[gps-talkusers] Re: Some thoughts on GPS version 3.0
- From: "Mary Ellen Earls" <meearls@xxxxxxx>
- To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 3 Aug 2004 05:59:10 -0700
Mike!
Do you think the new upgrade will fix some of these bugs John was talking
about?
I sure hope so!
Ok 8 more hours and I am on myway to Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport.
Bye y'all!
Mary Ellen Earls
Remember! Today is the Tomorrow you thought about yesterday.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael May" <MikeMay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <gps-talkusers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2004 10:33 PM
Subject: [gps-talkusers] Re: Some thoughts on GPS version 3.0
> Hello John,
>
> Thank you for your thoughtful and detailed feedback. We will definitely
> save this email for future reference.
>
> Yes, the POI source data is 15 characters in order to fit on a small
display.
>
> In terms of reliability, I too wish it wasn't necessary to reset so often.
> I have definitely pinned the problem down to the multiple processing going
> on with Look-Around mode on. Multiple maps being loaded and the Micro
drive
> are other problem areas.
>
> I believe the reason you see more lock ups with the GPS is because there
is
> more crunching going on than any other program. Even during email
> transmission, the processing is pretty straight forward. Something like
> word processing doesn't require much horse power at all.
>
> I don't really blame the BrailleNote so much as I point out the reality of
> constant demands on the unit required by multiple GPS applications.
>
> Charles does use software to check for memory leaks and none have been
> found. If you are able to identify any sequence that causes a lock-up,
> please let us know. You might want to email with him off list about the
> finer technical points. Charles@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Glad to hear that in aggregate the upgrade was worth it.
>
> Ironically, I had to restart this message 3 times because Eudora kept
> crashing on my reply.
>
> Mike
>
>
> At 01:44 PM 8/2/2004, you wrote:
> >Greetings,
> >
> > There have been scads of messages on this subject. I've waited
> >until now to post my observations because I wanted to work with the
> >software for a bit before making judgements. Now, in case anyone cares,
> >here are my thoughts:
> >
> >1. MAPS: Over all, much better. In some instances, a bit unusual. An
> >example of unusual behavior... With the version 2 maps, while traveling
> >along Route 2 in Massachusetts, the system would tell me I was on MA-2
> >(CORRECT). Now I'm told that I'm on the Concord TPKE cutoff (or some
> >such nonsense). Well there is a Concord TPKE, it runs along side MA-2,
> >and is basically a service road. I'm fairly confident, however, that
> >nobody in Massachusetts has ever heard of the Concord TPKE cutoff. The
> >version 2 maps got this right, the version 3 maps did not. They've got
> >all the exits correctly marked, they just use an odd name for MA-2.
> >
> >2. DISTANCES: Much shorter! With version 2, I had evidence that
> >distances were being dramatically over estimated. I now can say for
> >sure that distances are reported as being much shorter, but I haven't
> >compared with a car's odometer so don't know if they're accurate. Even
> >so, I'm convinced they've got to be at least MORE accurate then they
> >were.
> >
> >3. POI stuff: Much better. I'd like to have more than 15 characters in
> >a name, is this a limitation of the commercial POI database or one
> >imposed by Sendero in order to keep the file size down? Anyway, having
> >more information and POI categories is a good thing!
> >
> >4. VIRTUAL MODE: MUCH MUCH BETTER! The v2.0 virtual mode just wasn't
> >terribly useful to me. It enabled me to get a little information, but
> >not nearly enough to be truly helpful. The new ability to walk around
> >(like the old Atlas Speaks program had) is great!
> >
> >5. UI: about the same. I'm not sure I really hate it, but I certainly
> >don't love it. An example of something I don't understand is the dot 4
> >command. Press it and then you can enter a POI search string. My issue
> >is that I want simple one key and two-adjacent-key commands to be things
> >I can complete with one hand ... Things I'm likely to do a lot while
> >walking. This command is easy to invoke, but since it then requires you
> >to type in a string, it's really no better then the F command. The only
> >exception is if you just want a list of the closest POIs and if that's
> >what this command is supposed to accomplish, then get rid of the prompt
> >and just accomplish it with a single keystroke. Additionally, I think X
> >is difficult to type. Furthermore, X-chord is even more difficult. C
> >is easy enough, but C-chord seems to give you more information about the
> >road you're on, and only a bit more information about the city/state/etc
> >that you're in. I think I would have done something with X, X-Chord and
> >X-Enter.
