Why Checkpoint if you have TTN5?

[Tony Bond]

I cannot now find it, but remember seeing in this forum a question from someone who asked whether there was anything to be gained by installing Checkpoint if one had TTN5 since this program has built in voice alerts for approaching POIs and I seem to recollect Dave agreeing there was nothing to be gained. I have TTN3 and am waiting for TomTom to allow upgrades to TTN5 this spring so, ahead of that, should be grateful if anyone can please confirm my understanding as above. Will TTN5 automatically provide advance audio warnings for approaching speed cameras using my already installed GPS Word cameras database or will I have to subscribe to Tom Tom's speed cameras database? If I can use GPS World's cameras database, is it possible to configure TTN5 to only give audio warnings for speed cameras or will I have to accept audio warnings of all approaching POIs?

Should be grateful for any advice please. Thanks. Tony

[mikealder]

Tony, you can use the in built TT5 warnings for the pocketGPS database, or any POI file for that matter, the inbuilt TT warnings are not to good, bells beeps etc. To overcome this you can load up spoken warnings from this site or www.tomtomsatnav.info where there are some others, TT5 works differently to TT3 and CheckPOI in that the warnings are all grouped in a single file (data.chk) but each camera can have its own sound, there are also utilities to extend the number of warnings within TT5 from the standard 15 to 30, I only use TT5 and its in built system, I tried CheckPOI with TT5 and found it gave problems, so I never bothered with it again, I more than happy with the inbuilt warnings and the way you can set the distance to warn before each POI type (camera), I hope this answers some of you questions Mike

[Tony Bond]

Thanks for the helpful comments, Mike. From what you say, I can keep the GPSW camera database uptodate in my TTN3 and not bother installing Checkpoint. When I upgrade to TTN5, it's built in advance warning system will alert me to upcoming speed cameras in the GPSW database, but I should instal your voice warnings to improve TTN5's built-in system. I'd be so grateful if you could please put me right if I have misunderstood anything.

So grateful, too, if anyone who has upgraded from TTN3 to TTN5 could please let me know whether TTN5 instals over the top of TTN3 and the existing GPSW camera database or whether I shall have to uninstal TTN3 &/or the GPSW camera database first and then reinstal the latter.

One last related query please. Does anyone know whether TTN5, or any third party software, can display the legal speed limit continuously so one does not inadvertently breach it?

Thanks for any further help.

Tony

[mikealder]

[Tony Bond]

Thanks for that further advice, Mike. I spoke to TomTom a few days ago and they confirmed that they would re-allow upgrades to TTN5 this Spring, but couldn't give a date.

Remembering the legal speed limit is challenging on my regular A40 journey Ipswich-Norwich as the route is plagued by a plethora of continuously changing speed limits and some stretches of the road run for some 7 miles without speed limit reminders. So I'm disappointed to hear there is no software on the market which can continuously display the legal limit -surely not technically impossible since the various speed limits must be programmed into all GPS navigation programs, else they wouldn't be able to calculate ETA.

Thanks again.

Tony

[Etwell]

[quote="Tony Bond"]surely not technically impossible since the various speed limits must be programmed into all GPS navigation programs, else they wouldn't be able to calculate ETA.

I don't think that the speed limits, as such, are there.

In order to calculate your ETA the GPS software will simply take the distance left and the actual speed you are travelling at the time, to calculate that. Then as your GPS position/speed changes it will recalculate.

Any change in your actual speed will simply mean that the distance/time to your destination will change and so a different ETA will automatically be calculated.

[spook51]

[Kirium]

Hi Tony i think your choice of POI warning system depends on how much information you require in the warning.

To explain, TT5's inbuilt warning system is shoddy to say the least, it can be improved from the rather lame scooby doo "zoinks" to voice based alerts, however the standard TT5 limit for the number of voice alerts is 15, this can be increased using a free app (for the moment...) to 30. All of these files/apps are freely available on the web.

However thirty barely covers the required 25 warnings needed if your using the speed zone files, by the time you've covered 20mph to 70mph in 10mph increments for Fixed Gatso, Mobile and Specs cams, you then have the redlight cams and the cams spotted by yourself in checkpoint, then theres the temp cams and the unknown speed cams, you get the point i'm sure.

Still TT5 will cover the number of poi warnings needed if you are serious about your speed detection and like you warnings by speed limit (as i do), if you require voice warnings for anything else you're screwed But now we get to the only good thing about TT5's inbuilt system, its route dependant, i.e it will only warn you of cams on your route not all the cams in front of you whether they are on your route or on an adjacent road, as checkpoint does however this gain is promptly wasted as the warning range is set by distance and not time...

