bad routing in NYC and an iGPS idea

[kirillka]

Hi All,

Apart for the general approval and satisfaction with iQue I have recently experienced a couple of its shortcomings.

Specifically it's reception quality was very poor in Manahattan (which could be improved by an additional antenna which I have already ordered), and, more importantly, the efficiency of a couple of calculated routes was questionable at best. I could give a couple of examples but in general iQue would suggest a route that will take much longer than the usual one that I usually take.

Now, I understand that iQue doesn't know the local details etc, but maybe that shortcoming could be corrected? I would imagine that when computing the best route it uses a certain weight for each of the intervalls of the route. What if after actually travelling along the street it would re-adjust the weight according to the travel experience? Suppose its assumption is that the average sped on thisparticular street is 35 mph. However the actual speed was only 20 mph. The unit should adjust its weight table accordingly 9not necessarily to 20 mph, but maybe to an average or to some other number in between).

After a while this sort of iterative gps engine could accumulate the speeds assignment that is more realistic than the default one.

Does anyone know if any GPS makers implement about such an approach? Any thoughts?

Thanks, Kirill

[paul6347]

I too have simular misrouting while traveling in and out of NYC and Queens area. It doesn't usually take best way. According to the iQue's mapping with pre-determined speed limits for the roads, it might caclulate that route to be the fastest, but that would be under best cercimstanses for that route. When I travel with the iQue, and go a way I want to go forcing to to recaculate the route, most of the time the ETA time is very close to the original ETA of the route before. I wish too that the iQue used some anogrithim to average the actual speeds of the roads while traveling and back that info up while sync. I also wish that it would give you a choice of the fastest routes, and choose from the list, and also more preference choices while routing, like "Use Highways", "Use local Roads", "Scenic Route", "Prefered Route", like on some other mapping software.


Paul

[vladn]

This is typical for Manhattan. External antenna may help a bit but not much since high rise buldings effectively block GPS signal. For stable navigation in Manhattan you need a system with inertial backup.

As far as picking a route it does wierd things at times (I've used both SPIII and IQue). It looks like the map has no information on traffic light density and such. It just has few classes of roads. AFAIK there is no learning mode in Garmin units althought I wish it had.

Vlad

[TKinNY]

I've tried several different GPSs in Manhattan, and none seem to work right. I've had the same trouble in other cities with tall buildings.

As for the NYC roads, consider this:

Queens Boulevard is a 12-lane road. There are six express lanes and six local lanes. Looks like a freeway, and being in the city, the speed limit was 50 mph.

Unfortunately, due to the width of this monster, people were getting killed trying to cross it in one light. The newspapers named it "The boulevard of death." So they changed the speed limit.

It's now 30 mph.

As for roads in general, the GPS doesn't know the speed limit for each individual road, but only its general classification. The estimated speed of each class of road can be set in Mapsource, but not in the IQue. So you might try seeing what sort of route you get from Mapsource vs IQue, given the same routing points.

What I'm waiting for is a GPS that knows where the traffic and the construction sites are.

[TKinNY]

One other thing.

I'm in NYC and I live on 84th Avenue.

According to the IQue, I live on Abigail Adams Avenue.

And it shows our local library....about two blocks from its real location.

Go figure.

[paul6347]

I noticed for the Queens area in NYC that the map is shifted about 40 feet to the west, so the iQue thinks you are 40 feet more to the east than you really are. When I try to follow iQue routed directions and get on to the Van Wick Expressway (which runs north to south) by "take ramp left", and I get on the Van Wick, it still thinks I'm on the service road and says right after I get on the expressway, "Off Route, Recalculating", which was bull. So I zoomed in all the way to 120ft at it had me service road. I also noticed this for every block I pass. It's just like it shifted. As far as manhatten, I effectively navigate it with an external gps antenna.

Paul

[Berty]

I'll start with a preamble: I swear I do not attempt to be a smart-alec here. I'm just new to the entire GPS field and I'm trying to learn new 'justifications' for the amount of $$$$ I spent. SO: having lived in Albany (NY) for about 14 years, I travelled to NYC quite a few times. With the orthogonality of Manhattan, why would anyone need a GPS to navigate it? Even a tourist, with the address specifying a number (i.e. N/S location) and a navigational direction (i.e. E/W) I would think that one can 'blindly' find his/her way. Is the GPS truly an enhancement in Manhattan?

[Suprastar2000]

Try getting around downtown where it's all names (i.e. Bleeker, Houston, etc.) And what about the other 5 boroughs of NYC? Not to mention that there are many different ways to get in and out of NYC so GPS is useful in finding the best way to get to the final destination. If only the iQue could take traffic, construction, etc. into account, it would be an ideal unit.

I'm receiving my iQue by the end of this week. I'll try to comment on how it is getting around Queens, NYC, NJ, PA, CT, etc.


-Ash

[paul6347]

I travel manhattan, queens, and brooklyn, and the iQue is a definet enhancement with the oneways and going crosstown, the number on the street are fairly simple, but the number on the avenues are different from avenue to avenue, and don't rely on the street numbers. And downtown.... all named streets that are not even straight, try finding an address down there if your a tourist. Not to mention all the POI at your fingertips!

Paul