[gps-talkusers] Re: Roundabouts
- From: Peter Bosher <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:36:49 +0100
Hi Charles, Chris and all,
yes, indeed, I'm using 4.02.
Charles, I see what you mean, but in practice, drivers don't usually
want to wait until they are on the roundabout to decide which exit to
take. This is why, in my view, something like "Turn right at the
roundabout" if it's a simple cross-roads-like one with four exits,
or, "Take the sixth exit" if it's a complex one, counting clockwise,
would be more helpful. It seems to me that the same instruction
would still be fine for a pedestrian, as the only ppractical way to
negotiate a roundabout on foot is to cross each road one at a
time. In that case, if you know you have to take the sixth of six
exits, then you would know that you need onlyy to be on the
right-hand side of the road you are currently on, and turn right into
the road you're aiming for, rather than crossing all the other five
roads to get to it (smile).
I do realise this isn't a simple issue, but I still vote for having
an explanation that tells you the relative direction of the road
you're taking, to the one you were on, and the "fifth exit" or "turn
right" approach seems the clearest way of doing this.
All the best,
Peter
At 07:47 PM 10/13/07, you wrote:
Hi Peter and all,
I am assuming from your description you have 4.02 so this may help
things a little as to the two messages you hear when entering and
exiting the roundabout.
Think of it this way, when you enter the roundabout you can either
go clockwise (i.e. Left) or counterclockwise (i.e. Right). For
Vehicle Routes this will always be the same depending on the country
you are in and if you drive on the right or left side of the
road. But for a pedestrian route this can change depending on which
way is shorter around the roundabout.
So that is the first part of the message, and since the same routine
is used for vehicles or pedestrian routes this is why you hear
either turn left/right onto the roundabout. Now exiting the
roundabout has been improved a lot in 4.02. I know its not perfect
but its a good start. It will tell you either turn left or right
exiting roundabout at the point you exit. It has nothing to do
where that exit is when you are about to enter the roundabout, but
rather what you will be doing once you physically get to that exit,
i.e. will you be turning left or right to get off the
roundabout. Think of a roundabout like any other road you want to
turn off of, Sendero GPS treats roundabouts like any other road,
once you get to the "intersection" or in this case roundabout exit
which way are you turning. We also tell you the direction you will
be headed once you exit the roundabout so that should help if a
street crosses the roundabout you will know if you should be exiting
on that street North or wait until you are heading south.
Being down here in New Zealand and Australia I am getting a lot of
practice with roundabouts and how people describe exiting
roundabouts which is a little confusing to me to be honest.
I do like the idea of just numbering the exits and using that to
help navigate the roundabout exit, but I also have to be carful the
same will work for pedestrians when you travel the roundabout
against traffic because it is shorter. (I.e. why force the
pedestrian to follow traffic and make them cross multiple exits when
you could go the opposite direction and maybe not even have to cross any.)
Hope this helps clarify what the system is currently doing, and
future improvements will be made to help make this more intuitive.
Charles currently from New Zealand
At 09:13 AM 10/13/2007, you wrote:
Hi All,
I'm new to Braillenote GPS and the list, so please forgive me if
this has been covered before. I'm migrating from Trekker
and Wayfinder, and in most respects, I'm finding Sendero GPS an
absolute joy, with so much power and flexibility compared with the
others. However, I'm having one problem, relating to navigation of
roundabouts. I think in the US you call these traffic circles,
but here in the UK they are everywhere, and it's rare to find a
journey without many of them.
The way that Sendero GPS gives instructions seems confusing. For
example, at a roundabout where you are actually turning right, it
will tell you to turn left onto the roundabout, and then turn left
to exit the roundabout. It is similar with clockface
instructions. It will say to turn ten o'clock on the roundabout
and then exit nine o'clock.
What we need is a global instruction that gives you the direction
of the road you are taking relative to the road you were on. For
example, Wayfinder would say "turn right at the roundabout onto X
street", or "take the third exit onto X street" counting exits clockwise.
It sounds a llitle complicated when you try to explain it, but it
is a real problem when navigating vehicle routes in particular. A
wwork-around seems to be to use the compass directions, but this
needs quite a lot of thought and ssometimes there isn't enough time or clarity.
Am I missing something, or could this be a suggested improvement?
Any thoughts welcome.
Best,
Peter
--
*******
Peter Bosher,
Email: peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.soundlinks.com/
Tel': (+44) (0) 1494 794 797
Fax: (+44) (0) 1494 583 146
snail://
SoundLinks Limited,
43 Broadlands Avenue,
Chesham,
Bucks.
HP5 1AL
England.
Charles M. La Pierre CTO
Sendero Group, LLC
Lat. 37 15' 25" N Lon: 121 53' 04" W
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*******
Peter Bosher,
Email: peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.soundlinks.com/
Tel': (+44) (0) 1494 794 797
Fax: (+44) (0) 1494 583 146
snail://
SoundLinks Limited,
43 Broadlands Avenue,
Chesham,
Bucks.
HP5 1AL
England.
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