> >
> >
> >
> >6. LAT/LON: As with a few other places in the software, this is
> >unbelievably wordy. I have a BN with a 32-cell display and still have
> >to hit the advance button several times to get through this. Really all
> >I want to read is six numbers. Why not something more along the lines
> >of:
> >
> >Lat: 42-25-13.897N
> >Lon: 71-14-31.987W
> >
> > That's short enough that each number would fit on an eighteen
> >cell display! Maybe we need verbosity settings?
> >
> >7. STABILITY: This is, perhaps, the biggest disappointment with V3. For
> >those who don't know, I'm a software developer, so I might get a bit
> >technical here. All you need to know is that, from my point of view,
> >the program hangs or throws exceptions entirely too often.
> >
> > Justification: I have had nearly every command I use on a
> >regular bases cause one of the failures mentioned above at least once
> >since getting my GPS v3 about two weeks ago. I've made it a habbit to
> >not reset the pedometer. That's how I know how long it's been since my
> >last crash. I have yet to get the pedometer to reach 100 miles. It
> >came close last week, actually got to about 99 point something, then
> >hung when I asked it how far I was from my destination. From my
> >simplistic point of view, this aught to be a fairly easy command to
> >execute. Computationally it may be complex, (lots of floating point
> >arithmetic to do) but otherwise fairly straight forward. As a
> >programmer, of course, I know that there's more going on here, things I
> >can't really know without delving into the code. It would be my hope
> >that the GPS software is multithreaded ... That is, the software is
> >doing several things simultaniously. While this would make a great deal
> >of sense for the GPS software, it also makes debugging exponentially
> >more difficult!
> >
> > I've never developed software for a Windows CE device such as
> >BrailleNote but I have developed software that ran in an embedded
> >environment so I can speak from experience when I say that such
> >debugging is also difficult. Mike May has blamed BrailleNote and
> >suggested a regular reboot. I'm sure PulseData would blame Microsoft.
> >It is certainly possible that more stability isn't possible given that
> >the GPS software has to coexist with an ancient operating system and
> >Keysoft. Yet I have to say that my Keysoft doesn't crash any where near
> >as often as my GPS does, so I have a hard time believing that nothing
> >can be done to improve the stability of BN GPS.
> >
> > I know that there's a certain reality here. You want to sell a
> >new version, you put in enough features to get folks to buy it. I
> >totally understand this reality, I live it, I know it well. I remember
> >my days of programming embedded software in assembly language at Digital
> >where we did about three straight months of unit and system testing
> >before shipping any new version of our software. I am here to tell you
> >that we still saw crashes, but it was relatively rare and occasionally
> >had amazing circumstances surrounding the crash (like the time a
> >customer was attempting to send data through a half corroded cable that
> >ran under the water from New Jersey to New York).
> >
> > I ask for a pedometer check and get an exception. I execute an
> >X command and hang. I ask how far to my destination and often either
> >hang, or am subjected to real sluggishness.
> >
> > PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Can we PLEASE have a service release of
> >this software that fixes some bugs? It's a great software package, it's
> >just too unstable!
> >
> >8. TIME: I've found the ability to get the time off of the GPS
> >satellites to be helpful. One thing I've noticed is that the software
> >doesn't know enough to not give you the time if it doesn't have a
> >signal. You can have the GPS receiver turned off, and when you ask for
> >the time you'll get the last time picked up by the GPS. The software
> >knows enough not to give you an altitude unless you've got enough
> >satellites. It knows when to warn you that you may not be setting a POI
> >accurately. It doesn't even hint that a time reading might be
> >inaccurate.
> >
> >9. Despite my griping (particuarly about stability) I do still like the
> >product. The new features in v3 are well worth the upgrade cost. If
> >the instabilities were removed I'd be even happier! The improvement in
> >virtual mode alone is worth a lot! Keep up the good work, but consider
> >concentrating more on bug fixes.
> >
> >John
>
>
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