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Harvest
Occasional Visitor
Joined: Mar 23, 2008
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 1:47 pm Post subject: Initial Tom Tom 520 Go choices |
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Could experienced users recommend:-
1) I would like the unit to detect mobile speed cameras as well as fixed is the PocketGPWorld data the best available? Are the published mobile camera sites added each week?
2) Which Tom Tom PocketGPWorld database is recommended in practice and if the most detailed is a new external memory card needed?
3) Is there a list of the original Tom Tom files that should be removed after installing above database?
4)Are additional general point of interest files helpful and which data base is recommended?
5) Is it just for making file backups that Tom Tom Home is recommend not to be used?
I chose not to buy the Traffic model as my car has the basic Toyota Land Cruiser sat nav fitted which includes this. After a few years use one often finds the reported problem is not actually there which makes taking evasive action a difficult decision on motorways.
Thanks in advance for any help offered. |
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Andy_P
Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jun 04, 2005
Posts: 19991
Location: West and Southwest London
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject: Re: Initial Tom Tom 520 Go choices |
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Lots of questions!  Here's my thoughts...
| Harvest wrote: |
1) I would like the unit to detect mobile speed cameras as well as fixed is the PocketGPWorld data the best available? |
Yes. TomTom's own database is PARTICULARLY bad at mobile sites.
| Quote: | | Are the published mobile camera sites added each week? |
Not the published sites, no, as they are usually too vague, mentioning only an entire road for example. The PGPSW database uses ACTUAL SIGHTINGS. These are updated on the master database daily, but public releases are usually made fortnightly.
| Quote: |
2) Which Tom Tom PocketGPWorld database is recommended in practice and if the most detailed is a new external memory card needed? |
Whichever you prefer... The "single-file" version is quickest to set up but limited in the information it gives you. The "speed-zoned" is the most useful as it tells you the camera type and the speed limit every time. The "consolidated" only tells you the camera type. I would opt for the "speed-zoned", it takes a while to set up all the warnings (and real voice warnings if you prefer) , but you SHOULD only need to do it once (Having said that, recent software has a habit of losing the settings sometimes, so make a backup once you've got it how you like it).
It should be pointed out though that ALL versions contain EVERY camera, they are just split up in different ways.
The data files are quite small and you should not need a new memory card unless you've filled it up with loads of other stuff.
| Quote: | | 3) Is there a list of the original Tom Tom files that should be removed after installing above database? |
No NEED to remove anything. You can run both databases side-by-side (to see how poor the TomTom one is!). Alternatively, you can just switch off the alerts for the TomTom one (in the "Plus Services" menu) or if you want, you can actually delete the files (details are in one of the FAQs in the TomTom section of the forum (#13 HERE))
| Quote: | | 4)Are additional general point of interest files helpful and which data base is recommended? |
Yes, well worth it as the built-in ones on the TomTom can be pretty poor. But be aware that there is a limit of how many categories of your own POIs you can add. On a Go520 though, it is about 300 categories, so that shouldn't be a problem. (Each "category" can have thousands of individual entries). A good place to start is on this site, see HERE
| Quote: | | 5) Is it just for making file backups that Tom Tom Home is recommend not to be used? |
Some people use it as little as possible, because it is a pretty-poorly written piece of software. You only NEED to use it to download and install new maps and to download and install new software. Everything else (such as adding POIs) can be done just by copy and pasting using Windows Explorer on the PC.
As for backups, older versions of Home tended to miss off whole chunks of the data (such as the text-to-speech files) and newer versions often fail to restore backups made with earlier versions. There have been just to many issues for it to be trustworthy. |
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shadamehr
Banned
Joined: Apr 25, 2006
Posts: 507
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| Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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"Everything Andy just said"
Seriously - he sums it up spot on, and as much as all of that is what I would have wished to say, it's already been put so well.
So this is just an additional endorsement of the points he so well covered!
In other words, another member confirming the quality of the PGPSW DB compared to TomTom's poor offerings. |
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kieeee
Banned
Joined: Feb 27, 2008
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:50 am Post subject: |
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| I don't know if TomTom is a good option for gps, never used it |
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Harvest
Occasional Visitor
Joined: Mar 23, 2008
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:40 am Post subject: |
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All up and working thank you, even reported my first mobile camera site being used last Saturday in Bibury.
Small query could you advise what the following camera files do and how they should be treated:-
pocketgps uk gatso tba
pocketgps uk gatso var
pocketgps uk mobile tba
pocketgps uk pmobile tba
pocketgps uk pmobile var
pocketgps uk specs tba
Thanks again for the speedy advice |
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pcaouolte
Frequent Visitor
Joined: Dec 27, 2006
Posts: 998
Location: South Lincs, UK.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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| The ones ending in var are covering variable speed limits. The ones ending in tba are for currently unknown speed limits. For warning porposes I treat them all as 70mph. |
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Andy_P
Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: Jun 04, 2005
Posts: 19991
Location: West and Southwest London
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| Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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In other words, the "var" ones are for the specific cameras in places like the M25 and M42 traffic management sections where the speed limits (and the camera trigger speeds) are changed depending on traffic/weather conditions.
The "tba" ones are simply locations where the speed limits were not given by the people who reported the cameras (or these days more likely that DIFFERENT speed limits have been reported by the various submitters and they haven't been conclusively agreed yet). Please send in a confirmation report for any you see. |
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Harvest
Occasional Visitor
Joined: Mar 23, 2008
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 11:44 am Post subject: |
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I just downloaded the 4th Apr OV2 Speed Zoned Complete update and note that the following files are missing:
pocketgps_uk_gatso_tba.bmp
pocketgps_uk_gatso_tba.ov2
Is this normal and should the 27th March files be deleted? |
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