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Joined: 02/06/2003 22:43:11 Posts: 42 Location: Rickmansworth, United Kingdom
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 11:50 am Post subject: V3 - Is it worth it?
Hi all,
there seem to be a whole lot of people out there eagerly waiting for the PPC upgrade to V3 and I was wondering is it worth it?
The only significant improvements I can make out are the inclusion of the M6 toll road (which is a map update) and the inclusion of customisable POI's which I suspect most users will use for importing the speed camera, oops, sorry safety camera database. There is already a work around for this in the form of GPS Gate and Travel-i which I have been successfully using for the last six weeks.
In terms of functionality are there any real improvements? Personally, I'd much rather see routine map updates rather than have to wait for the annual software upgrade.
I'm sure time will tell.
Anyway, to you all, have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Drive carefully.
I certainly agree with you that it would be nice to have map updates more often than today and not necessarily tied to a new SW release. One problem seems to be that the maps are compiled for the newer SW release which in turn makes them unusable from the previous SW. Apparently SmartST V3 can use the V2 maps though, which is a good thing if you don't want to buy the complete map package.
When it comes to SmartST V3 it has a few features that I've been missing in V2. One of them is multi-stop route planning. Another thing is the improved custimisation for routing preference with slide bars. I'm curious to see whether the actual routing algoritm has been improved compared to V2. Apart from the routing issues there are a few other bugs (like displaying of speed) in V2 that I'm hoping have been fixed in V3 (probably at the expense of new bugs but anyway...).
Regarding custom POI, that is getting a lot of attention in these forums, that's not on my top priority list since the GATSO database seems to have a very low coverage for the area where I live. I will probably use it more for enhancing the built-in POI database with sites that catch my interest while on the road like my preferred petrol station.
It would be very interesting to see a back to back review of SmartST V3 and V2 where especially the routing performance is evaluated.
I'm following your example of wishing everyone here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will hit the road tomorrow morning so I'm hoping that the roads don't get too icy (I live in the frosty Sweden).
Joined: 27/05/2003 22:32:53 Posts: 114 Location: Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 9:03 pm Post subject:
Hi Guys,
I have the iCN630 V3, which will hopefully be similar for the PPC.
The routing algorithum is better in that there are three different options with a sliding scale for preference;
Quickest, Shortest
Motorways preferce
Urban Roads preference.
Changing the sliders one at a time does make a difference- I went from the same starting point to end point yesterday and today and just moved the shortest slider one off shortest and urban prefered to one off fully prefered (Not sure if this actually did much as it was across Birmingham, which IMHO is all urban!) But the route was definately better today - less real back streets but still missed alot of main roads and was more direct.
As I've said before, the M6 toll won it for me anyway, not just for the toll, but the hundreds of changes to the roads surrounding it. Estimated time is a little off - but did seem better today - only 6minutes out - and it was across Birmingham at 5:30 tonight, so quite acceptable. It only seems way off if the route is quickest, then it recons 6minutes to get from the centre of Birmingham to home (8Miles!) - Though to be fair I haven't tried it post SP1.
I have noticed more "U" turn requests compared to V2, but not as bad as V1.
The speed readout has always been fine - 1MPH increments - and updates much faster than my Origin B2, though both do read the same at a constant speed.
It might be that the speed bug is only seen when kph is selected as speed unit...
I spent a few months in Leamington Spa earlier this year - just a few miles away from Solihull
Mark, have you noticed any difference in the map coverage west of Birmingham in V3 compared to V2? When I used SmartST V2 in this region the map went blank after driving about an hour west of B´ham!!! It was same thing for Wales. Quite strange, don´t you think?
Joined: 14/09/2002 20:56:18 Posts: 5231 Location: Surrey, United Kingdom
Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:49 pm Post subject:
Telboy wrote:
The only significant improvements I can make out are the inclusion of the M6 toll road (which is a map update) and the inclusion of customisable POI's which I suspect most users will use for importing the speed camera, oops, sorry safety camera database.
Those two additions are certainly welcome, but there are others. Multi-stop trips, including the ability to save those trips, Route Detour, which I used yesterday due to the tailbacks on the A2 caused by the Dartford Tunnel problems. Also, there are more routing options.
angelfire wrote:
The routing algorithum is better in that there are three different options with a sliding scale for preference;
Quickest, Shortest
Motorways preferce
Urban Roads preference.
The PiN/PPC version does come with slide bars for Quickest/Shortest and Motorway use, but the Urban Roads preference is only a checkbox. _________________ Tim
Joined: Feb 20, 2004 Posts: 1154 Location: South Lancashire, UK
Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 1:50 am Post subject:
Quote:
I have noticed more "U" turn requests compared to V2, but not as bad as V1.
I found the opposite - on the PPC/PiN version.
And other improvements...
Topographical style maps (ish).
Base Roads of Europe.
Itinerary (multiple stops en-route).
Multiple Destinations (14 via's in total).
Save favourite destinations in Trip Planner.
Route detour selectable to avoid the next 1,2,5 or 10 m or km.
Nearest POI to your location (e.g. Where's the nearest garage ?).
Improved Next manoeuvre arrow icon with distance to manoeuvre showing correct junction on roundabout to take.
New Instruction List screen which lists remining turns to destination with direction, street names and distance to each turn.
Shortest Route vs Quickest Route with Active Sliders allowing you to customise how quick or show short you want the route on a sliding scale.
Active Points Of Interest - POI warning.
Ability to Create, Import and Translate Custom POI's.
Speed alert - user selectable.
2004 Map Data (Q3) M6 toll.
Enhanced Route Summary.
Enhanced Zoom functionality - selectable on/off.
Routing across rivers and inlets using shipping channels.
Trip meter - logs speed, distance, time for current route and totals since last reset. _________________ Ian.
iPAQ 2210 | Navman 4100 BT Receiver
Navman iCN 635
TomTom GO
Anquet OS mapping
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