Route planning is just so slow!

Onyx · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 4:33 pm Post subject: Route planning is just so slow!

Hi folks.

I recently picked up a second hand iPAQ 3970 (including CF expansion jacket) with a Haicom GPS unit and TomTom 2. I had a bit of fun setting it up, but once I had got a locked GPS signal it all seemed straight forward and I used it to get me home from the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The kit only turned up just before I set off, so I had to charge it up and install it that night at the hotel.

Once back home again I started having a good look through all the options and familiarising myself with TomTom. I regularly travel from Norwich to Sheffielf and will soon be making a trip from Norwich to Chester, so I thought I'd plot those routes and see what it recommended. This is where I noticed the problem! Trying to calc Norwich to Chester just never seemed to finish. I left it for well over an hour and it still hadn't got half way! Having read some advice on here I decided to start from scratch and so hard reset the iPAQ, formatted the memory card, installed TomTom and then patched it to 2.24. I even borrowed a friend's Kingston SD card to try in place of my Lexar SD card (S/N: BQ3EC004646). There was a noticable increase in speed after starting from scratch, but nothing like what I believe I should be getting. Caculating from Norwich to Sheffield now takes 12 minutes. Surely that's not right? I tried Norwich to Chester again, but got bored after 15 mins! Because I'm doing this sat in the house I don't have the GPS unit attached and am just using the A-B button to plan the route.

I just can't work out what is wrong. Could it be that both SD cards are problem cards or is there something else that is causing the route planner to crawl along? Clearly this isn't much use to me if I have to sit and wait so long for the system to come up with the route! I have a feeling that because of the location of Norwich that planning routes from here takes a little longer than a normal route, but surely not that long. Just done a test from Oxford St (London W1) to Leighton Ln (Leeds LS1) and it took about 45 seconds.

Any ideas?

Robin2 · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 5:02 pm Post subject:

Something must be wrong! I tried the same, an A - B calculation from Norwich to Chester and it took just over 10 seconds, 210.8 miles, 3:50 hours estimated journey time. (I am using TTN3, which is slightly faster than TTN2, but not that much)
I can only suggest you might be using a crummy SD card (? Sandisk)
Robin

Onyx · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 6:17 pm Post subject:

10 seconds? Oh how I wish for speeds like that! 10 minutes is normal for me.

The two cards I'm using right now are...

128MB Lexar - BQ3EC004646
128MB Kingston - 0326 TA4713H

The more I read the more I suspect it is the card, but these two cards both seem to fir the criteria for an okay card (Made in Japan, correct type of s/n, decent brands). I'm puzzled!

Robin2 · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 6:53 pm Post subject:

David W has information on most available cards, and he may post a reply later. But those both sound like reputable brands, and I thought all Japanese were OK Mine (Fujifilm) said made in Japan on the box, but reading on the back of the card itself it says made in Taiwan - but it seems to work OK
Robin

Darren · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 7:18 pm Post subject:

Might be worth scanning the cards with Storage Tools available in our downloads section, better still format them and re-install the map. Get it here.
_________________
Darren Griffin

clivers · Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2004 7:38 pm Post subject:

have you applied the SD card fix to your IPAQ?

http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/HandheldiPAQ/us/download/19632.html

it may help speed it up if you've done a hard reset

Onyx · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 12:39 am Post subject:

Both cards specifically state 'Made in Japan' on them, but I wasn't aware of the SD card update. Thanks Clivers - will download now and see what happens. Forums like this really are invaluable!

Fingers crossed Wink

Onyx · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 1:04 am Post subject:

Oh and I did indeed scan them with Storage Tools and format them fresh before putting the map on. Barely made a difference Sad

Have installed the SD card fix and it's currently plotting the troublesome Norwich to Chester route. It's been going 11 mins and has just 60 miles to go. That may not seem good, but it's infinitely better than before where it still had much further to go after well over an hour!

Yet more clues are pointing at the SD card. I guess it's time to splash out on a decent one. Sure would appreciate some advice from David W on what to look for in the 128/256 MB range.

Onyx · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 1:34 am Post subject:

It eventually came in at just over 20 mins for the once impossible route to Chester, so a big improvement, although not really the 10-20 seconds it should take! It's a start though, so thank you clivers! The drop-down menus in the 'plan route' section are also much quicker now taking around 2-3 seconds for the 'city' list to appear and then the roads list is instant. Before this was about 15 seconds for 'city' and then about 10 for sroads. A big improvement, so recommended for anyone experiencng slow calc speeds.

Just plotted a brighton to macnchester route (260 miles) in about 5 seconds, so things are really much improved!

Lost1 · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 3:57 am Post subject:

Onyx,

Just a thought, check to see what type of route you are trying to calculate.

If it is set to "Shortest route" this can take a very long time for long distance routes because Tomtom is supposed to check all roads between the two points. It is ok for short routes but the type of distances you are looking at realy need to be planned with the setting set to "Quickest route".

If it turns out to be a SD card problem I am sure that when you get a "good one" you will find that Tomtom becomes invaluable even for a well known short journey. In fact this is possibly one of the best ways of getting used to Tomtom.

Good luck Thumbs Up

_________________
iPAQ 1940, Pocket PC2003, BT TTN5

MrT · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 8:35 am Post subject:

I cannot get anywhere near 10s from Norwich to Chester whatever my settings and trying several SD cards. I also get a route of 240 miles not 210. TT3 3.04 analyses over 200,000 roads in calculating the route and I cannot see my PDA running TT analysing 20,000 roads per second.

HP5550
TT3.04
Panasonic 1GB SD or HP 256MB SD.
UK Map
Default settings

The_Pilgrim · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 10:05 am Post subject:

Hi Onyx

I took Davidw advice and got a panasonic made SD card
the differance is astounding.

I Emailed sales@valueflash.co.uk and asked them which Panasonic cards the had.They mailed back within 30 minutes and they had my order 15 minutes after that.

The Pilgrim

Onyx · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 10:41 pm Post subject:

Have done more digging around today and it would seem that the difference between a 32x or 'high speed' card is significantly more than a standard card. I think the standard read/write speeds are something like 3MB/2MB aginst the high speed of 10MB/9MB, so not surprised these more expensive cards give much faster times.

With the SD card fix apllied - mentioned above - my system is at least bearable now, but I'll be getting one of these high speed cards ordered ASAP.

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