For those unsure about GPS...[long]

Now, we've been to Pembrey three times now and both of us could have found
our way there and back without any sort of navigation aid, be it map, GPS
or trail of breadcrumbs, whatsoever.

Despite this, I was curious to try something out 'cause ever since The
Great GPS Fiasco in Norn Iron (where there are, according to Garmin's
software, no roads outside of Belfast) and an unplanned excursion into
Milan on another, recent trip (when trying to /avoid/ Milan), I've been
more than a bit dubious about some aspects of both the cartography and the
routing engine of my Garmin GPS V.

So, before setting off from home for the drag down the M4, I plotted a
couple of waypoints; her brother Rob's house in Wantage (to drop the pooch
off for the day) and Pembrey circuit, itself.

Once under way, Suze told the little GPS to "Find" Rob's place. It did and
proposed that we come off the M4 at J13 and then do some B-road or other
to get to Wantage.

Hmm, yes, that would have been acceptable were we not in a huge hurry (it
wasn't that daft a suggestion), but I elected to go the way I'd originally
intended and blast up the A338 from J14.

It was quite happy to do this as soon as it realised we'd gone past J13
and recalculated accordingly.

Great. It even got us to within a hundred feet of his door which I put
down to innacurate downloaded address maps rather than the device, itself.

So, off we set again, now onwards to Pembrey. Suze again called up the
preset way point and then we had an uninteresting pootle down the M4 to
J48. The same as the previous request, we'd told the device to plot the
/fastest/ route to our destination.

Now, there are three possible options when plotting a calculated route;
fastest, shortest and "off road". I've used "off road" in Norn Iron when
it was clear automatic routing wasn't working due to the lack of detail
maps, and it works well providing you give it regular waypoints (towns,
villages, junctions, etc.) and have an idea where you're actually going --
the basic "back-up for a paper map" mode.

In most other circumsatnces, "fastest" is preferable, so that's what we
chose. Now, all was well until we got off the M4 then soon after, it told
us to turn right up a little B-road. We ignored it and sailed straight on
into Llanelli, the way we normally go.

It recalculated again and we got there, no bother. Even our ETA had been
calculated to within a minute. Great.

Following the abortive racing for the team, Suze and I packed up the stuff
into the car at about 1pm and headed for the exit. I pressed the
appropriate buttons on the GPS to tell it we wanted to go back to Wantage
to the waypoint for her brother's place.

We were both a /little/ surprised when the unit told us to turn left out
of the gate...

Given we weren't pressed for time, I suggested we follow the directions
and see which way we went (mindful that it wanted for us to avoid
Llanelli[1] on the way in) so, we did.

This is the result:
http://www.ganzilla.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/wales3.jpg

The little red triangle, lower left is the circuit and the point where the
route plot began, The A484 is the road running along the bottom of the
map into Llanelli and the road on which we came in (and should have gone
back along). One would ordinarily then take the road up towards
Pontardulais arriving at J48 shortly thereafter.

As you can see, the route we /actually/ took was slightly more, er,
scenic.[2]

[1] Sensible at any time...
[2] Actually, some absolutely /cracking/ B-roads that were damned good fun
in a 270bhp four wheel drive car

 

It just wanted to take you on a scenic trip to the home of 'Poble-y-Cwm'
[1]

[1] Pont-y-Berem

 

Seemingly, yes.

Absolutely...not.

Suze was most amused by it all and wished to share the joy with you, hence
the text updates.

BTW,hope you're feeling less poorly, now.

 

Should I be impressed?

 

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 00:39:38 +0100, Bear yammered:

[snip GPS fun]

<LOL!>

I must have done, yes! As soon as we turned off onto the first B-road
near Kidwelly, Suze said something like "It's taking us down a /B/ road?"
followed almost immediately by "Oh God..." and instinctively grabbing the
handle overhead.

It was *rollercoaster* stuff; swoopy ups and downs, lefts and rights,
sometimes all together, punctuated only occasionally by a village where
one could get one's breath back

Mostly NSL, too. <cough>

This is one bit of the country that the bastard planners don't seem to
have afflicted with ridiculous 40mph limits everywhere.[1]

I'd do it again next time in reverse, but I somehow don't think Suze would
be too impressed...

[1] Although a previous visit to Pembrey and a chat with a number of
locals suggested that the Heddlu had a new toy and it was called a "Laser
Speedgun"[2]
[2] Whatever, Snooper S5 is my friend.

 

Hmm - rather out the way isn't it? In some respects I'm quite glad mine
doesn't autoroute...

But the roads round there do look good... what a shame it's so far away
(though according to Bike, the SE is the best place to ride your bike -
apparently).

TBH, I was considering a GPSV but I think I will wait for wahtever they
bring out next, which I hope will have improved features of the GPS V but
much more memory storage space (either on board or memory card).

They have to improve I would think otherwise the PocketPC side of the market
is going to nick all their market share.

 

Ah, got it. I thought it was a joke about something else entirely...

--
Platypus
VN800 Drifter, R80RT
DIAABTCOD#2 GPOTHUF#19
BOTAFOS#6 BOTAFOT#89
BOB#1 SBS#35 ANORAK#18 TWA#15

 

Champ fascinated us all by saying...

Mirrors man, mirrors!

--
Lozzo
'95 Kawasaki ZZR1100D, '97 Kawasaki GPZ500S, '83 Honda CB250RS
Big Zed Little Zed Dead shed
New to ukrm? : www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmscbt.html
"He's not big and he's not called Tony"

 

Not really - it's just the first thing I noticed about the route it gave
you.

 

Hah! Oh, the joy of UKRM.

 

Ahh, that'll be down to "lack of observation", then -- first stopped by an
unmarked car and subsequently by an espied marked car that took an
interest in me...

 

Well, yes. It needs more RAM and a much faster processor; if one enables
the "best routing" option, then it does indeed come up with a decent
route, but it takes an /age/ to perform the calculations.

Mine's still on the default "better routing".

Indeed. Haven't used a PocketPC version, but I'd hazard a guess they're
quite quick with a 400MHz processor...

 

Dunno about that. PPC kit always seems really sluggish to me.

The new Garmin iQue (ISTR) looks good though.

It's Palm OS5 based with a 144mhz ARM processor and GPS receiver
built-in. Kicking myself for buying a new Palm a month or so back, now.

 

Mmm...

 

Useless anyway. Both the Geko 201 and eTrex are only GPS recievers -
they don't have any mapping functions.

Entry-level in the current range for one with mapping is the eTrex
Legend. However, for on-bike use the larger (but lower-resolution)
screen of the eMap is more useful.

Might still be able to get an eMap on TCR. Or try ebay.

Given the limited features of the eTrex, most people wouldn't connect it
to a PC anyway. The eTrex Legend and eMap usually come with a data
cable.

 

Except it isn't waterproof, isn't shock proof, isn't as easy to use with
gloves on... and the resolution on the E-trex vista I have is fine...

That's a *combined* data and power cable- the data cable on it's own is a
bit less and usually included.

I still say the Vista is the one to go for.