Palm pda and Mapsonic from Viamichelin

muddle · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 5

Palm pda and Mapsonic from Viamichelin

Has anyone used the sat nav system that uses a Palm pda and the software
from ViaMichelin?

In January I bought a Palm pda and a kirrio Sat nav system that included
Mapsonic software version 2.32
When using it there is no problem if I enter the street address but
when I type in co-ordinates the map does not display the correct
location.
eg if I type in my home lat/lon ( from Streetmap, Multimap or my own
Garmin GP12) the map displays a road which is about 1/4 to 1/2 mile
away.
This degree of error applies to all the co-ordinates I have entered across
the South England.
Also the POIs supplied are incorrectly placed;
It is as though the grid "overlay" is shifted.
Again this applies to several regions that we have visited.

I have installed (twice) the software on 2 different computers and the
problem remains and re-installed it twice on the pda.
Both home computers are running Windows XP Pro (obviously on my
PC the GPS is not connected)

The sat nav system and software was bought from Comets who
say that it is a software problem only which it appears to be as the
problem relates only to the maps.
Anyone else experienced this?
I chose to use a pda as, although it doesn't have sat/nav out of the car it
does enable me to use it for the maps when sight seeing.
For such a small thing I have been impressed with what it can do except for this problem. I have been in touch with ViaMichelin who say they have sent the details onto their mapping department, when I chased it up they did offer me a 50 euro reduction on the latest version.
Which seems to me to be a bit of a cheek as the version I bought does not do what they claim surely I should get a free update.
Has anyone else experience of this product?
Any ideas?
grayham

elan2s · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2004 Posts: 143

I don't have this problem and am using Mapsonic v2.5.2. I believe the problem may be that the co-ordinates in Mapsonic are entered as decimals rather than degrees:minutes:seconds or vice-versa. I am using the speed camera data from this website with no problems so someone here can probably confirm which round it is and how to easily convert from on to another

muddle · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 5

Thank you for your reply.
Let me give you an example;
If I select Guys Hospital, London SE1 9RT as my departure point using the co-ordinates below;

Multimap
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=532730&y=180143&z=0&sv=SE1+9RT&st=2&pc=SE1+9RT&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf
Lat: 51:30:17N (51.5046) Lon: 0:05:20W (-0.089)

Streetmap
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=532730&y=180143&z=0&sv=SE1+9RT&st=2&pc=SE1+9RT&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf
Lat (WGS84) N51:30:17 ( 51.504642 )
Long (WGS84) W0:05:20 ( -0.088990 )

Entering the lat/lon as 51; 30,17 N and 00;05,20 W

This shows up as halfway along Snowsfields which is _near_ Guys street but not as close as I would expect. Using the departure point symbol as a poi it reads 51;30,142N / 05;20,42W
Am I expecting too great a degree of accuracy?

Thanks for your advice
grayham

elan2s · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2004 Posts: 143

Probably an accuracy issue but in reality I find that the data from the GPS receiver, however the software chooses to interpret, it pretty accurate (not withstanding the issues I have had with my receiver!). When parked in the various streets does the system show you in the right location? I must admit I don't enter locations by co-ordinate as I tend to know street names instead of map references

muddle · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 5

When parked in the various streets does the system show you in the right location?

Yes and when I type in the address there's no problem.

I must admit I don't enter locations by co-ordinate as I tend to know street names instead of map references

The main thing I wanted the unit for was for co-ordinates and am disappointed that it seems not to work this way.
Could I ask you if you would mind trying the example I sent (Guy's Hospital, London) and see what you get?

Thank you for your help in this matter.
BW
Grayham

elan2s · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2004 Posts: 143

Tried your example and agree that there is a difference. I think the problem may be that when you enter a co-ordinate into Mapsonic (or Mapstore) it rounds it to its best estimate of the nearest street. Unfortunately Mapsonic only understands the road information (it assumes that you only need to navigate to an address it knows about) and if you leave the road, even to enter a car park it is unable to give directions until you rejoin a road it understands. For instance your Streetmap example points to the hospital site but not a specific road (there is an inherant inaccuracy in Streetmap by using post code data as these are buildings or groups of buildings not fixed points)

That said with the Mapsonic connected to the GPS receiver and looing at the Test screen in the GPS Parameters menu the co-ordiantes displayed are directly from the GPS and therefore accurate to within 50 metres and usually less.

Not sure this helps too much but I fear that the way in which you are trying to use the software is outside of its intended use.

muddle · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 5

Thank you for trying it , at least it shows that it is not a problem just on mine.
Quote;Not sure this helps too much but I fear that the way in which you are trying to use the software is outside of its intended use.
end quote

I had assumed that as it does this function that it would do it as well as it does everything else. After all, it must use the co-ordinates for the place locations when using the address.
I will continue using it for the sat nav function but am disappointed that it doesn't do my primary use as it claims.

Thank you for all your help.
Grayham

elan2s · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2004 Posts: 143

Looks as if in v3 you can no longer specify a location by co-ordinates

muddle · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 5

Hmmmm thats interesting!
Perhaps they realised that it doesnt work in that option. ( I could have told them that!)
Shame because one of the advantages of the Palm small size is that it was ideal for touring with , ok not with sat hook up but all the maps were accessible so that when you got to your site you could go exploring the town with the maps.

Well I have written asking for a returns note. It has limited use to me without that function and they do state that it is one of their claims.

Not holding my breath though

elan2s · Regular Visitor Joined: Dec 07, 2004 Posts: 143

The new version does work in Navigation mode with mode set as Perdestrian. In demo mode without a GPS this assumes a fixed 3mph speed and it will take you down one-way streets the wrong way etc.

The big downside of there no longer being the ability to view co-ordiantes is not being able to report the precise location of speed cameras to this site!

DennyL · Regular Visitor Joined: Jan 24, 2004 Posts: 114

If you need to know your co-ordinates you could use Cetus GPS, which is free. Read about it here:-

http://www.cetusgps.dk/main.html

	PocketGPS
	Web