Lat

Originally Posted by Lat

awesome, i'm gonna try that ['easy' routing mode] out (i hate it when it takes me through small streets)

i find it occasionally takes me waaay waaay out of the optimal route...i'll stick to fastest for now.

mle_ii

What are the pros and cons of OCN6 compared to the latest iGuidance? I'm trying to decide between these two.

beakmyn

For best GPS performance/stability I highly recommend using GPSGate from Franson it makes all the difference.

I have both OCN6 and Iguidance4
The neat category lists things that one can do that other can't that aren't directly related to performance but neat feature.

OCN6:
PRO
customizable interface (pdamill skins)
"eye-candy" graphics
Detailed graphics
Better map view and angled "3D" view
Smart Zoom - I have overhead view when more then 10 miles to next turn. Then 3D view at <10 miles and then it will zoom in close when 200feet from turn
larger POI database 12+million
Can sync your clock with GPS
POI import
Smooth screen update while driving
Preset for Home and Work

CON
NO Text To Speech for streets
No immediate turn info - Let me explain this: Lets say you have to make a left turn then you have to make another turn within a couple hundred Iguidance will show an two icons. In OCN it will you only one turn and it may tell say "turn left then in 200 feet turn right" But, not always

Quirky routing. I've had it take me off a highway onto surface streets to save 0.9 miles. OCN prefers interstates (65mph) over state routes (55mph) and will always try to route you onto an interstate route if possible.

Dedicated SD card

Manuveurs not as detailed - Voice will say: "In more then 2 miles turn left"

NEAT
In 3D view the realistic clouds and stars in the sky. If it's near sunset or sunrise the sun will appear in the correct spot on the screen!



Iguidance:

PRO
Less eye candy
Will tell you what side of street destination is on
Modify hardware button actions to suite
Text to Speech for street names
Routing is more logical

Detailed voice routing - Voice will say "In 2.5 mile turn left onto Anystreet" Where Anystreet is the TTS engine saying street name

CON
Less POI - Although more POIs then previous version they actually removed POIs to add more.
No POI import function
Warning screen on startup - you can disable it by using a shortcut
1 second update of screen while driving
Voice for guidance is different then that for TTS engine that says street names
Preset for Home location only

NEAT
Info screen for town you're in (name of town, Even/Odd house numbers on left/right), etc
Weather info based on GPS location (requires internet connection)
Almanac screen showing sunrise/sunset time and moon info


That's been my view of them. Right now I've been using OCN more then Iguidance because I like the look better. But the quirky routing can be an issue.

OnCourse Navigator - Discussion

Iguidance has the TTS for street names as one of the big pluses and it doesn't require a dedicated SD card.

However OCN has more options and POIs and just looks really nice.

gluteusAXIMus

why doesn't my oncourse6 do the contacts thing on startup on my x51v? provided i only have like 3 contacts that actually have addresses but regardless, i dont see them in my "contacts" poi's. also, does this only do this in the initial install? i'd like to have my contacts available in poi's

Gdio53

Originally Posted by gluteusAXIMus

why doesn't my oncourse6 do the contacts thing on startup on my x51v? provided i only have like 3 contacts that actually have addresses but regardless, i dont see them in my "contacts" poi's. also, does this only do this in the initial install? i'd like to have my contacts available in poi's

You need to edit the sys.txt file in \SD Card\OnCourse
Change the line that reads
skip_contact_import=1
to
skip_contact_import=0

Later sales of OCN6 disabled contact import by default, with large contact databases, OCN startup was slow until all the contact were imported.

Gary

joekee

Hi Beakmyn,

Thanks for your excellent post. May I know if you are using Fast, Short, or Economical setting on the problematics route?

Also, have you ever tried Easy routing (you will have to tweak OCN6 ini files)?

__________________
Best Regards,
Sales Team at buyGPSnow.com

tstar

Originally Posted by Gdio53

You need to edit the sys.txt file in \SD Card\OnCourse Change the line that reads skip_contact_import=1 to skip_contact_import=0 Later sales of OCN6 disabled contact import by default, with large contact databases, OCN startup was slow until all the contact were imported. Gary

There is no sys.txt file on my card -- am I missing something? I really would like to speed up the start.

joekee

Originally Posted by tstar

There is no sys.txt file on my card -- am I missing something? I really would like to speed up the start.

If you are looking at the card's contents on Pocket File Explorer, you will see "sys" only without the file extension. You could still edit it as instructed by the other forum member and then save the file.

__________________
Best Regards,
Sales Team at buyGPSnow.com

beakmyn

Originally Posted by joekee

Hi Beakmyn, Thanks for your excellent post. May I know if you are using Fast, Short, or Economical setting on the problematics route? Also, have you ever tried Easy routing (you will have to tweak OCN6 ini files)?

