To register for an Internet.com membership to receive newsletters and white papers, use the Register button ABOVE.
To participate in the message forums BELOW, click here
Hello everyone, Radio Bokkie is back on the air! Time to rock-and-roll. First my apologies for such a long post, but those who know me would not expect anything else!
We hit the ground hard (literally) in Pisa a week ago. The hire car we were given was about as basic as it can get, a Daewoo Matiz, which is one category above Fred Flintstone’s luxury sedan. The paperwork contained a disclaimer against damage under the car, and you know something, the state of the roads we had to ride on was all the proof we needed that there are some things that insurance cannot provide for. A larger car than ours might have handled the um, ruts, trenches, potholes, caverns, call them what you will, with some impunity. To some extent, the road mixture of concrete and tarmac and stone was almost African-esque in its patchwork quilt style, and these roads tested my Garmin beanbag to levels that even the most stringent regulations could never have foreseen. Thankfully, the beanbag survived. The iQue was an absolute necessity. In a country where we knew none of the language and roads signs we could not read, we trusted implicitly in Betty’s ability to get us where we needed to, and for the most part she did, but like a skilled craftsman, she can only work as well with the tools and material she is given to use, namely, the maps. More about this later.
No trip to a country like Italy can ever be described in words that match the experiences we enjoyed. Firstly, the Italian people were generally a delight to meet. We were well received just about everywhere we went. To be sure, Florence station (Santa Maria Novella) was as impersonal as it could get. If you have never been to Tuscany, then go there. We were rooted in a medieval town called San Gimignano which was close to Florence, Pisa, Siena, Volterra and the countryside of Chianti. To experience the delight of a nation that is so family-oriented is a pleasure. No lager louts in sight, no piles of vomit, no drunken foreigners, but two things, somewhat oddly, do stand out: owners who let their dogs dump wherever they want; and it almost seemed that one in two of the population smoke. Seldom did we ever find a restaurant that was vietato fumatore. Whilst trying to duck under the clouds of cigarette smoke, we were hard pressed to look at what we wanted to look at whilst keeping a wary eye on the ground trying to avoid the piles of doggy-poo that in some streets almost seemed to grace every paving stone in two! For what looks to be a nation of smokers, I wonder how the Italians maintain relatively good health and yet what would the statistics be for lung cancer in that country? We had endless espressos and cappuccinos and like the adage suggests, eat where the locals eat is true. Only once did we have a meal that was not worthy. Perhaps there is more cut and thrust driving in the major cities, but the roads in Tuscany that week were mostly our own. The car had no reliable fuel gauge and would dart from empty to full and back again in a moment. You are full-full on half-full and half-full on full-full. Worrying indeed as we never really knew how much fuel we had. The drivers were generally not as bad as the stereotype suggests they should be. Where we stopped and slowed to let people in, only once were we ever thanked. Turn signals seem to be optional. And when I had the audacity to turn left from a straight-ahead lane only, we were greeted with a torrent of abuse by the refuse collection truck behind us. We also had the occasion to do the tourist-thing in Pisa. Of course, everyone heads for that ultimate Pisa icon – the tower. You know, the tower is quirky, without it Pisa would probably fade on the map, but in a strange way, the leaning tower actually ‘works’. There were endless photographs being taken by people using fore-shortened perspective and they would place their hands outwards as if holding the tower up. All very amusing. Yes, we went to the Uffizi in Florence and whilst the experience was slightly tainted by the organized tour groups, I don’t think anyone could not be held captivated by Botticelli’s painting of the birth of Venus, she standing in a giant clam shell, the painting among all that defines the renaissance age. We were sad, very sad to get back to the architecturally destitute town we live in, Crawley. Crawley, Firenze, Crawley, San Gimignano, Crawley, Radda in Chianti. We know where we would rather live and so admire the people who live in that captivating country. A fabulous week in a nation that did so much to make us feel at home.
Alas, any tale that cheers the hero must boo at the villain. Our hero and villain was Betty (or should it be Bettina?). For the most part, the iQue was faultless. I had the Gillson antenna mounted inside by the windscreen. Accuracy was generally better than 5 meters. The only time we ever used a paper map was to study it for places we would go to the next day. One thing the iQue did was give us the freedom to drive where we wanted. We often took narrow roads that darted in all directions and there was the security of always knowing where we were heading. Where we did route specifically, she made the whole confusing issue of sorting out one-way streets, turns here, turns there, generally 99.9% accurate and reliable. Where she did wrong, the consequences were dramatic and caused my eyebrows to raise in puzzlement.
One : navigating through Poggibonsi, the purple route line just disappeared. A quick tap on the GPS screen showed all was well. A soft reset was necessary to get her back online. For some reason she lost her mind, and in the ensuing panic in rush hour traffic, I felt utterly helpless as we sought somewhere to stop and arm myself with the stylus. It took several minutes before Betty would come back to us. I had visions of an RMA in a town we did not know.
Two: she once lost her mind again, and time after time barfed “Off route, recalculating” when we were on the route. Looking at the GPS screen, the accuracy was no better than 90 meters. Yikes! What had gone wrong? Could that have explained the recalculation problem? I think so, but maybe you have some ideas?
