adores it.

(Android Auto also has lots of other cool features, but for this thread, I'm just talking about the Google Maps stuff)
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Old 05-08-2017, 11:09 AM   #133
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The GPS on my phone got me out of a pinch the other day. Meeting friends at an out of town restaurant and my Garmin was acting quirky. Darn thing has a tough time getting going after a long deep sleep. But my phone worked great so nice having it as a backup.
The phone which is always on has the advantage over a dedicated GPS. To determine its position, the receiver must have time accurate to a few nanoseconds in order to measure the time-of-arrival of GPS satellite signals. Even if the phone is blocked from GPS signals momentarily, it still gets its time sync'ed to the cellular network.

A dedicated GPS that has been turned off needs to get its time sync'ed, and also to update the satellite ephemerides which may take several minutes. A phone continually updates GPS ephemerides, whether you are using the function or not.

Quote:
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Also try Here-We-Go - offline maps, and I think better detail than the open source maps used by MAPS.ME (note, you can edit the open source maps and add the details you need, and they will be shared with all).

https://wego.here.com/?x=ep&map=41.8...9218,13,normal

I find it helpful to run Here-We-Go on line when you have wifi to get destinations, it has access to mre detail online, then it will remember those offline.

-ERD50
I just tried this on my laptop and liked it. As a test, I asked it what buses to take to go from a countryside villa into Siena downtown. It gave me 3 different routes. Impressive!

I will not be using public transportation much on this trip, but if it works this well off-line on a phone, it is definitely something to have.
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Smart phone in lieu of dedicated GPS unit?
Old 05-08-2017, 11:46 AM   #134
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Smart phone in lieu of dedicated GPS unit?

Phone worked fine for me yesterday. We were cruising old Route 66 and we got temporarily misplaced in some little towns. The phone map got me back on track. I knew the general direction we needed to go, but the phone map showed the best route out. We didn't bring the garmin because we didn't think we needed it.
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Old 05-08-2017, 11:57 AM   #135
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...

(Android Auto also has lots of other cool features, but for this thread, I'm just talking about the Google Maps stuff)
Could you tell me more about Android-Auto (maybe start a new thread if too far off from this subject)?

I just bought a car with it, and I thought I could 'mirror' my Android phone to the car's display, but it seems to only want to 'see' these specific apps that can be selected from the car display, like Google Maps and some music/radio apps. But (as mentioned earlier), I really like the "Here-We-Go" navigation app on my phone and tablet (works off-line, so I don't use up data). DW can sign in on her phone, and our destinations are all synced.

But I can't get my car to display "Here-We-Go", the phone pretty much goes blank when connected to Android Auto.

I've tried searching the Android forums, but get bogged down in so much side info I can't see the forest for the trees.

-ERD50
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Old 05-08-2017, 12:00 PM   #136
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We're using the phone GPS more and more these days. Especially since it talks to my watch which taps me on the wrist with the rhythm of a turn signal right when I get to the turn, which is nice because it resolves a lot of ambiguity about exactly which turn. And I can talk to my watch and tell it to route me somewhere. And glance at my wrist to see how close to the next turn.
My Garmin speaks to me when the next turn is coming. My $50 dash camera has lane departure avoidance and collision avoidance warnings. That camera keeps video clips of my trip. All hands free!
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Old 05-08-2017, 12:30 PM   #137
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Could you tell me more about Android-Auto (maybe start a new thread if too far off from this subject)?

I just bought a car with it, and I thought I could 'mirror' my Android phone to the car's display, but it seems to only want to 'see' these specific apps that can be selected from the car display, like Google Maps and some music/radio apps. But (as mentioned earlier), I really like the "Here-We-Go" navigation app on my phone and tablet (works off-line, so I don't use up data). DW can sign in on her phone, and our destinations are all synced.

But I can't get my car to display "Here-We-Go", the phone pretty much goes blank when connected to Android Auto.

I've tried searching the Android forums, but get bogged down in so much side info I can't see the forest for the trees.

-ERD50
Android Auto is not intended to be a mirror of your phone display, it's designed to be an abbreviated easy-to-read interface that can be operated with minimal distraction while driving. By the way, you can use the interface entirely on your phone even if your car doesn't have built in support just by downloading the app and starting it up when you get into the car (or set it to auto start whenever your phone connects via blue-tooth to your car).

At this time, Android Auto will only use Google Maps for navigation. Waze is in a beta right now, and it'll be the next one they add. Maybe if there are enough user requests they'll allow some non-Google-owned navs to interface with it, but the Here-We-Go app developer would have to create a compatible app first.

Google doesn't seem to feel as much ownership over audio apps, so there are several that work with it.
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Old 05-08-2017, 01:14 PM   #138
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Google Maps got me through all of Mexico back in the day. I was being che...frugal and didn't want to drop a couple benjamin's on a GPS with Mexico loaded. It only didn't have a brand new quota road just west of Monterrey. Looked like I was driving off road for a few miles. The nice folks at the toll booth allowed me to make a U-turn on the highway..
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Old 05-08-2017, 02:01 PM   #139
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Android Auto is not intended to be a mirror of your phone display, it's designed to be an abbreviated easy-to-read interface that can be operated with minimal distraction while driving. By the way, you can use the interface entirely on your phone even if your car doesn't have built in support just by downloading the app and starting it up when you get into the car (or set it to auto start whenever your phone connects via blue-tooth to your car).

At this time, Android Auto will only use Google Maps for navigation. Waze is in a beta right now, and it'll be the next one they add. Maybe if there are enough user requests they'll allow some non-Google-owned navs to interface with it, but the Here-We-Go app developer would have to create a compatible app first.

Google doesn't seem to feel as much ownership over audio apps, so there are several that work with it.

What she said. Also, a big part of the AA connectivity with your dash display is being able to use the car's built-in voice activation system to issue your commands, without having to say "OK Google" or shout so that your phone can hear you. Just press the button on the steering wheel and say "Where are the nearest gas stations along my route?" and some such.

Plus, it also reads your text messages aloud and allows you to reply by voice, or send a new one to one of your contacts. Ditto with Google Hangouts and Facebook Messenger (and probably others).

I wish they would get an app that displays the current radar for your location, that's what I really miss.

Happy to move to another thread to talk more about it, if folks wish.
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Old 05-08-2017, 03:31 PM   #140
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I used to use the Rand McNally Road Atlas but now I use my iphone and google maps. I don't have to buy the atlas any more. Google maps have worked well for me.
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