CoPilot Wishlist

[Thud]

I would like the way road numbers are spoken to be changed. Roads with one or two digit numbers are ok but three and four digit numbers are not read out the way I believe most people would read them.

Examples:

A4      A four           ok

A33     A thirty three   ok

A329    A three hundred and twenty nine   becomes   A three two nine

B3016   B three thousand and sixteen   becomes   B three owe one six

[TheGoodMan]

Post your CoPilot Wishlist<br>

[Dave]

clarem, you need to report map data errors to TravRoute. They do a lot of geodata manipulation and I have requested several areas in the UK to be re-geocoded and these will be available at a later date.



Speed Cameras will happen providing we get support with a seperate utility from TravRoute. For instance, the main issue is we can't delete the cameras that are stored in your POI database, and neither can you, which means you're going to get a huge amount of outdated data very quickly. We also need a slightly more simpler import (1 click) rather than going through the data import wizard (it's too complicated for most people to use). I'm hoping TravRoute will come up with the goods on this, although we have been requesting it since March.

[clarem]

I had iNS 1.2 (based on CoPilot 3.0) and reported the fact that my road had the incorrect name to TeamWarrior. I was disappointed on purchasing CoPilot Live 4.0 that it is still wrong a year later. I have now reported the problem to NavTech in the states. My question is, has TravRoute supplied map updates under support (or bug updates and patches for that matter) in the past. Will they in the future? I noticed a distinct lack of a download page on their web site. I assume that the patches downloadable from ALK are only for the US version? Or do map updates / patches only come as a result of the next major version to CoPilot (presumably at a cost)?



A big improvement on v3.0, especially the PocketGPS safety camera POIs, and other POIs, motorway junction exit numbers, etc. (I don't know what is new since version 3.5 as I didn't have that version) so I won't comment too much.



Anyone with iNS 1.2 may like to know that TravRoute kindly let me have the upgrade price offered to registered CoPilot 3.5 uses of £119.99 plus P&P.



Wish list: Safety camera POI updates (you mentioned that you are working with TravRoute - will this happen Dave?); Something less than the 3 mile POI alert would be nice; Speed cues (i.e. a audible alert when exceeding user selectable speed limit via perhaps up/down buttons on the safety screen, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 mph); Even better link the speed camera POI speed limit (which Dave mentioned as future work?); Auto zoom of map at junctions (this was apparently in v3.5?); Fix to text being occluded by direction arrow on the safety screen when the text is quite long (long text was drawn smaller in v3.0 and this was fine); Consistancy with the direction text (there seems to be random use of Capital letters for place names and random use of brackets around road numbers, etc. - only a mild irritation).



With perhaps a few bug fixes and a small amount of added functionality, surely CoPilot Live 4.0 will become the Daddy of Pocket GPS?

[projman]

I just bought the CoPilot Live 4 and really like it. I have noticed that some of the map data needs to be updated, for example, my home is located on the wrong side of the street and about 1 tenth of a mile away from where the map says it it is. I am planning on send in my tracks and hope they will be adjusted in the next version.



My wish list is this - Although the text to speach is ok, the wave file voice is much more clear but gives less details. I would like to have the wave file voice provide more details and in a female's voice.



What do other think?



Thanks!

ProjMan

[Dave]

Yes, I know of 4 TravRoute staff that do. They may not read it on a hourly or daily basis, but they do read it. However, I would still suggest emailing any wishlists to TravRoute direct as it can't do any harm. The more requests they get for a specific feature the more chance it's got of making it into the product.

[ColinS]

Quote: Originally posted by ColinS on 04 August 2003Having now done about 1000 miles or so with Version 4, I am convinced that the zoom does not perform correctly.

---

With 3.5 when approaching turnings it appeared to magnify the image progressively as you got closer (or drove slower).



V4 sometimes does this but more often than not the map remains so small that it may as well not be displayed and you find yourself dragging a rectangle to zoom in. As this is inconsistent, I think it must be a bug.



The other thing it does, in my opinion, is to switch back the safety display too quickly after the turning has been negotiated. It is often useful to check that you have indeed taken the road you should have.



What do others think?



Colin





PS. Still no lane change directions. I am beginning to think that this was not ported from the US version.

---

Does anyone from Travroute read these forums or should we be reporting this directly to them?



