CoPilot 4 Live - First Impressions

Rattle

Ok, so after a long and painful selection process, CoPilot BT EU edition on a H5550 was selected as the navigation platform to be. The runner up TomTom was discarded mostly for its inability to route across maps. Which is not a problem if you live on an island, however, as I’m located in Munich, Germany, the country borders do become an issue.
So, after getting one of the last specimens of CoPilot EU edition (ALK has decided not to sell them separately anymore, but rather to upgrade UK editions for £99) from HandNav, I installed it using the QuickStart SD card. The installation itself and the activation part worked like a treat, apart from the fact, of course, that it had UK maps pre-loaded on it Laughing

No problems there, I set up a 100 mile area around Munich and downloaded it into the iPAQ’s main memory (ahh, those 128 megs of RAM Mr. Green

)
Getting it to work with the Bluetooth GPS receiver was, however, tricky. In fact, I still haven’t really gotten it sorted. At first, I simply turned in on, started CoPilot and after selecting the device from the BT browser screen (I guess thats WM2003, always making me do that, huh?), it would say “No GPS signal, check connections” and spit the BT browser screen back up. And again, and again. Angry

Now I have to admit that I was doing all of this indoors at first and the GPS coverage isn’t excellent here, I guess, because the best my receiver could lock onto while lying on a window sill was 2 satellites in green. OK, next step: get into the car, and do that again, only this time I paired the BT receiver to the iPAQ. This time I did get a fix and all was well for a while until it lost the GPS connection again, arghhhh, after 5 minutes of fumbling with the stylus, the connection is restored, only to disappear in the first tunnel Sad

Well, after a hint from ALK (set baud rate to 4800) and a bit of mumbo-jumbo with the setup, I am now managing to connect on the first try, well, most of the time. However, one thing remains - every time I start the system underground without any GPS signal at all (and I park underground both at home and at work), then if I don’t get out into the clear within a few minutes, the BT browser pops up and here we go again... Ended up redefining a button to launch CoPilot when out on the street, then selecting GPS mouse from the BT browser. Any guesses/suggestions to this? ALK's response was they were not aware of this problem on 5500 series, they knew this was going on with 2200 series and it had been fixed by a BT patch from HP, but not for 5500 series, so I was told to keep using my workaround. And thats with almost a 1000 quid worth of gear... Evil or Very Mad

Anyway, having said that, must admit that CoPilot does a splendid job getting me from A to B. The map quality is good for this part of Europe and, although it tries to take me on a street not open for general traffic occasionally, or make me do a left turn coming out of a supermarket parking lot, although only right turn is allowed, all in all I’m very satisfied - never have I found CoPilot thinking I'm offroad. The routing quality is good too and the time it takes to calculate the new route or recalculate is even better that on a Becker Traffic Pro (might have something to do with maps in main memory, I guess).
The sound volume on the H5550 sucks like Electrolux, as you know, with the stereo on above a whisper all I can hear is some crackling static coming from the iPAQ, but at least it draws my attention to it Smile

Gotta have a BT earpiece in the near future (thats one more thing to charge Rolling Eyes

).
The Fonix TTS deserves the Dr. Spooner prize for the best pronunciation of German street names in perfect English Mr. Green

but I guess that cannot be helped, the alternative is pre-recorded wavs, but once you’re hooked on TTS, there’s no turning back Smile

I sincerely hope that ALK/Fonix will do something in this department (at least for the major countries like France/Germany/Italy), but won’t really expect it until version 6 or so Smile

Besides, it IS funny Supreme Angel

Apart from that, the voice instructions are spot on at most times, only sometimes the semantic difference between “turn left” and “bear left” eludes me, especially when the latter is spoken while approaching a T-style intersection.
Also, sometimes the directions are confusing and if I followed the 1st exit from roundabout blindly as it told me to, I’d have ended up in a dead-end street a few times. Complemented with the fact that the intersection map is not zoomed as strongly as it could have been, it is all too easy to take the wrong turn at complex junctions.

So my verdict is: A+, despite the BT issue, an excellent piece of work Thumbs Up

Of course, ALK has still a lot to do, but have you seen a program doing more than Hello, world! without bugs? Well, me neither :D As I haven’t had the chance to try TomTom, I’m not in the position to compare Smile

In the end, my wishlist for the features not implemented or implemented, but with room for improvement:

- The zoom at intersections should be stronger. Ideally, customizable.
- The application should remember my zoom settings. In particular, while in Guidance mode, if I set a particular zoom in Copilot view, then switch over to drivers view and back to copilot, the standard zoom is restored.
- Trying to drag the map in Guidance or Navigation view with stylus or finger often results in zoom instead, as if clicked, darn frustrating when trying to locate something on the map
- Ability to select towns as stops is missing. I can select a POI as a stop directly from the map, but cannot seem to do the same with a town/place.
- Would be great if I could play back my GPS tracks on the desktop, not only the PocketPC.
- An option for displaying both the speed and elevation on the same line in the safety screen would be useful. They could easily fit together in the same line, with the other line remaining for upcoming intersections, for example.

Cheers,
Eriks

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 6:40 pm Post subject:

Eriks,

thanks a lot for this report. It pretty much matches my experience with Copilot (have you checked my review ? ;-) ) . I did actually switch back from the Fonix engine to wav files... Just couldn't bear the Dr.Spooner. Even with english names it is hit and miss.

