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Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:41 pm Post subject: copilot 6 first gripes
I agree that the postcode by it's self may not give the correct side of the street, but a house number and the post code should.
I have tried over 200 postcodes of people in the midlands and CoPilot gets over 50% wrong !! (Compared with multimap and streetmap).
In some causes these are not small errors, the biggest so far is approx 14 miles.
Also someone must have got bored when writing the database. There is one location in my town that CoPilot thinks (so far) 25 different postcodes belong (including my house). The error in this case is a mere 5 miles, it's actually better just to use the town name.
Using the house number, street, and town gets the wrong town !!!
Using the street and town gets the right street !!!!
Well here is my initial view on CP6 - I was one of the lucky ones who got a free copy at the GPS event in Basingstoke. :D
Having used CP5 for some time I had high hopes of CP6.
I am running it on a IPAQ 4700, Holux GPSlim and 512MB hi-speed SD card.
Installation - on the PC (laptop) no problems, however when I tried to create a data download and send it via ActiveSync 3.8 that old chessnut of not seeing the full capacity of my 512 MB SD card reared its head and would not let me download to an empty card (reported only 72MB available and required 100+MB). I formatted the card and tried again - no go, same problem. At this point I was forced to install on my desktop (has multi format card reader) and then download directly to the card - this worked without a hitch. Installed the SD card in the 4700 and the installation kicked of automatically and proceeded without problems. Started CP6 and then went through activation without a problem. Once started I then configured GPS, this went without a hitch, it saw the Holux over bluetooth and linked up no problem.
All was well at this point.
I now spent sometime setting up profiles - nice to see road preferences and speed adjustments at last, together with multiple profiles which can be selected during route planning if desired.
I next checked the GPS status, this is when I saw the first real bug, the satellite view was clearly corrupt - see pic below
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As you can see the satellite signal is out of line with its coresponding number. When you scroll down it gets worse (see second pic). Also note that it can't count either - its says six sats when there are eight!!
Whilst this is not a show stopper and does not effect navigation I did notice a system freeze when trying to exit this screen on several occasions lasting several seconds.
Support for portrait mode and VGA screens is not satisfactory, clearly optimised for portrait mode with the basic screen arrangement remaining the same whatever mode you select. See pics below.
I was able to switch between aspect ratios without stopping CP6 without any apparent effect.
I was hoping for better use of VGA and portrait mode quite frankly.
Visually the displays are slightly improved over CP5 but I had hoped for a slicker implemenation - still no scales shown on the maps which I think is a major ommission and long overdue. Visually maps are unchanged which is a pity. The feature of centring the display using the stylus with zoom has disappeared. I also dont like to fat finger typing screen used to input text, it is not querty in format and consequently is slow to use, an option to use the stanadrd typing screen would have been nice.
I tried the 7 digit post code and it appeared to work OK, however this was not an exhaustive test.
Routing was reasonably quick and gave acceptable results. I tried a short test route and ignored routing on six consecutive occasions and the system quicly suggested an alternative and kept going. A similar test on CP5 normally caused a freeze. Time will tell on longer more complex routes in the future.
Voice guidance (TTS) was the same as CP5 as far as I could tell - ie a Dalek on steriods. The annoucements were timely and audible so no problems apart from the quality.
I did notice the odd road missing from the maps, one cu de sac 100m from my home was missing, previously shown in CP5 - what is going on!! I wonder what else is missing from the maps.
To summarise - some useful new functions but alarmingly new bugs have appeared. I only hope that performance and stability is better. I'll be interested to see the official pocket GPS review sometime soon - I believe that hold up is that ALK has not provided a review copy (as of yesterday at least) so don't hold your breath folks.
Joined: Aug 25, 2004 Posts: 634 Location: Lincolnshire, England
Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 12:56 pm Post subject:
Neil01 writes:
neil01 wrote:
I suggest that you confirm that the postcodes you are using are correct using:
http://www.royalmail.com (you will need to register, but there is no charge for the limited service)
Armed with this confirmation, raise the problem as a bug.
That's a fair suggestion, but there does need to be the resource and the will at ALK for there to be some point in reporting things to them. My own experience shows that some progress is being made in this regard, but it seems limited.
Also, there is no substitute for a diligent team pouring over the information for the necessary hours and working to a tried and testing routine incorporating rigorous quality control. While I have seen some welcome improvements in CP 6 as compared with CP 5, there do seem to be too many errors, so I wonder if the commitment to more than expediency and quick fixes is there as yet.
