Alturion GPS 6 Reviewed

markblades · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 25, 2005 Posts: 16

Hi:

The saga continue. Navteq say that the ferry terminals are on the map but con't say whether the ferry routes are. I am not sure if the routes are coded by the gps software or the map data.

anybody any ideas?

mark

peterweg · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 06, 2005 Posts: 68

Is that such a bad thing. I book my ferry ticket first and would plot my route to the ferry terminal. I wouldn't want the routing software to decide which terminal I was departing from. Ports also tend to have several differing terminals and you want to make damn sure you are given directions to the correct one.

Darren · Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 2:48 pm Post subject:

I would have to agree, regardless of whether there is an optimum route encompassing a ferry crossing (i.e. Portsmouth-Caen or Dover-Calais) I tend to decice on other factors such as cost, sailing times etc. So personally I really don't see this as an issue. Certainly better than TomTom which in one area attempts to guide you on a route via a ferry thatr has been a pedestrian only route for decades!!
_________________
Darren Griffin

bda1153

I have downloaded the trial of Trip Companion as noted at the end of the Alturion review.

Has anyone got Alturion to show speed cameras from the PocketGPS camera database.

The relevant files are in the same place as the uk map and Trip Computer is flagged as enabled plugin, but no cameras show up.

markblades · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 25, 2005 Posts: 16

Having used the software now for a couple of weeks I am less than impressed. Both the desktop and pocket pc versions of the software are unstable and prone to crash without warning.

On the desktop, the interface is slow to update, clunky and not al functions appear to work as stated in the manual (eg. Trying to add a favourite by right clicking the map to choosing a destination, then adding to favourites using the FAV button does not appear to be implemented, though the FAV button is present. (I am using an Athlon 64 based desktop with 2GB of RAM, Fast HardDrive and Radeon 9800 Pro graphiccs card so I don't think this is a hardware limitation).

On the PPC (HP4700 with NAVMAN BT4100 GPS mouse) The software is quite temperamental crashing mid route is irritatingly common.

Contrast this with memory map which runs happily for hours without hanging whle I'm rambling.

If anyone has advice regarding fixing the stability problems I would love to hear.

regards

MArk

bda1153 · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:17 am Post subject:

Not had a problem with it crashing on desktop (P4 3ghz 512mb ram) or PDA (Ipaq HX4700), however I agree it is slow. especially when updating.

Latest update downloaded, removed copy from PDA as requested and it now refuses to reload onto PDA, - waiting for a response from their support.

Also despite the review the Pocket GPS World camera database does not work with this product. I am still waiting for joval.nl who supply the plugin to release a desktop application to build your own files out of an online database. This was only going to be a few days, but that was 3 weeks ago.

The ability to set up routes from the desktop version is very useful, especially when having numerous waypoints.

AutoMedia · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 6

I too have just bought Alturion Pro on the basis of what seemed like a rave review here and I have to say I'm very disappointed. I want to use this on a PC - I have no interest in the PPC version - but it seems very unstable. It can take 30 minutes to calculate a simple route sometimes (although other times just a few seconds); the Find Address dialog is completely greyed out in my installation; it seems impossible to remove a roadbloack once it has been entered; having set a roadblock, Alturion will still plot a route through the roadblock. Several times I've had to terminate it with Task manager because it went unresponsive. This all using the latest updated version. I'm waiting to see what their support people have to say, but right now this does not seem to be of merchantable quality to me.

bda1153 · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:49 pm Post subject: Alturion Pro problems

I had the same problem with the greyed out dialog box, but found that I had not loaded a map. Try the 'Manage Map Data' icon on the left hand side. If there is not map loaded then you cannot find addresses. a mistake I made.

Not had a problem calculating, just done one from Kent to the Midlands with 5 waypoints and it only takes a few seconds. Can't comment on the roadblock as I have not tried this yet.

Another point is that you have to click to drop down the relevant box in 'Find Address before' you can start typing the town, postcode or street name.

AutoMedia · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 6

Hmm. I've got the UK, Ireland and France maps loaded and Find Address is greyed out. I did find that I can remove the roadblocks by deleting a couple of files and re-starting the application.

Find Address did work before I did the online update, but it does not now.

Maybe the roadblock greatly increases the routing calculation time. If so, then I'd lose a feature I really want.

Mike.

bda1153 · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 6:18 pm Post subject:

I had the same problem after the last update and having removed Alturion from my PDA to allow the latest version to be installed it refused to load so I went back to my original disc. I then found I had not got a map loaded so presumed this was the case when I updated. I have currently removed autoupdate.

kbbrux · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 11:43 am Post subject:

Hello (first post)
I must admit I am a bit dissappointed with this software from Alturion, after the fantastic review here.
After doing everything by the book..Nothing worked (pda froze) I then resorted to trouble shooting, searching through support articles and re-installing a hotfix this worked (although it is a little hidden in the website)

After the performing AutoUpdate to the latest build 6.0.1.036 I had more problems and eventually gave up after reseting my pda more times than I can remember.

Although I do like the interface and its responsiveness and cross-border functionality. I do feel it is not as intuitive as say TomTom. OK TomTom you still have to switch maps when you are in another country zone but a small price to pay for GPS stability and routing. I also use Navigon on occasion for such journeys.

If Alturion can do something quick about this I am sure they are in a good position to change the market of GPS software.

Suggestion: Can the PocketGPS team setup a topic area covering just Alturion Software, I am sure that if the product is in this shape it is bound to generate some more posts Smile

I am more than happy to share my experience with other users out there

Ta
Kbbrux

Device
MDA Compact 112.WWE ROM
TomTom Bluetooth GPS

Darren · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:55 pm Post subject:

AutoMedia · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 6

Can't find an Alturion forum yet...

Anyway, three+ working days now since I emailed Alturion and EasyDevices and no reply from either. Not what I call a quick response.

Since version 6.0.1.0036 is unworkable, I can regress to 6.0.1.20 as on the DVD; however, the POI tab is missing from the workspace pane; 'Find Address' is implemented quite strangely; you have to select the drop-down list then scroll or type the name you want. It would be much better just to be able to type in the edit box. Postcode searh only operates on the first 5 characters of the postcode.

On more minor niggles, the scale displayed around the map is not quite right. If you zoom, you can get it to mark the axes:

0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 etc!

Other times, the markings seem to be in multiples of some bizarre number like 753m - presumably what you get when you divide the width of the displayed map by 10. This is daft.

Probably a mapping issue, but roads are displayed depending on their importance and the level of zoom. This is a reasonable idea, but a lot of the time roards seem to change importance for some distance and then change back, so at some zoom levels you get a gap in the road. This makes it quite hard to read the maps as you have to fiddle with the scale to be able both to make the road visible and also to see enough of the area, which can be contradictory requirements.

I do hope to get a response from Alturion soon...

Mike.

Darren · Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:33 am Post subject:

AutoMedia · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 12, 2005 Posts: 6

Has anyone had any success with the Alturion SDK on the Desktop application? I've tried several of their sample apps and have not managed to make them work.

Mike.

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