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Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 172 Location: Sunny Spain
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 1:28 pm Post subject:
Well said Sallyann
I really cant see what all the fuss is about, most of you come over to Europe one time or another for your Holidays and booze and fags run, and you change over to Kms and meters, so why not keep them when you get back home.
It is obvious that there are going to be changes in the UK as you are part of the EU and have been for sometime, so why worry about a few changes with signs and the such. With the changing world and the amount of people moving about from country to country particularly in Europe it is inevitable that things are going to be different so you might as well get used to it. I know that it is a pain and will take a long time for you to accept but it will happen, and I dont think that there is much you can do about it. and by the way Lost property you forgot about Buses Lol.
I make this statement with the greatest respect for your feelings as I am English myself and know how you all feel, I did at one time when I first came to france, but I have learned to change, and for the better I hope _________________ Takara GP56 igo primo 1.1
Dont rely on them use your brain as well
we should be grateful that our systems are bi-lingual and easily cross borders without too much trouble but let's not forget our friends across the pond who also use good old miles, yards, feet and inches
so whilst there is a valid popint about the uk being unique in europe there is a much larger market out there for a nation that doesn't use metric at all as far as i know
thus i repeat it comes down to personal preference as well as what we're used to
Joined: Feb 01, 2006 Posts: 2543 Location: Rainham, Kent. England.
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 3:29 pm Post subject:
Quote:
Well I'm not taking sides on the metric/imperial debate
Quote:
designers have included the extra complications of miles/yards/feet conversion in their software
Just a little on the metric side maybe Sallyann. :P
Having been brought up on Imperial I expect you can guess which side I'm on. Although we did do metric and metric conversions as part of our Maths lessons.
If I'm told someone is 16st, 224lbs or 101.6kg, I have a pretty good idea of what 16st looks like but if I am told an American is 224lbs or a Frenchman 101.6kg, the image of them doesn't come naturally.
Then there is driving, if I am travelling at 60mph and I see a sign saying 'Services 36 miles', I know I should be there in 36 minutes. I don't have to think about it. But show me a sign which says 'Ayre de xxx' 96km' and the brain cells have to go into top gear. (Difficult nowadays)
Not forgetting how easily it is when working out fuel consumption.
100 miles on 4 gallons = 25mpg. I haven't yet found a way of working out litres per 100km.
Temperatures are no problem, I have a quick way, mentally, of working out farhenheight to centigrade (celcius) and vice vera.
I can see Imperial going at some time in the not too distant future and when it comes there should be no problems checking speedometer with road signs or the height displayed in high vehicles with the height restriction. I have a problem at the moment, when travelling to France, because although my speedo shows both, the kph is shown as red on dark grey and the numbers are quite small. I overcome this by ignoring the 0 of say 90kph and multiply the 9 x 6 = 54 (110kph is 11 x 6 = 66kph). Not exact but it keeps me just under the limit.
I don't think changing from Imperial to Metric would upset some people so much providing we had all the other benefits from Europe, Higher speed limits, cheaper fuel, 'ciggies' and 'booze', to name but a few.
I expect someone will decide we should all start driving on the right, at some time in the future, as we are the odd ones out. But wait. Although there are 166 Countries who drive on the right, there are 74 who drive on the left. Not exactly the odd one out, are we. If we still had a car industry there is a market out there for RHD, the Japanese have proved it.
There are reasons of course why some countries drive on the left and others on the right, see HERE _________________ Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.
Well I'm not taking sides on the metric/imperial debate
Quote:
designers have included the extra complications of miles/yards/feet conversion in their software
Just a little on the metric side maybe Sallyann. :P
Well, perhaps just a little
But I am certain that the requirement to incorporate three different measurement systems (km/m, mi/yds, mi/ft) will have been bad news for the designers. As a software systems designer myself I know what complications this sort of requirement can cause.
As I noted above, it is we who suffer the consequences of maintaining a separate measurement system, not those who have always used metric and just get on with life.
i'm not going to argue with anything anybody has said
but taking onboard sallyann's comment about complications, why does the metric stop at km/m but they give us measurements in feet?
surely it is therefore predominantly the manufacturers who have brought some of these problems upon themselves by not just giving us miles/yards
even if you're walking, a decent stride is about a yard (give or take) and almost a metre
thus the provision of feet is academic to the vast majority of users and reading the C710 consistent problem thread i would personally suggest to the Mio that they scrap the miles/feet option
but taking onboard sallyann's comment about complications, why does the metric stop at km/m but they give us measurements in feet?
