Don Horner
2012 Unity IB
Sorry, I really didn't mean to confuse anyone with the subject. What I want to discuss is how you program and interact with your navigation system, or, in other words, how you navigate the navigator.
I've been using DeLorme Street Atlas for more years than I care to remember, installed on my laptop and using the DeLorme Earthmate GPS antenna which plugs into the laptop. For years, it was the best system one could buy at almost any price, and expecially a good value since it costs only $79-$99 including the software and the antenna, as long as you already have a laptop.
However, I think DeLorme has been falling behind in technology and mapping accuracy, and I'm considering something else. I'd also like to have a display that's easier to see than a laptop laying on the floor between the seats.
BUT -- the great thing about DeLorme is the ability to customize a route. Like all such programs, you have a choice between the fastest route and the quickest route. DeLorme also offer the choice of a scenic route, and all of the parameters of one route or another -- speed limits, road type preferences and more, are customizable. DeLorme then offers the opportunity to force a route to a specific road, outside of any "rules" that are set, by using a "Via" point. You right-click a section of road, set the "Via" point, and the route automatically switches to that route. You can use as many vias as you like. This is similar to a waypoint on a conventional GPS, but DeLorme's understands the roads and changes the route to match the new roads.
DeLorme also offers the opportunities to plot "Stops", which function something like Vias, but are easier to spot when planning the route. You can set up Stops for each night's camping on a multi-day trip, for example.
With DeLorme, this is all very intuitive and easy to use, and I've gotten used to it. I've noticed that online mapping programs, like Expedia, MapQuest and Google, do not offer that flexibility.
What I'd like to know is whether the other navigation programs, like Garmin or Pioneer or others (at any price) offer the same flexibility in setting up a route.
I hope I made it clear as mud. let me offer an example. If I try to set up a route from Okeechobee to Zephyrhills, FL, where my daughter lives, the mapping programs claim the fastest route is all the way up to Orlando on the Turnpike and then back SW on I-4. Technically, they're correct, but a more direct route only takes about 7 minutes longer -- and saves over 40 miles plus tolls! Asking for the shortest route is little better; it is about 6 miles less than the more direct route (and 46 shorter than the Interstate route), but it adds almost 45 minutes to the direct route! It takes a bit of human knowledge and intervention to get the route that makes the most sense! DeLorme helps me do that by letting me "force" my desired route; I wonder if the other ones will do it.
Of course, after I praise DeLorme while I'm setting up the route, I get frustrated with it on the road when the inaccuracies in the road location have it shouting at me, "Off Route!".
I've been using DeLorme Street Atlas for more years than I care to remember, installed on my laptop and using the DeLorme Earthmate GPS antenna which plugs into the laptop. For years, it was the best system one could buy at almost any price, and expecially a good value since it costs only $79-$99 including the software and the antenna, as long as you already have a laptop.
However, I think DeLorme has been falling behind in technology and mapping accuracy, and I'm considering something else. I'd also like to have a display that's easier to see than a laptop laying on the floor between the seats.
BUT -- the great thing about DeLorme is the ability to customize a route. Like all such programs, you have a choice between the fastest route and the quickest route. DeLorme also offer the choice of a scenic route, and all of the parameters of one route or another -- speed limits, road type preferences and more, are customizable. DeLorme then offers the opportunity to force a route to a specific road, outside of any "rules" that are set, by using a "Via" point. You right-click a section of road, set the "Via" point, and the route automatically switches to that route. You can use as many vias as you like. This is similar to a waypoint on a conventional GPS, but DeLorme's understands the roads and changes the route to match the new roads.
DeLorme also offers the opportunities to plot "Stops", which function something like Vias, but are easier to spot when planning the route. You can set up Stops for each night's camping on a multi-day trip, for example.
With DeLorme, this is all very intuitive and easy to use, and I've gotten used to it. I've noticed that online mapping programs, like Expedia, MapQuest and Google, do not offer that flexibility.
What I'd like to know is whether the other navigation programs, like Garmin or Pioneer or others (at any price) offer the same flexibility in setting up a route.
I hope I made it clear as mud. let me offer an example. If I try to set up a route from Okeechobee to Zephyrhills, FL, where my daughter lives, the mapping programs claim the fastest route is all the way up to Orlando on the Turnpike and then back SW on I-4. Technically, they're correct, but a more direct route only takes about 7 minutes longer -- and saves over 40 miles plus tolls! Asking for the shortest route is little better; it is about 6 miles less than the more direct route (and 46 shorter than the Interstate route), but it adds almost 45 minutes to the direct route! It takes a bit of human knowledge and intervention to get the route that makes the most sense! DeLorme helps me do that by letting me "force" my desired route; I wonder if the other ones will do it.
Of course, after I praise DeLorme while I'm setting up the route, I get frustrated with it on the road when the inaccuracies in the road location have it shouting at me, "Off Route!".