Third: a really odd quirk with one route calculation. She told me to turn right. I did. The tarmac suddenly ended and a badly graded road took over. I stopped. This could not be right. I zoomed out a bit. What she was doing was taking us maybe 1km down this track, and then a large loop around what seemed in the distance to be a vineyard and then promptly back again. In short, a dead-end track that served no purpose. I turned the car around, headed back to the main road, let Betty recalculate and we were happy again. I wonder if Betty had not reached some anthropomorphic state and was actually enjoying being in Tuscany herself? Perhaps she had secretly made contact with another iQue? Disturbing. Very disturbing. I must keep an eye on her.
Four: the voice prompts can be confusing. There is a big difference between ‘bear right’ and ‘turn right’ A few times I turned where a bear right was more appropriate. This was very true where a road bent in one direction and another road forked off from it. Betty would say turn right when we were on the road already. I suspect she was confused about the turn right branching off it and maybe she could not adequately distinguish the road we were on and which prompt to use? It would have been better if she had remained quiescent. We got use to this anomaly.
Five: the colours, oh, those colours that look so pale and washed out in sunlight and that made the route line difficult to follow. Fortunately, in the loosest sense, the weather was quite dreary half of the time so the line was easy to follow and see. Other times, it was nigh impossible and in a country we knew not, trying to cope with unfamiliar street signs, and on a side of the road we are not used to driving on, was perhaps my most annoying gripe. Please Garmin, let us choose the colours.
Six: maps. There were quite a few places where we were on a road, not new roads mind, but well established ones that were not on CS6. There were small towns we drove through that simply do not exist on CS6 except by way of a name only. My impression of this is that NavTech need to do much more to bring the Italian countryside into line with the rest of the country. It may serve some who need to use only the autostrada, but as a serious navigation tool, CS6 did let the side down. NavTech, maybe it’s time to revisit the countryside?
Seven: Breve in Chiant is a small town. It confused Betty – big time. We stopped for a while and when she took us out, she was clueless. I followed her directions. She did well to avoid the one way streets and she brought us back again to where we were. It was almost Hotel California time. Eventually, I stopped the navigation and just aimed for somewhere that was sign-posted and got out of town far enough for her to get her bearings. That was odd.
Eight: Going from Pisa to San Gimignano was fine and direct. Going back, she routed us through industrial areas. I never knew why she did that. Maybe that was just a quirky route she thought was best.
So, did Betty perform well? Absolutely! I share these eight points if only to illustrate that you do need to be cautious to a limited extent. GPS is not a magic panacea that serves all navigation purposes but without Betty, we would not have explored so much as we did or enjoyed sitting back and enjoying the view as much if we had to rely on paper maps alone. If you travel to another country, don’t leave home without her! I know it all sounds sickly sweet, but Garmin, a big thank you for making something that really contributed to the amazingly enjoyable week we had.
Bravo Bokkie, your recount is great. Nice days you had, did not say how much Chianti you enyoied, I suspect you did not have so much opportunities for driving a lot.
Thanks for giving me the pleasure of returning to Tuscany again.
Originally posted by Holgado Bravo Bokkie, your recount is great. Nice days you had, did not say how much Chianti you enyoied, I suspect you did not have so much opportunities for driving a lot.
Thanks for giving me the pleasure of returning to Tuscany again.
Holgado. The only days we did not really use the car were the two we went to Firenze, driving instead to a nearby station and taking the train into Firenze S.M.N. Some people accuse Italy of being a peasant state, but to be honest, the 2nd class train carriages were better than the so-called cattle-truck 1st class that runs on much of the UK network.
Welcome back Bokkie, it seems you had a lot of fun in Italy
Do you had any problems with the beanbag on the security check at airports? It seems, some security guys are very distrustfully on the contents of the bag.
__________________
Mike
_____________________________
I'm not (yet) banned
Bokkie, did you check if those places and roads that were not charted appear on online navtech maps? It would be interesting to compare with the Tele Atlas database also (map24.com etc).
Seems roads deteriorated a lot since we made about the same trip in November. No problem with a ford focus. Did you come to Siena, let alone drive there?
The only days we did not really use the car were the two we went to Firenze, driving instead to a nearby station and taking the train into Firenze S.M.N.
Wise choice, Bokkie. Firenze is one of the most challenging places to drive in I have ever seen. If you were navigating with Betty and the Poggibonsi thing happened it would not have been a pleasant experience.
Welcome back. I had similar experiences with insane routing a while back. I was on the edge of the detailed maps loaded on Q, but fortunately was in familiar territory. The route had me get off of a freeway, make a 5+mile loop through town, and come back on to the original freeway about a mile down from where I was to leave it.
By chance, did any of your "less than optimal routing" occur on the fringes of your detailed map data?
Originally posted by Bavarian Do you had any problems with the beanbag on the security check at airports? It seems, some security guys are very distrustfully on the contents of the bag.