I can think of two reasons:
1. In the US market, I believe feet are more popular than yards as a unit of measurement.
2. The software is designed by metric users who are not very familiar with imperial or US measurements. They might reasonably expect that since we have both feet and yards we will want to use them.
It's all part of the confusion we must expect in having multiple systems. It's just as well that the unit doesn't calculate mpg, since the US gallon is different to ours.
Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 172 Location: Sunny Spain
Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 9:16 pm Post subject:
What a fantastic thread this has turned out to be, it started off with miles and yards on the GPS and now it has gone to other things, sure there are problems with softwear but as sallyann has said it really is a pain for the writers of the softwear, and I think that you have to live with it because it will not change. As for lost property saying that he can work it out and I'm sure he can, but I thought that you now filled up you car with Lts, can you tell me how many Lts there are in a gallon not a US gallon but a UK one and then work out your milage per gallon on the car. All the weights in the UK are now in metric, try buying a pound of bananas or a pound of potatoes. It is a fact of life that most people use Kms and meters, and if everybody did the same I am sure the price of softwear would come down and there would not be the problems that there are. take it in your stride because it is coming. _________________ Takara GP56 igo primo 1.1
Dont rely on them use your brain as well
Joined: Feb 01, 2006 Posts: 2543 Location: Rainham, Kent. England.
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:45 am Post subject:
Quote:
As for lost property saying that he can work it out and I'm sure he can, but I thought that you now filled up you car with Lts, can you tell me how many Lts there are in a gallon not a US gallon but a UK one and then work out your milage per gallon on the car.
4.54248 litres per gallon. It's easy to convert as, when I get home after having filled up, I use a calculator to find the number of gallons. I divide this into the mileage covered since the last fill to get mpg.
As I said earlier, I haven't yet found an easy way to work out litres per 100km. Image having to work out gallons per 100 miles. Now miles per litre I could live with quite happily.
Quote:
as sallyann has said it really is a pain for the writers of the softwear
Is it really that much of a problem? I suppose, thinking about it, it could be a problem for people who have been brought up with metric, the Imperial system would seem a weird, complicated system, but someone like myself find the metric system simple.
The multiple languages in the devices do not appear to cause any complications with programmers, so I can't really see why having both Imperial and metric should be a problem. Come to that, what about the Calendar and leap years, that's all been done without problems.
But having said all that, how many of us, whether with an Imperial or Metric head, could accurately pace out 100 yards or 100 metres. a half mile or kilometer. Not many of us, if any. So basically it doesn't really matter which system we use as long as the speedo matches the road signs. If I could read the kph numbers on my speedo I would use them when in France, wish I could becuase I wouldn't have panicked some months back when the countdown marker showed 50 on the exit road and I realised I was doing 50mph. 8O _________________ Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.
Joined: Feb 01, 2006 Posts: 2543 Location: Rainham, Kent. England.
Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 12:49 am Post subject:
Quote:
All the weights in the UK are now in metric, try buying a pound of bananas or a pound of potatoes.
Only because it's been made a crime. Not because people started asking for x kilos of 'spuds'. :P _________________ Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.
Not forgetting how easily it is when working out fuel consumption.
100 miles on 4 gallons = 25mpg. I haven't yet found a way of working out litres per 100km.
For many years I drove a left hooker with a Km speedo in the UK and I worked out some conversions.
1l = .22 imp gallon
1M = 1.609 Km
MPG to K/l = *0.353
K/l to MPG = *2.83
MPG to l/100Km = 282.5/MPG _________________ Mio C710 on MioMap 3.3
i think we concluded that it makes no difference for most of us and we went off topic but now are we showing that lower or upper case lettering makes a difference?
if or when the uk goes metric our systems will cope and as somebody already said we'll just have to get used to the idea
if or when the uk goes metric our systems will cope and as somebody already said we'll just have to get used to the idea
Well, I guess that whatever that lot in Brussels imposes many of us will continue to use the measurements that we are used to so it will be many years before imperial units disappear completely. I expect it will become a criminal offence to use them which will ensure their existance a little longer
Anyway I'm quite happy with the imperial presence on my Mio 510. I've not had any problems so far. _________________ Reg
if they do criminalise imperial measurements then we'll all still get away with it cos the speed cameras won't catch us out just like they don't distinguish drink drivers
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