Notices

Hi,

I've been using Maemo Mapper in the car for a couple of days and have some feedback (and some ideas) on how it functions in that environment. I am using an i-Blue PS-737 and do auto-updates of routes via a Treo GPRS connection.

I've previously only used a CoPilot on an old O2 XDA and also just loaded Nokia's navigation software onto a N61 and used that with the i-Blue. While I haven't tested the Nokia navigation sofware thoroughly it looks very good AND it is free to download. It picked up Australian maps over the 3G connection on the N61 and also showed POIs.

With Mapper I found that in the car the status alerts were difficult to follow because they overlayed each other and appeared and disappeared. It would be good to extend the GPS status screen to show information such as the speed, distance to next waypoint, an arrow showing the turn for the next waypoint. This information is all available in Mapper already but you need to go to multiple menus or keys to get it. In the car it would be great to have it shown all the time. Maybe a toggle key could be used that toggles between the current GPS info -> extended status screen -> back to the map?

The other area is the dynamic updating of the routes. It would be good to be able to simply enter a destination into Mapper and have it assume that the origin is the current GPS location and that auto-update was required. Something like a shortcut button?

Finally, the voice alerts are great. However, under auto-update they can get out of sync. Perhaps when Mapper detects that you have strayed off the defined route it could stop announcing untill the new route has been downloaded?

Cheers,
Andrew

After some more trips using Mapper I have found that it stacks up very well for use as a navigator in the car. However, I'd love to have the ability to

(1) Just enter a destination and have Mapper navigate to that location without entering anything other than the destination address. When you are in the car this would mean just entering an address hitting select.

(2) Be able to easily reverse a route. Have I missed this option in Mapper? ie I went to a golf course today :-) and wanted to simply return home using Mapper. This required me to download a new route.

I am really keen to use Mapper so my feedback is not intended to be negative! Just keen to see the in-car ease of use enhanced if possible?

Currently, the autocompletion in the "Download Route" dialog box is the only mechanism by which old addresses can be recalled. There might be a better mechanism in the future, but for now, that's all there is. And it's not horrible, it usually only takes a couple characters before your entry is displayed as an auto-completion option. Unfortunately, though, you have to use the up/down/select hardware buttons; you can't use the stylus to select an auto-completion option. That's out of my hands - it might be a bug in maemo.

It sounds easy enough, but simply reversing a route--while it may be enough to get you home--will screw up a lot of the direction information. For example, in cities, a reverse route will have you going the wrong way on one-way roads, or on the wrong side of a medianed road. Plus, all the text directions (i.e. "Turn left on Main Street. Go 0.5 miles.") will be completely wrong.

So you have to download a new route; there's no getting around it. You just have to remember to download it (in addition to the non-reversed route) before you leave. You can always save each of the routes as a separate GPX file and load them as you need them.

Suggestions are always appreciated!

a reverse direction option would be nice. I often forget to download the way back when entering a route. Since the unit already has the current position and the destination, a simple check box for reverse directions to be downloaded would be great. An autosave of routes function would be cool too.