I currently use the easy routing option which is enabled by using the custom skin from Andy Elliot (My PDAmill :: Log in)

I like the extra options and tweaks it provides. There's a lot to read in the first post but it boils down to selecting the 4 zip files and putting them into the \SD Card\OnCourse\SKIN directory.

I chose:
ColourPOIsQVGA_VGAv2.zip
Colourful Screen Icons V2.2.zip
Black_GD_RN_Buttons.zip
AndySK8.5.1.zip



OCN8 will be released in Oct/Sept timeframe and there's hints that some of these routing issues will be fixed along with TTS, saved routes and possibly a few other goodies. OCN has not said what the pricing structure will be though. It appears that they are working on trying to provide the software portion as cheap to free only if the parent company doesn't force new maps to be bundled. Otherwise they (OCN) will be forced to charge so that they can recover the cost of the new maps (aren't cheap).

In the meantime I'll still use OCN6 but I'm hoping that 8 will be cheap since I only got 6 a couple months ago.

Amamba

I've tried friend's PDA with OCN6 while on vacation last month (have iGuidance 3 myself). Generally, I am not impressed at all. I saw basically 2 major turn-offs:

- Routing is spotty, to say the least. At home, it tries to make me take a side street for 2+ miles to get to interstate, instead of taking a highway then interstate (that's both shorter and quicker). Does it with "Economical" and "Quick" options. Also, in at least 2 occasions it made me turn right instead of left. And the recalculation times were very long - once I had to stop just to let it finish, otherwise it would just be going in loops.

- At home, screen update speed was OK, actually seemed a bit smoother than iGuidance v3. However on vacation it was severely lagging most of the time (an update in perhaps every 3-4 sec), and even when it wasn't lagging the display was at least 3 sec behind (showing me approaching previous intersection while I had already crossed the next one). The voice prompt seemed to be on time, leading me to believe this was a program / map "quirk".

It's also quite a memory hog and can become slow or unresponsive at times.

On the bright side, it has a very nice 3D view and lots of POI.

RobMan

Nice post Amamba. If you get the opportunity to try the s/w again, below are some suggestions that should help you.

Originally Posted by Amamba

.... Routing is spotty, to say the least. At home, it tries to make me take a side street for 2+ miles to get to interstate, instead of taking a highway then interstate (that's both shorter and quicker). Does it with "Economical" and "Quick" options....

The new EASY routing option that is available now as a patch should fix this. I go back and forth between Easy and Economical. I find they both have their advantages.

Originally Posted by Amamba

..... And the recalculation times were very long - once I had to stop just to let it finish, otherwise it would just be going in loops. ........ It's also quite a memory hog and can become slow or unresponsive at times. ............

I don't know what type of PDA you used it on, but on my Axim X30H, I found that after I start the software, if I adjust the memory slider to free up more PROGRAM memory, it dramatically increases the calculation times. For instance, before I start the s/w, I may have 37mb free memory. After starting the s/w, I have 26mb free memory. I'll adjust the slider to give me 20mb of program memory and 6mb of storage memory. The recalculation times are then extremely fast.

This might have something to do with your screen refresh rates as well. I have zero problems with this or with the lag times you describe.

__________________

JakeRich

To add to what RobMan said, the primary cause of "weird" routes in any and all GPS systems is error in the map database. On my commute, for example, one stretch of road is badly off for average travel speed. As a result, the mapping software tries to avoid that "bad" stretch to the point of re-directing me several miles out of the way to a parallel road. Those type of errors are in every database, so it pays to check the route before you set out on it and look at what the system is trying to do before blindly following the directions.

Mapping software is a challenging task and most of the apps are memory hogs. Give them as much memory as you can and you'll get better performance. Remember, the navigation data is being force-fed by the receiver, so the system has to be ready to receive the data, which means that when it comes to crunch time, the display/voice will be the first to suffer.

paulcb

A bit off topic but... any chance for future GPS software to "learn" our habits and such... i.e. speeds we travel on certain roads, adding roads that are real but not in the maps, etc..?

JakeRich

Originally Posted by paulcb

A bit off topic but... any chance for future GPS software to "learn" our habits and such... i.e. speeds we travel on certain roads, adding roads that are real but not in the maps, etc..?

Probably someone will do that eventually, but...(and there always seems to be a "but")

1. If I am a regular commuter on an interstate and the system "learns" that the average speed on that road is 20 mph because I'm only on it in rush hour, then eventually that road will be the less preferred road to a parallel set of local streets rated at 25 mph. The software will now start recommending that street-level path over the interstate, even outside rush hour.

2. Adding roads is a good idea, but if I take my GPS off-roading, or hiking, or visiting a park, there needs to be a way NOT to learn that path for general planning. Otherwise I'll be driving over the kid's ballpark!

paulcb

Originally Posted by beakmyn

For best GPS performance/stability I highly recommend using GPSGate from Franson it makes all the difference.

If I'm only using one GPS application at a time, is there any benefit to using GPSGate? Right now, my BT-339 works perfectly with IG3.