"bear left" is supposed to sound when the turn is less than 90 degrees. Who knows, maybe your t-section is oddly shaped?

As for the BT stiff - have you tried the Registry hack to disable the BT Browser? It should work on a 5550 as well.

Cheers,
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

Rattle · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:51 pm Post subject:

Thanks Lutz, sure did read your and Dave's reports. Must say you guys are doing a helluva job here, couldn't find a better source for comprehensive GPS-related software reviews anywhere else Thumbs Up

What was that Registry hack thing again? Does it just prevent the BT browser popping up, or does it also establish a BT connection with the device? If its just hiding the screen, it wouldn't help much, as the connection gets dropped physically, and I'd have to go to BT manager to reconnect it manually, which would create more problems than it solved...

Cheers,
Eriks

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2003 10:09 pm Post subject:

The hack reconnects to the last connected device. Maybe it even helps in your situation.

here's the process:(You need a registry editor for this).

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Widcomm\BtConfig\Autoconnect\0008

(or whatever COM port you use)

add an entry (DWORD)

BtBrowserEnabled=0

try it out!

Grüße an die Heimat...
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

Rattle · Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2003 5:29 pm Post subject:

Just tried it out and it worked!!! Jumping With Joy

This one deserves the tip of the year award! Thumbs Up

Cheers,
Eriks
Oh, and by the way, I'm only living in Germany for the last year, actually I come from Riga, Latvia Wink

but I'll pass on your hellos to my Heimat as I go home for X-Mas Smile

ALK · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 17, 2003 Posts: 8

Eriks,

Many thanks for your detailed comments. We are certainly glad to hear you are enjoying CoPilot. Now that a solution to your Bluetooth issue has been identified, I would like to focus on a number of your other inquiries, specifically:

(a) bear vs turn right/left instructions - 'Bear' instructions are not simply provided each time a turn is less than 90 degrees. Although I am unsure of the exact values, bear instructions are generated at when the turn angle is significantly less than 90 degrees. This is probably closer to 45 or 50.

(b) German text-to-speech - ALK has been working closely with Fonix to improve our German engine. Are you aware that you can install the software in German from the bundled CDs? Translations are being perfected, but you will likely appreciate the TTS improvements.

(c) You can route to cities or towns. Simply tap on the address entry icon and specify a country and city or postal code. Then, instead of entering a house number, just tap 'ok' at the top right. CoPilot will route you to the specified city. I am assuming your next question will be about waypoints or vias, and the answer is 'yes,' CoPilot will route through vias or waypoints. Simply enter multiple destinations, then tap-and-hold on one to change from a 'stop' to a 'waypoint.'

(d) Drag map v box zoom - By selecting tools/options/map you are able to chose whether your stylus will zoom or drag maps. Are you suggesting an easier way of changing back and forth, or do you just need to select the drag map option?

Your other suggestions and comments are very much appreciated and will be considered by ALK development for the next version.

Cheers,
-Dan

Rattle · Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2003 10:53 pm Post subject:

Alk, thanks for helping clear things up, however, I guess I wasn't clear enough myself on a few points

After using the system for a while, it looks like the registry hack solves the BT issue only 90%, as it happens now quite often that instead of showing BT browser, the GPS keeps automatically disconnecting and reconnecting, resulting in erratic reception - it can be noticed by those three green squares - normally they 'run' at a constant speed, but when the GPS link keeps crashing, there are pauses as long as a few seconds between the next square appearing. Naturally, the position update starts lagging too, making it very easy to miss a turn. The only solution is soft reset

About the German TTS - do you mean that if I install the program in German from the CD, it will actually acquire correct German pronounciation, or just German interface? That would be nice, but ideally I'd love to have english directions with german street names pronounced correctly, as I'm not really a native german speaker Mr. Green

Routing to cities - yes, I know how to route by address entry icon. However, sometimes thats not enough, for example, there are at least three towns named Egg (no, seriously Mr. Green

) in Austria. Now, if I happen to require to go to one of them and I don't know the post code or the region name, I enter city name Egg, Country AU, and get entries like "Egg, Karnten", "Egg, Oberosterreich" and "Egg, Vorarlberg". And at this point I'm stuffed, cause I'm clueless as to which one of these eggs is the one I need. Selecting each one of them in turn, routing and seeing where it goes sucks, and in my case didn't event give a result (because those three displayed were yet other eggs). If the address entry screen would show the distance from the current position, like the POI entry form does, it would have helped a lot. Anyway, since I was in the vicinity of the Egg I wanted to go to, I could see it on the map, but I could not make CoPilot take me there! Luckily for me, there was a gas station in the vicinity, so I tapped its icon and the address of the gas station appeared with the option to add it to the route. Alas, there is no such option for the cities, a bummer...

Cheers,
Eriks

ALK · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 17, 2003 Posts: 8

Eriks,

My pleasure. I am currently investigating the Bluetooth manager issue and will follow up as soon as possible. Installing German TTS from the CDs should improve German pronunciation in addition to installing the German interface. Please let me know if you requre any assistance. Although ALK is working to improve the 'Egg' city issue in future versions, I would suggest using CoPilot's 'Map' view feature in the interim to confirm you have entered the appropriate city. In particular, after you select 'Egg' as your destination, it will appear under 'Going to.' Simply tap on the entry and select 'Map' from the resulting window. This will provide a map display of the city so that you can confirm it is where you want to go. Please let me know if you have more questions.

Regards,
Dan

ALK Technologies Limited

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