Destinator PN

h5djr · Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:17 am Post subject:

I obtained my upgrade direct from Destinator's upgrade partner web-site in Germany. The site is www.comwave.de. I ordered my upgrade before the 1 June so I only paid 43 euros + 24.14 euros for courier delivery. It came with full maps of the whole of Europe as well as UK and Ireland. Comwave were very efficient and kept me informed and answered any queries I had (in English) very promptly. The only slight problem is that they would only accept payment by direct bank transfer which cost me a further £10.00.

I now have the software loaded on my new hx4700 and apart from one small problem everything works very well and is a pleasure to use. It has found every destination I have asked for so far, which is more than I can say for the copy of TomTom that I tried which could not even find my mothers address where she has lived for the past 50 years. I have also tried locations in France, Germany and Austria, all again with no problems.

The only slight problem I have found is that if I try and drag the map to find a location in that way, if I drag too much at any one time my 4700 freezes and I have to perform a soft reset. But with all the routing and looking at the directions on the screen prior to a journey there are no problems.

I understand from a German Destinator PN forum that this is a known problem on both the 2750 and 4700 and Destinator are working on a solution. I have emailed Destinator Europe support but have not had a reply as yet. If I can help any further please let me know.

Dave R

mato · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2004 Posts: 12

Hi h5djr,

will you please do me a favour? Could you please load the map of Ireland and write me how detailed it is this time?
I have seen previous version 3 and the coverage was pretty poor. Street level only for Dublin & Belfast and they were missing motorway which is there for more than 10 years now, not speaking about minor roads.

I f you could chceck for me if there is street level for e.g. Cork, Gallway, Wexford, if you can find a town Cavan and how detailed is that map and if there is a highway betwwen Dublin and Drogheda (north of Dublin).
Thank you very much.

robinl · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 17, 2005 Posts: 10

I received the European version yesterday, which includes UK and Ireland. So far I have found that it selects sensible routes, recalcalculates quickly when I go off the route and handles roundabouts correctly.

I have loaded the UK, French and European roads maps and calculated a route from Bristol to Nice.

In answer to the question about Ireland. The main roads through Cavan are shown but the side roads are shown as stubs. Cork and Galway have detailed street information. Wexford is lke Cavan. The detail level appears to be the same as MS Autoroute 2005. The road from Dublin past the airport to Drogheda is shown as the M1 with divided junctions. The N1 is also shown parallel to it. The M1 stops at Dundalk.

mato · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2004 Posts: 12

Thank you robinl, it seems to me, that the detail level is the same now as in garmin City Select Europe v7.
May I bother you onece more please? Could you please go to http://www.garmin.com/cartography/ from the mapsource map wiever drop down menu select City Select Europe v.7 and compare detail level of e.g. Cavan and Drogheda on Destinator & Garmin.
Thank you a lot.
Martin

robinl · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 17, 2005 Posts: 10

Mato, you are correct the detail is the same. This makes sense since they both appear to use Navteq maps.

It is easier to read the Destinator maps as the roads are drawn as roads. Garmin simply shows them as lines.

mato · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2004 Posts: 12

Thank you very much.
I fully agree that Destinator presentation of roads are much nicer and more clear. Only problem was coverage of Ireland but now it seems that they are both using the same version of NAVTEQ.
I am definitely going to buy Destinator PN now, you solved for me the last question I had.

Spudson · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 9:01 pm Post subject:

Question for robinl & h5djr:

Are you able to detail the features of Destinator PN? It's a little difficult to determine from their website how the user-interface works and illustrates your route.

There are a couple of screenshots and stuff, but they're not very extensive (e.g. see Navigon's website). Can you shed any light on this?

Many thx.

S

efjay · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jan 03, 2005 Posts: 29

robinl & h5djr; could you also post on the following items

Does Destinator activate bluetooth automatically when started?
Does it keep the screen on when it is running?
Does it automatically switch to night view or is there an option for that?

thanks

s93ncer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 18, 2005 Posts: 14

robinl · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 17, 2005 Posts: 10

I am running Destinator PN on a Mitac 168 with 1GB SD card.

In answer to efjay I do not have to activate bluetooth as the GPs receiver is integral to the PDA; The screen stays on when it is running and the user switches between day and night views.

Destinator PN Europe is supplied on 2 CDs with an activation code. Although the manual refers to this code it is only needed to register with the Destinator site. The software runs without use of the code.

I have installed the UK/Ireland, Major Roads of Europe and French maps. I did this from the console direct to the SD card in a card reader as it is far faster.

On starting the program it hunts for a GPS position. The screen shows the current map and location (current or last set). It scrolls between 500 miles : 1inch to 100 yards : 1 inch.

There are 11 buttons / icons around the screen . After a short period of inactivity these icons become dimmer and the map can be seen through them. In order, anticlockwise, the icons are:

Driving directions

This cyles throught he turn settings and can show just the next turn or the full route turn by turn.

View Selector

The map and route can be switched manually between the following 4 modes 2D day, 2D night, 3D day, 3D night, personally I prefer the 2D views as they give a better view of the position on the map.

Compass

This shows the relative position of North to the map.

Menu

This is used to access all the menus. There are three pages of menus. The options include:

Route – set the destination for a route by address input. The address is set as a combination of Map, City, Street, Post code (partial) and house number. For the UK I have found it is easiest to input the partial post code (AANN N) and then select the street and house number. When selecting the address there is a ‘show’ option to identify the address on the map. Selection by town is hit and miss since the local area of a town is used as the ‘City’ and not the name of the main town.

Favourites – This holds favourite addresses and a route to a favourite can be generated by highlighting the address and taking the ‘Navigate’ option.

It is also possible to click on the map and either navigate to that location or to add that address to favourites. If the Pocket Outlook contacts list includes addresses they can also be used to select a destination.

POIs appear to be detailed and can be selected as destinations or shown on the map.

Trip Planning – Plans trips including waypoints; this includes an option to optimise the journey to visit all the waypoints in the most efficient manner.

Avoid Roads – This can default to Toll Roads. Interestingly it does not include the London Congestion Charge zone.

Pedestrian – If set this will automatically rescale the map and route for pedestrian versus vehicle use.
Route detail

This is an informational line at the bottom of the screen that can show details of the current route such as distance and ETA.

GPS-Generated Statisitics

This cycles through the various GPS statistics such as location, altitude, speed.

GPS Status

Links to the screen showing the GPS satellites and data

Battery Status

Home

Generates a route to the location defined as ‘Home’ or to the nearest POI of a specified type eg petrol station.

Zoom control bar

Exit

General views on the product

I find the UI is clean and easy to use, particularly as the menu options can be operated with a finger and do not require the stylus.

The current GPS location is shown on the map with a shadow to highlight the relative location of the sun. This is useful in pedestrian mode but is probably unnecessary in vehicle mode.

The console program allows for the cutting of personal maps and this feature has the side effect of allowing use of the country maps on a PC. It is also possible to plan a route on the PC and cut it as a strip map

Robin

s93ncer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 18, 2005 Posts: 14

I am impressed explainations and description!

Very minor points but......

I can't find the battery status in the program.
Also, the shadow is relative to North not the sun

...Spence

s93ncer · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 18, 2005 Posts: 14

robinl · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 17, 2005 Posts: 10

S93ncer, no prob. The compass rose in the middle on the left shows relative North.

The manual specifically refers to the shadow as assisting orientation when in pedestrian mode.

The battery is bottom right hand. It shows a power plug when on external power or a green / yellow battery.

Robin

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