Colin

[naquada]

Quote: Originally posted by TheGoodMan on 26 July 2003

---

The display of map on screen can be improved so it’s easy to read.

---

the old 3.5 passenger View was perfect

[ColinS]

As for the "milees" problem. Why don't they just put "mile". "Three mile ahead" would work for me, but then again I do come from Dorset!!



Colin

[Thud]

Thanks Dave.



I'm sure that the programmers that created CoPilot would find this an easy task.



For me, the ideal GPS navigation system has spoken directions that are so clear that the display is not required.

[Dave]

Basically CoPilot use the Fonix text to speech API. Fonix I suppose could modify their API to allow for support and change counting of numbers (eg thousands) to reading the numbers singularly, but I would expect this wouldn't be done hence why it's implemented how it is. The easy way would be for TravRoute to space the numbers out which would force Fonix to say each number individually.



Unfortunately millees is a bit annoying, and from using text to speech technology a lot the only easy way to get around these sort of problems is to mis type the words, which would make it look horrible on screen.



I agree, I'm sure TravRoute could send the road names in a different format to the TTS engine, they'd just need to have an algorithm setup to recognise a road name, paese it correctly before sending it to TTS.



I'll talk to TravRoute and see if this can be tweaked. No promises here, but if it's sometihng easily done, then it could be do-able. We shall see.

[Thud]

Dave,

In order to say "three thousand and sixteen" the software has already recognised that it is a four digit number so a software switch could easily spell out any road numbers that are more than two digits long. However, this is probably in a part of the software that is not directly under the control of Travroute otherwise they would have fixed the pronunciation of "miles", a frequently used word in a GPS product, so that it doesn't say "mill-es".



Alternatively, Travroutes software should send road names to the speech engine in a different format to the one it uses to display it on the screen and then the speech engine needs no change. This would also get around the problem of the speech engine needing to differentiate between road numbers and destination distances.



Are you saying though that the present method of speaking road numbers doesn't annoy you? For all I know, most people say road numbers in the way that CoPilot does, but I don't believe that is true.

[Dave]

I doubt there could be much changed here as it's taking a straight translation from text to speech. I think the roads would have to be spelled out like "B 3 0 1 6" on screen to make this happen which would look rather strange.

[TheGoodMan]

The display of map on screen can be improved so it’s easy to read.

[qwerty]

A few things I would like to see -

1. Junction numbers on the current road option view, so if i am driving down the M1, it will tell me I am between junctions 20 and 21, for example. It would make traffic announcements from radio stations much easier to react to.

2. POI alerts in navigating mode. This may mean implementing the 'snap to' for navigating mode, but the current position pointer seems to be bang on the current road without it. I also do not see the POI icons in navigating mode, where as i do in guidance mode.

3. The ability to change the default mode. Instead of defaulting to guidance mode, i may want to have it default to navigating mode. A default bluetooth device would also be nice (it would mean i then just have to slide my ipaq into its powered cradle, press the hardware button i have mapped to CoPilot and be away). I guess the default bluetooth option may mean a change to the underlying OS, not just the copilot software.

4. Motorway roundabouts are much more confusing in the new version of the software. The previous version used to tell me to 'take 3rd exit on m1 north' but the new version says something like 'take slip road to nottingham exit to m1 north'. Number of exits as per the older version is much easier to understand. And it only seems to react this way with motorway junctions - at all other roundabouts, i am told to 'take 3rd exit', etc, etc.

5. An easier way of updating POI lists.

6. The intermittent zooming of the map at junctions, as per another post.

7. Listing / viewing the current road speed limit.

8. Again, this would mean a change to the pocket pc OS, but is it possible to easily change the screen brightness or set it to automatic, whilst being powered? I quite often start driving during daylight and finish driving long after nightfall. For me, the ability to lower or raise the screen brightness via hardware button would be handy (automatic would be even better).

9. Display of current time as well as ETA on main screen (in case my ipaq has significantly lost or gained time).

10. 'Display GPS Arrow trail' option to only show 'X' arrows before employing a FIFO approach (removing the oldest arrows on the map, when adding a new one). This would stop the screen becoming too cluttered while still showing - some of - my history on the map.

11. POI alerts option of less then 3 miles (although it never seems to 'fire' when they are that far ahead).

I really like this product and if any of these suggestions make it into the final product i will be one very happy user!

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!