Help needed with Mapsonic hotsync errors with Zire 31 bundle

jblackmore

[Sorry, posted this under Palm Hardware by mistake, so reposting]

I got my Zire 31 GPS bundle yesterday, and am overall very pleased with it, the GPS side works great, and routing is adequate, user interface is a bit quirky, but I am getting the hang of it, however I have some basic questions which I hope someone can answer.

This is with Mapsonic 2.5, Zire 31 with PalmOS v5.28004. MapStore 3.5 on Win2000/WinXP (Work and Home). I don't currently have an SD card (waiting for it to be delivered), so small section of map is in palm memory.

1. I hotsync to multiple PCs (work and home), and Mapsonic is giving hotsync errors, is this not supported ?

********** Mapsonic conduit : Start ********** 11/25/04 08:22:25
********** Mapsonic conduit : Closed ********** 11/25/04 08:22:25
Conduit 'mapsonic' Error: Unknown error. (FFFF)

Or other times:
********** Mapsonic conduit : Start ********** 11/25/04 08:43:19
### Sync files ###
********** Mapsonic conduit : Open ********** 11/25/04 08:43:19
Calling remote 2
Result : ERROR / 2
********** Mapsonic conduit : Closed ********** 11/25/04 08:43:20

2. I have added a POI type 'FAVES' on the Palm for my frequent destinations, but after hotsync these don't show on mapstore on my PC ? Also POIs I add on the PC don't transfer to Palm. I assume this is due to hotsync errors above, but can I confirm that I should be able to sync POI's between the PC and Palm or is this not supported ?

3. Is there a way to 'move' POIs by dragging etc, either on the Palm or PC, as I can only delete and re-enter them, and that isn't straightforward.

4. I have contacted ViaMichelin via their website with these questions, does anyone have any experience of ViaMichelin support, are they good at responding to questions ??

Anyway, hope someone can answer these, but overall I think it is a good solution, and compared with the Medion bundle I am glad I chose the Palm solution, due to the other Palm benefits, but hope I can resolve these silly niggles with some help.

James.

jblackmore · Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 2:50 pm Post subject:

I seem to be the only one replying to my questions :-)

Haven't heard back from Kirrio or ViaMichelin, but have been playing around with this, and I have realised the hotsync errors are unrelated to the POI's not being transferred.

I cannot find a way to export 'new' POI's from MapStore (on PC) to MapSonic (on Palm) Yet, however I have managed to export all the Speed camera POI lists from this site with icons as follows.

1. Use POIedit to convert ov2 files into asc
2. Use PaintShopPro to reduce the 22x22 bmps I downloaded from this site into 16x16 bmp which MapSonic requires
3. In MapStore create new POI types GATSO, SPECS, MOBCAM and REDLIGHTCAM and associate them with the chosen icon
4. Click the 'Pm with map-pin' toolbar icon in MapStore, this switches to POI Manager (exiting MapStore) - note to ViaMichelin - add tool tips they save ages if there is no proper manual !
5. Select the asc files in turn, each time associate them with the appropriate POI type (this picks up the icon), and when install manager comes up DO NOT siwtch destination to Card - these only work in memory for now (I assume they can be on the card, but have to be in a specifically named directory, which I cannot find out the reqiured name for), and follow instructions to hotsync to the PDA.
You have to hotsync for every asc database, so this requires 4 hotsyncs, which is not unbearable.

In MapSonic (on Palm) go to file -> parameters -> POI and make sure the display PI tickboxes are set for the new types, also go to POW and tick the gatso and mobcams for audible warnings (30 seconds and 10 seconds apparently, but I haven't tested this yet)

This has worked for me, however the new POI types are not modifiable either in MapStore (on PC) or Mapsonic (on Palm), as if as soon as you import using POI manager these become 'built ins'.

It looks like you can update them simply by repeating this with the updated asc files, but I would assume the filenames have to match or you will add a seperate set of POIs which would be bad.

I have used FileZ and it looks like the POI info and icons are combined into single files with POI extensions, sizes are not too big, so not the end of the world that these are stuck in memory:

UK_GATSO.POI 199k
UK_MOBCAMS.POI 49k
UK_REDLIGHTS.POI 37k
UK_SPECS.POI 25k

(I renamed the asc files from the original .ov2 files just so I could see the names in less characters)

Hope this is useful to someone else.

Still hope to hear from Kirrio or ViaMichelin on the hotsync errors, I see there is a 2.5.1 update of MapSonic for download on the Kirrio website, but it only claims to fix a problem I don't have (Improving the QuickInstall calculation of the available free memory on your PDA).

matty2767 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 85

check the palm bit i have replied to your msg there

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

I have Mapsonic v1.3.2, and I would be interested to know whether Mapsonic v2.5 has fixed what I see as pretty serious shortcomings in v1.3.2. I have posted elsewhere on these but will summarise them here:-

1: although Mapsonic will calculate a route using a permutation of Car, Pedestrian, Quickest Route and Shortest route, as soon as one engages Navigation mode, these settings are ignored and it will only navigate in Car + Quickest route mode. This is particularly frustrating for pedestrians and cyclists.

2: When navigating in metric (kph) mode, there is a pre-warning ('in 200m turn left') followed by an instruction ('turn left'). In 'miles per hou' mode the prewarning is missing. Irritating for those of us in the UK.

Another little thing I think I spotted: you can't assign a speed less than 22 to any class of road. I'm not sure whether this is kmh or mph, but as the average speed of my car in the greater London area is 27 - 29mph, it is a stupid fault, even for motorists.

I would be really grateful if you could check these points, J Blackmore, and let us know whether they have been fixed.

matty2767 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 85

dennyl have you seen the new version for sale anywhere yet. i only want the software and not a bundle as alot of companies do these days.

matty2767 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 85

there is a demo

http://www.shop.viamichelin.co.uk/shopexd.asp?catalogid=316

matty2767 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 85

i have got the demo but cannot see any difference with that and the old one. the maps may be newer though. who knows

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

I haven't been able to see any sort of date stamp or version level on the maps that I've got, so wouldn't know how to judge whether the maps in a proposed purchase were updates or not.

As I've got Mapsonic v1.3.2 on my Palm T3, I can't imagine what would be the impact of installing the v2.5 demo and then reverting to v1.3.2 after I'd finished evaluation. Would I still have my POIs, for instance?

I'm not looking seriously at buying Mapsonic (or 'Navigation Europe', I'm not sure what it's called these days), and I wouldn't until I could be sure that it was designed to navigate pedestrians and cyclists, as well as motorists.

matty2767 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 85

to be honest i dont think i wqould buy it either. the support isnt up to much and their software seems really basic compared to the competition. unfortunately i have a T2 and so am limited to options. you can check out tomtom though

jblackmore · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:32 pm Post subject:

Hi DennyL,

Sorry for slow response, only just checked on here.

I had a quick check, and found the following with Mapsonic v2.5.1 on my Zire 31 (GPS bundle).

1: It doesn't look like this has changed, if I calculate a route to my house using pedestrian shortest, it goes down a minor road to shortcut a triangle, if I go into Navigation Demo, it routes you back the 'normal' way. Also when I go back into Parameters after doing this, it has reverted to car, quickest, limited, so I believe this has not been fixed.

2: There is definately an audible 'turn left in 200 yards' when using MPH.

3. Yup, speed range is stuck at 22-87, if you set anything else, it is changed as soon as you select another road type or leave the screen.

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

God! Aren't they hopeless!

matty2767 · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 85

they are french

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