GPS software w/ route planner capabilities?

mAXIMum · 08-06-04, 02:44 PM

I received my Belkin Bluetooth GPS Receiver a couple of days ago and have been playing with it everytime I get in the car to go somewhere, no matter if the trip is a mile long or 40 miles long, I have the GPS tell me where I am and where to go. I noticed the Belkin Nav. Software does not have a route planner. Sure, it will give you a suggested route to take and then reroute if you get off track. I haven't taken the GPS anywhere I am not familiar with yet, and frankly, from experience the route it chooses for me is not always the best route to take.

What I would like it to do is give the user the ability to choose the route beforehand (ie choose which roads along the way) and then all it would do is guide you and make sure you stay on that route all the way to the destination. Is there any GPS software that can do this?

JakeRich · 08-06-04, 05:02 PM

Not specifically. Most of them have some sort of "waypoint" or "Route through" capability to allow you to direct the route somewhat. You can play with that until you get the route you want (or close to it). Some have options on what to favor--shortest, fastest, local roads, major roads, toll roads, sharp turns, etc. But the bottom line is none let you designate the route and then provide directions. Besides that, as soon as you deviate from that route, it will replan and try to direct you to its own solution, so even if you started with the route you wanted, it probably wouldn't last long.

mAXIMum · 08-06-04, 05:14 PM

I knew you'd be the man with the answer, Jake. That's disappointing to find out that a "manual route planning" feature is not available in today's software. I've tried messing with the route options for "quickest, shortest, major, and local" but those methods just don't measure up to my own navigation skills.

Of course most people use GPS to have them told where they are and how to get to where they are going. I guess if you know which way you need to go, you have no need for GPS! Which is my case, I don't need a GPS, but I just think they are so cool so I had to get one.

JakeRich · 08-06-04, 08:44 PM

In your local area, you know the "right way" to get from point to point. The software doesn't have that local knowledge, so it has to use some algorithm to pick what road. The average speed of each road segment is stored with that segment, for example, to allow the software to pick the "fastest" route. If that recorded speed doesn't match what actually goes on, then it will pick the "wrong" route because it doesn't have that local knowledge. In my area, for example, only one package picks the right route from my home to office and return, and it only works because I contacted the company and complained and they changed the speed on a portion of my journey to make it faster (and match what goes on in reality).

In a foreign location, however, the software will definitely get you there, although it may take a strange path. On my vacation in UK last May, for example, I used it to get to a certain pub for dinner. I followed the software blindly and got there mostly by country lanes. When I had the opportunity to plot out where it had taken me, I discovered I had been parallel to a major highway that I would personally have preferred, but to use that route added one minute to the journey and I had chosen "fastest" as the route. It wasn't "wrong" but it wasn't "right" either. The lesson learned is to let it plan, then review what it says to do before you blindly trust.