To explain, in TT5 you set the distance from the cam that you require your warning, eg 100yds and you only get one warning at 100yds. So if your in a 30mph zone 100yds is ample warning (if you hear the one & only warning over the CD) however 100yds soon disappears at 50/60/70mph, causing you to have to break harder and harder the faster you are travelling. You could increase the distance to take into account the higher speeds thus the larger distances travelled but then at slower speeds you end up having 1 warning long before the camera ever shows up.With checkpoint however the warning is time based and there are two warnings available. So my first warning is 30 secs from the cam regardless of the speed i'm traveling at, then another at 10 secs from the cam, you always get the same time before the cam and after the warning, so regardless of your speed you have ample distance to slow down, as checkpoint takes into account your speed and the distance from the cam, personally that swung it for me

I hope this helped, i'm going for a lay down now
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Apple iPhone 5, Navigon, Brodit ProClip Mount

[tube]

Kirium,

I use Checkpoint with TTN5 and HX4700, but occasionally lose the settings, I know other people with same hardware who also have the problem. I have already posted but no reply yet as to where the setting are stored for Checkpoint.

Any ideas...


I used the inbuilt warnings in TTN5 but nearly got caught out so Checkpoint is the best option if I could cure the setting problem. Having no warnings not an option.

Cheers

Dave
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iPhone 4S, TomTom iPhone App, Camera Alert App,

[Robin2]

[Tony Bond]

Robin,
Interested in your comments. Please, could you clarify what the inbuilt default road speeds are? I have TTN 3, would I be able to look at these defaults? As you know, I'm trying to find out if there is any software or hardware out there which will tell me what the legal speed is on the road on which I am driving on a continuous basis? Would you know by any chance please? So far, I've only found a reference to such a cool gadget in an inventors' web site which outlines the details of the patent as follows:

"Another inventor working on behalf of I.B.M. has won a patent for using
cellphone signals to alert drivers of the speed limit on the roads they are
using. Faisal M. Awada's invention uses a Global Positioning System receiver to detect a cellphone location. It then looks up the speed limit for that location in a database. The legal speed limit is transmitted to the car driver via his cellphone speaker or display. The system can also compare the speed limit to the driver's actual speed, and set off a warning if the driver is speeding. Mr. Awada, of Round Rock, Tex., won patent 6,515,596."

The interesting phrase for me is "It then looks up the speed limit for that location in a database". I'd be interested to know which Government department over here has such a database and whether it is a public record available to everyone?

Tony

[Etwell]

"The ETA calculation is carried out by applying the inbuilt default speeds on different types of road to the remaining part of the route."

Whilst all roads in this country have a speed limit imposed on them depending on their type ie. motorways 70, 'A' roads/dual carriageways 60, residential 30 etc. Local authorities and the Ministryof Transport[?] can have these varied as necessary. This is always ongoing so it is not practical to have it incorporated into the map info on a GPS system unless it is connected to a live update feed of some sort.

'It is not affected in any way by the speed at which you are actually travelling.'

If you are on a journey and are slowed by traffic or some sort of holdup your ETA time will increase as it is recalculated to allow for the holdup. Similarly if you stop for a coffee etc., on restarting you ETA will show a difference of the time that you have been stopped.

Bear in mind that the ETA is calculated from the time you start to the time you arrive in total. Unless of course you are stopping and starting and re-setting your route, each time, as you go along.

[Etwell]

Tony Bond.

You may find this of interest. Are you considering moving to Holland in the near future?

http://www.etsc.be/enforcement-speeding-vehicle.php

[Tony Bond]

Many thanks indeed, Etwell, for the info. Glad to see that so many boffins worldwide are working hard to manufacture for me just the gadget I need. It can't come too soon. Moving to Holland would be a last resort : )

Cheers, Tony

[Robin2]

Tony,
It's almost a year since I last used TT3, but from memory:-

Go to Advanced properties - Preferred speeds and you can select your preferred speed for different types of road. TomTom will then use these speeds when optimising the route calculation to give minimum journey time, and will also use these speeds on the remaining portion of the route to calculate ETA. It's sometimes useful to use preferred speeds to change the type of route TomTom will choose - for example, if you don't like using motorways, set a low speed for them and TomTom will use other types of road. I used to set urban roads to a low value, so that TomTom would look for a bypass route rather than take me through a city centre.
This facility does not exist in TomTom5. (It has been introduced in the latest CoPilot 6 but doesn't work properly yet!)
Robin
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TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

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