News - QOTW: has your Sat Nav ever led you astray?

[kalniel]

The problem with many SatNavs IMO is that they try to take which way you go out of your hands - e.g. they try to give directions but have little flexibility over which route you want to take.

I thought they all could recalculate on the fly? So you just go the way you want and they'll adjust.

[chrestomanci]

But the sat nav companies are missing a big business here as dedicated sat navs for HGV with , road weights , bridge heights / weights , road widths etc would make them a LOT of money !.

I heard a radio interview the other day from the boss of company that make tech for the HGV industry.

He said that they would love to make such a device, and there are plenty of haulage companies (and bus companies) who would be willing to pay for it. The problem is that they can't get the info with any reliability.

The major suppliers of GIS data (Navteq, the Ordnance survey) just report bridge heights and weight limits where there are warning signs, and they only appear on major routes and if the council think it is worth it. They almost never appear on minor roads and residential streets, but that is the kind of info many transport companies need. If you are going to delver a mail order washing machine it a 10 ton HGV, then it is worth knowing if one route into the housing estate has a width restriction so you need to go the other way. Same if you are delivering some pallet to a business unit on a farm in the back of beyond.

[Noli]

I heard a radio interview the other day from the boss of company that make tech for the HGV industry.

He said that they would love to make such a device, and there are plenty of haulage companies (and bus companies) who would be willing to pay for it. The problem is that they can't get the info with any reliability.

Snooper make sat navs for lorries. You can input your vehicle width, height and weight and it will not route you over/under bridges, down roads etc that are not suitable for your vehicle. I think it is called 'truckmaster' or something. You can turn lorry mode off and it will go into car mode so you use it in your car without the restrictions too.

[miniyazz]

I thought they all could recalculate on the fly? So you just go the way you want and they'll adjust.

That may well be for the 'proper' Sat Navs - however IMO there should be the capability to sort out your route before starting it.

[crossy]

(I heard a radio interview the other day from the boss of company that make tech for the HGV industry. He said that they would love to make such a device, and there are plenty of haulage companies (and bus companies) who would be willing to pay for it. The problem is that they can't get the info with any reliability.) Snooper make sat navs for lorries. You can input your vehicle width, height and weight and it will not route you over/under bridges, down roads etc that are not suitable for your vehicle. I think it is called 'truckmaster' or something. You can turn lorry mode off and it will go into car mode so you use it in your car without the restrictions too.

ALK too - see http://www.copilotlive.com/uk/truck/ and it supports a good selection of platforms too - (Windows, WinMo, iOS, Android).

[crossy]

(Kaniel said "I thought they all could recalculate on the fly? So you just go the way you want and they'll adjust.") That may well be for the 'proper' Sat Navs - however IMO there should be the capability to sort out your route before starting it.

Both Google Maps (free on my Android phone) and CoPilot recalculate on-the-fly the way Kaniel says.

If I pick you up right, what you're asking for is an editable preview of the route - with most I've seen you can do this, to an extent, by setting up a multi-waypoint journey. Google Maps (tablet version) shows a selection of routes you can pick from, but it doesn't support those multi-waypoint journeys. CoPilot, on the other hand, does - and also allows you to say that you want to avoid a particular road ("Detour" option). I'm sure one of my earlier Nav apps - can't remember whether it was the older CoPilot or the one I had on the Nokia 770 - allowed you to show a map and define stops by pointing, before rearranging into a sensible route.

As I've said before, Google Maps is great if you want a once-a-year or a very basic routing. On the other hand, if your demands are a bit greater then it's possibly worth spending £20-30 on a "proper" Nav app. IMHO of course.

Edit: just tried the latest version of Google Maps for the desktop (http://maps.google.com) - the WebGL version - and that allows you to "hand edit" your routing by moving the "nodes" of the route around - it's really quite a nice feature (if you need it).

[wasabi]

Yep. Mine decided to take me to the right street in the wrong town when in France on my motorbike last year. Cheapy satnav off ebuyer so shouldn't have expected much. Lesson learned. Best option for bike touring IMO is a netbook with autoroute on it. Stop every couple of hours, write the roads you plan to take on paper and stick it somewhere.

[miniyazz]

Both Google Maps (free on my Android phone) and CoPilot recalculate on-the-fly the way Kaniel says.

If I pick you up right, what you're asking for is an editable preview of the route - with most I've seen you can do this, to an extent, by setting up a multi-waypoint journey. Google Maps (tablet version) shows a selection of routes you can pick from, but it doesn't support those multi-waypoint journeys. CoPilot, on the other hand, does - and also allows you to say that you want to avoid a particular road ("Detour" option). I'm sure one of my earlier Nav apps - can't remember whether it was the older CoPilot or the one I had on the Nokia 770 - allowed you to show a map and define stops by pointing, before rearranging into a sensible route.

As I've said before, Google Maps is great if you want a once-a-year or a very basic routing. On the other hand, if your demands are a bit greater then it's possibly worth spending £20-30 on a "proper" Nav app. IMHO of course.

Edit: just tried the latest version of Google Maps for the desktop (http://maps.google.com) - the WebGL version - and that allows you to "hand edit" your routing by moving the "nodes" of the route around - it's really quite a nice feature (if you need it).

You're quite right - just had a look at CoPilot and it does look like it allows you to play with the route. If I wasn't such a cheapskate I'd probably even buy it

Yup, the Google Maps actions available on desktop is exactly what I want the mobile version to do! I can at least have a scale on the mobile map now

[MrBozack]

In my home town, the GPS for everything is around 500 metres out of position. Delivery drivers are always lost! )

[MrRobin]

No, never. The verbal instructions can sometimes be ambiguous but other than that it's very reliable when coupled with common sense and reading the road, as d1ck0 said.

[HSK]

I tend to use google navigation alot, which I do like - but it has its bad points (quite a few) one of the main ones being, not knowing when a road is restricted etc.

So a couple of times, i've highlighted and reported the problems on the desktop version...never heard back from them though? lol I'll see in the future if the routing has changed.

[jonathan_phang]

I tend to use SatNavs as a thing to reaffirm that I am on track, rather than just following it. By that I mean I will look up the route of something in general (what M-Ways, or notice that I go past a few major roundabouts etc) on Google maps, then use the Satnav display to ensure that I am where I want to be. Rarely just listen to it, but when I have, never been led astray.

In terms of the routing, I remember on the old version of Nokia Maps that you could plan your journey offline (well, it was online, but offline from in the car), and add waypoints so that you could store a route. Then when you synchronised, then you could have that, if there was a particular way you always wanted to go. Was a good feature and gives you that piece of mind that you are going where you have decided.

JP

[Jay]

I love my satnav, without it I would still be lost on a road somewhere.

[McPhee]

Thanks to Google Maps I stumbled on to the Welbeck Estate last year, right in to a garden party being hosted by William Parente. What I thought was a road (and Google Maps showed as a road) was, in fact, a private drive. Luckily they were a reasonable bunch. Thought I was going to get arrested or something, but the head of security just asked to see the map, then offered me a ride to the other end of the estate.

The thing is, it's only been a private residence since 2005. Before that it was owned by the MoD. What the hell was Google Maps doing marking the roads through it as public roads? I can imagine I'd have been in considerably more trouble if I'd stumbled on to an MoD base...

EDIT: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...-8&sa=N&tab=wl

That's where I was. The building labelled as 'Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College' was labelled as Welbeck Abbey last year (and is where I got caught). I was heading back up towards Worksop. All that land from the A60 to the College Pines Golf Course is private.