Mike, they did investigate. They were more interested in the antenna. On close inspection they noticed the small plug of blue-tack on the back of the antenna. That's the stuff you stick posters to walls etc and that you find many derivatives of in stationery shops. I use it to secure the antenna to the dash. It looked a little suspect but once I showed the iQue and plugged the antenna in they were quite happy. They found the beanbag quite amusing and I felt like a twat showing them this stuff while other passengers were going through.
On the way back, they detected my insulin pump and told me to remove it. I said no as I usually tape the infusion tube to my waist. Once they saw the large patch where it enters my abdomen, the security lady grimaced and waved me through as if I were diseased or something!
Originally posted by jonasolof Bokkie, did you check if those places and roads that were not charted appear on online navtech maps? It would be interesting to compare with the Tele Atlas database also (map24.com etc).
Seems roads deteriorated a lot since we made about the same trip in November. No problem with a ford focus. Did you come to Siena, let alone drive there?
It's worth exploring Jonas, but unfortunately I can't remember exactly where it was Betty decided to go 'mental' on me and route me out and back again on the dead end track. I certainly will check map24.com as I'm fairly certain I'll find those 'missing' towns and villages quite easily.
Most of the Tuscan roads were quite ok but there were some awful places where concrete met hastily laid tarmac and one really gave the car a severe jolt. In quite a few places, some of the more severe potholes had large dollops of tarmac thrown into them. Many of the smaller towns seemed to have the problems most. Poggibonsi, which is almost sort of run down to an extent was quite bad on most roads. The pavements in the medieval towns were lovely to walk on. The flagstones and cobbles just oozed with character (no the doggy 'character' I mentioned previously).
Siena was wonderful as well. The scallop-shaped piazza of the old town was very attractive.
Originally posted by terrier By chance, did any of your "less than optimal routing" occur on the fringes of your detailed map data?
Terrier
Not really. I had most of the central Italy maps loaded and the problem I described was moreorless in the centre area of one of the loaded tiles. I was concerned about the SadRisk card letting me down though. Overall I was really happy with Bettina. Whenever she said "off route, recalculating" my wife would often say something like, "we know sweetheart, that was nice of you to tell us. Now stick a cork in it will you!" My wife was a little hesitant about Betty to begin with, but she admitted it saved her a lot of grief not having to spin a map around working out where to go.
Being skiddish, I found Tralfagar to be a cost effective and very enjoyable way to see the highlights of Italy.
If course, they don't hit the hamlets and fecies covered villages.....man, sorry I missed that!
It took me more than a year to "recover" from my Italian vacation. The people and weather were warm with a sense of adventure seemingly misplaced in day to day life. I brought that part of Italy back with me and it took some time before it wore off.
I think I'll leave Betty at home next time I go, though.
Originally posted by audscott I found Tralfagar to be a cost effective and very enjoyable way to see the highlights of Italy.
If course, they don't hit the hamlets and fecies covered villages.....man, sorry I missed that!
It took me more than a year to "recover" from my Italian vacation. The people and weather were warm with a sense of adventure seemingly misplaced in day to day life. I brought that part of Italy back with me and it took some time before it wore off.
If by Trafalgar you mean the vacation website, then my wife and her two sisters are reuniting in August to do a coach tour through France using that tour company. She did though step on a pile of doggy-poo. Her language was not pretty but then neither was the instep of her shoe!
We drove along a beautifully deserted track and passed a derilect house off the road that was still soundly built and it had the warm colours of Tuscany. A Tuscan dream perhaps?
I would have been hapless on my own in Europe. I've done it in Japan, with splitting headach in towe.
It gave me and the misses the grand tour of the major attractions in Rome, Venus, Florence and the Italian Lakes - then we went to Sorento on our own, looked around Naples and gawked at Pompei using the train system which was quite invigerating and relatively painless to navigate.
Originally posted by audscott Yes....that's the one. T-R-A-F-A-L-G-A-R.
I would have been hapless on my own in Europe. I've done it in Japan, with splitting headach in towe.
It gave me and the misses the grand tour of the major attractions in Rome, Venus, Florence and the Italian Lakes - then we went to Sorento on our own, looked around Naples and gawked at Pompei using the train system which was quite invigerating and relatively painless to navigate.
Hope you didn't miss Oplontis, the roman villa complex found in the 1930's. It is by far the best preserved of any in the area around Naples, Herculaneum and Pompeji included. Fantastic!! Bookie, book you'r next trip.
It's along the railway line Naples - Pompeji - Sorrento
With the iQue, I'll dare go anywhere in Italy. And now I also got maps of Sankt Petersburg and Moscow (not autoroute, but still). The mere thought of having car navigation in Russia is mindbogging.
I'll go anywhere in the U.S., Hawaii and Alaksa included - although in Alaska, you fly everywhere, then rent a car at your destination.
Maybe you fine folks from Europe (and Asia too, for that matter), may feel quite comfortable travelling in the States, but I'm more than a little intimidated in Europe, less in Japan (although South Korea was a hoot 30 years ago).
Then again, perhaps the thought of runnin up against gangsters in LA, Guito in Queens or Billy-Bob in Clanton, Mississippi might make anyone a bit squeemish.
Linear Mode
