blooker

This site seems to be loaded with real life users, so here goes;

I am a long time on-the-road salesman covering a three state area and need a reliable (works all the time everytime) and easy to use routing and mapping system. Each day I visit at least one or two new prospects and need to get to these new locations as quickly as possible. I am far from being a computer whiz, but the company has given us Axim 400 PDA computers to use for customer info, and I'm learning to use it now. The routing maps in rental cars work great and something like that would be best if available for the Axim.

Thanks in advance for your help.

JakeRich

Read the reviews posted on this site, then read through some of the threads. The most popular software packages are Mapopolis, Routis, Destinator, PocketMapNavigator and the newly released TomTom USA. My personal opinion is that Mapopolis and Routis are the best, with the differences between them being mostly personal preferences. PocketMapNavigator and TomTom USA maps are not as accurate or up to date as the Mapopolis/Routis maps.

If all you want is maps, Mapopolis probably is cheapest. If you want the rental-car like driving directions, all of the packages offer that, but the price goes up. You also need a GPS receiver. There are some reviews here of them, also. Mostly they are similar in features, speed and power consumption.

blooker

JackRich,
Thanks for the info. From what I read, none of the software seems (from reading questions and comments posted on this site)
rock solid dependable. Does high reliability type exist in the PDA world?

JakeRich

Well, that depends on the definition of "rock, solid dependable." I've never had Mapopolis, for example, crash itself, lock up or crash my PPC. So, in that sense, it's dependable. Practical use is another story. Mapping software is only as good as the maps, routing and GPS. Maps can be inaccurate for several reasons:

1. Roads change. It takes a while for the mappers to catch up with the fact that a new road opened, or closed, or was changed.
2. Roads are improperly mapped. If no one tells the mapper it has misplotted something, it'll never get fixed.

Routes based on that mapping data can be "wrong" for several more reasons:

1. The map data is incorrect, so the routing software doesn't know the right way across the road.
2. The speeds/traffic restrictions (one way, no left turns) are not known or are incorrect.
3. The algorithm for picking a route is poor.

Most of the time routing software seems to struggle with 1 and 2. Given good data, most of them come up with good routes.

When driving the directions from the software can be bad for another reason:

1. GPS errors. GPS receivers are only supposed to be accurate to within 25 meters, so on closely parallel roads the software can get confused, for example, or it can think you missed a turn when in fact you have a short distance to get there.
2. Incorrect "mapping" from the map to the voice prompts. I've had the software say "right" when the map pointed left. I usually glance at the Ax when it speaks to see that the display and voice agree. When in doubt, I follow the display.

However, for most of the time mapping software is pretty useful. I wouldn't just plan a route and blindly follow it, of course, but then I wouldn't do that even if it was backed up by a supercomputer with deadly accurate maps. I would use the software as a tool, make my decision, and if I liked the solution proposed by the software, follow it. However, if the software suggests in the middle of the route a turn I wasn't expecting, or that seems funny to me, I'd double check that something hadn't gone sadly wrong.

I was a navigator in airplanes for 20 years and in that time I learned that you have to do a proper preflight plan to avoid poor performance. Right now the software will help with doing that plan, but you have to check it, not blindly trust it. After all, as the driver it's your responsibility to get to the destination, not the Axim's.

Did that help?

blooker

roger that, JakeRich.

since getting to where i want to go ASAP is a large factor in my income picture, i am looking for a 'fire and forget' solution that may not exist. i don't want to get bogged down with patches, hacks, and updates that i see so much of on these pages. the software in Hertz rental cars has been 100% dead on. (CPA =?). today I saw a Garmin Street Pilot that was impressive, but big and clunky and pricey. If it works as advertised, it may be worth it, but it's one more piece of hardware in the car in addition to this PDA they have us dragging around. i wonder if Fedex, etc are using any type of routing hardware/software in their dispatch efforts? something else to check out. i don't want to go into analysis paralysis on this thing so will make a decision in the next week or so.

anyway, thanks for the detailed repsonse and taking the time to write it.