Is Garmin still non-directional?

willmow · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 14, 2010 Posts: 167

I was shocked some time ago to discover that Garmin doesn't allow third parties like PGPSW to access the directionality capability of a satnav like the Zumo 660 (all satnavs?). In other words, PGPSW users are warned of cameras/possible mobile sites even if they apply only to the other lane. It means you get twice as many warnings as you need to, resulting in 'warning fatigue' and unnecessary extra hassle due to non-existent POIs. Is there really nothing that can be done to hack this?

DennisN · Posted: Mon May 06, 2013 9:49 pm Post subject:

You need to persuade Garmin to enable it for the PGPSW database.
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Kremmen · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 6:19 am Post subject:

Garmin are protective fro their own Cyclops database that is directional. I suspect the version of POILoader they release strips out anything of use.
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DennisN · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 7:04 am Post subject:

Decision time? - Get a poor database which is directional and doesn't warn you of "other direction" cameras, but also doesn't warn you of cameras it hasn't got. Or get a decent database which isn't directional. For my money, it's PGPSW every time!
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willmow · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 14, 2010 Posts: 167

Is Garmin the only manufacturer to deliberately cripple its software this way, or do they all do that? i.e. if I changed manufacturer would I get direction-sensitive warnings?

MaFt · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 9:54 am Post subject:

TomTom's own database is directional but they don't allow 3rd parties to use the dirctional feature.

To be honest, the devices that DO allow 3rd party directional data are few and far between. Baically there's CoPilot (v7 and above) and iGO-based software.

MaFt

willmow · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 14, 2010 Posts: 167

And there's nothing PGPSW can do in terms of negotiations, partnerships, joint ventures, licensing... ?

MaFt · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 10:28 am Post subject:

We've tried... But at the end of the day we are competition.

willmow · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 14, 2010 Posts: 167

I can see the predicament. BTW, is the fact that the PGPSW service is non-directional (through no fault of your own) explicitly stated on the website? It would save newbies a lot of head scratching...

dales · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 2:18 pm Post subject:

I use Ash10's CameraManager with voice warnings and the PGPSW data.
It doesn't strip out the warnings for the other direction,
but it does announce the direction of the camera ie N, S, E or W.
So if I'm going North, I can ignore the South cameras.

Dales.
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MaFt · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 2:31 pm Post subject:

DennisN · Posted: Tue May 07, 2013 8:11 pm Post subject:

AND the Cameralert apps for Android and iOS ARE directional - we have the directional info, but can't code it into the secret format for Garmin and TomTom.
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willmow · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 14, 2010 Posts: 167

Good to know that directionality (if that's the right word!) IS possible, though platform-dependent. Just to give an example of the problem, a regular route of mine is Hammersmith to Somerset down the M3/A303: around 140 miles and 67-plus cameras or mobile sites, of which around 14 are "officially" (acc. to the PGPSW map) bi-directional. That leaves a heck of a lot of false warnings. Turning off the audio warnings is not an option (for bikers, at least) because you don't want to be constantly looking down at the display for possible POIs. Anyway, you know all that and there's nothing you can do.

willmow · Regular Visitor Joined: Mar 14, 2010 Posts: 167

Just want to add this:
I'm sure most people starting out in the Brave New World of satnav give no thought to the directionality issue: they assume that any info given by the device IS directional because satnav technology is nothing if not directional! To discover that the services of POI providers such as PGPSW are not directional on certain platforms comes as a major disappointment. It's a fact of life one learns to live with, but the irritation remains. Keep up the pressure on Garmin et al Exclamation

DennisN · Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 8:19 am Post subject:

I think the slant which you give it, that PGPSW is at fault for not providing directional warnings, is quite wrong. The "fault" lies with the satnav manufactureres who will not enable the facility for PGPSW to use. As far as I'm aware, we are not pressuring Garmin - it is not appropriate for us to do so. It's down to you to pressure them.

We do have directional info on all cameras and could (easily? MaFt?) produce a version using the info if Garmin at al would give us the coding structure. But they won't. Because they sell a database themselves, more expensive than pgpsw too. Same with TomTom, except I have noticed recently that their directional data doesn't seem to be working and I get warnings for both directions for most fixed cameras and the warnings for the M4 average speed cameras at M32 junction have to be heard to be believed (you'd easily think there's an average camera factory there!).
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