In any case, CP 6 would probably be more appropriately named "CP 5.something", except, perhaps for the 7-digit postcodes and updated maps.
Having said that, the bug fixes have, as far as I can see so far, made the product a usable one with some powerful features such as Waypoints, Route Optimisation, which now seem to work reasonably, and, unlike TomTom an excellent pre-planning facility. What they have not done is brought the product up to date or added essential features that are, curiously, missing from this otherwise potentially great product. I refer to the lack of:
Comprehensive jump-to-point-on-itinerary facility
Jump to POI facility
Snap to current GPS position facility
Display of route in view-POI and view-point-on-map windows (these windows are USELESS if you can't see the route!!)
Centre-screen-on-cursor facility
On-screen compass
Street-name display when scale shows more than a couple of streets
Place-name display at small scales
In-application POI management and editing
The above are just a few off the top of my head, but they illustrate the state of play with CP 6.
The advanced routing options remain of fascination value more than anything as far as I can see, so if ambitious features are to be included, then the logic on which they are based needs to be sound, and explicable.
I said it about CP 5, and I'll say it about CP 6: this is a potentially brilliant product, but potentially is still not sufficient. I will be content to use it in anticipation of CP 7. However, CP 7 does need to be the realisation of the potential that I mentioned. _________________ Dell Axims X50v & X30 (both WM 2003 2nd Edition). Copilot BTGPS3 and Fortuna Clip-on BT receivers. Jabra BT 250 audio headsets. Welltech 40032/AF32 BT handsfree audio. Copilot 6.0.4.110. TomTom Navigator 5.21. MS Autoroute/Pocket Streets 2005
I noticed that the altitude displayed by CP6 is way out of whack.
Whilst on a ferry it said I was at 212 feet!!, I was about two meters above the water - it was high tide however not that high.
I immidiately closed CP and opened up Navio - it displayed 5 meters, which is not bad, just to check again I restarted CP and yes it was still 200+ feet. So why is CP6 not interpreting correctly?!? _________________ Regards BigH
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 11:38 pm Post subject:
BigH wrote:
Whilst on a ferry it said I was at 212 feet!!, I was about two meters above the water - it was high tide however not that high.
Your GPS receiver reports the height based on a the WGS-84 model of the earth (which doesn't match mean sea level) and there is supposed to be a correction factor to compensate for this.
Depending on the mapping program, the GPS chipset and the receiver firmware (SiRF firmware had a bug in it for a long time), the correction may or may not be done correctly.
It looks like Navio gets the compensation right but CoPilot doesn't. _________________ Gone fishing!
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:57 am Post subject:
BigH wrote:
Skippy, thanks for the info. As a matter of interest I was using a Holux GPSlim 236 (brand new) so hopefully SiRF3 has been sorted by now.
If you can connect to the serial port and see the raw data coming back from the GPS, the position and height information is in the $GPGGA line.
If you are enough of a geek 8O to be interested in finding out what is happening then try and get this data and we can try to figure out if it is CoPilot or the GPS which is at fault. _________________ Gone fishing!
Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 283 Location: Reading, UK
Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:11 pm Post subject:
BigH wrote:
... I was using a Holux GPSlim 236 (brand new) so hopefully SiRF3 has been sorted by now.
No excuses for CP6 in my view.
Unfortunately, that model is not that new (there is a 6-month old review on the web), and your particular box may have been sitting on a shelf for that time. I bought a Globalsat BT338 (Sirf III) more recently, and even had to get the firmware updated on that.
Having said that, I compared both CP6 and Navio heights with my Ordinance Survey map, and Navio is about right, while CP6 is at least 170 feet too much. For some reason, GPSInfo doesn't give the height. _________________ Ian
iPaq 2210
Globalsat BT-338
Seidio G2500 Amplified Vent Mount
CoPilot 6, GPS Tuner 4.2, Navio 3.01
BMW 330ci Sport
The fuel cost calculator bugs me. It asks for cost per gallon - when was the last time anyone in the UK got charged by the gallon?
I want it to allow me to select the units, and mix paying in litres with miles per gallon, and let the software work out the numbers.
Yeah, I know it's a minor gripe, but little usability things like this just get my goat.
Where can I find the fuel calculater on Copilot 6 ?
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