StreetPilot Tips and Tricks

[florida_guy]

When I was at my friends over the weekend I set way points at there house. I want to merge them into the waypoints I set on MapSource.

When I download the waypoints from the GPS it creates a new file. I want to merge them into the existing file so I can have them all together.

Anyone know if this can be done?

[kemosabe]

Originally posted by florida_guy
I have been experiencing problems where it takes a long time to acquire satellites. It is intermitent but when I just started within the last two weeks or so. I have been paying close attention to factors like weather and stuff but can't find a pattern. This occurred here and up in North Carolina last weekend.

Anyone know what causes this and if there is a fix.

The StreetPilot III has these specifications for Acquisition Time:

1. Warm: Approximately 15 seconds
2. Cold: Approximately 45 seconds
3. AutoLocate: Approximately 2 minutes

Could the cause be either #2 or #3 above???

[florida_guy]

Originally posted by kemosabe
The StreetPilot III has these specifications for Acquisition Time:

1. Warm: Approximately 15 seconds
2. Cold: Approximately 45 seconds
3. AutoLocate: Approximately 2 minutes

Could the cause be either #2 or #3 above???

Well, it has been colder down here lately and was up there but at the same temp sometimes it takes a long time others it doesn't. Once it took about 1.5 miles to acquire.

I'm not sure what AutoLocate is but I haven't changed whatever setting it came with and it often acquires before I get out of my driveway.

[florida_guy]

I keep forgetting to post this...

I have a favorite park nearby where I like to take walks along the lake and through the woods to relax.

The second last time I went after I had winded my way through the park to the place where I park I marked it as a way point. I was looking forward to seeing how well it would do on the park roads.

The last time I went I told it to take me to the way point. Well what do you know. When it said "Arriving at destination" I was EXACTLY right in front of the very parking spot where I was when I set the way point.

I have experienced some trouble though with it thinking that I was on the frontage road next to the freeway when I was actually on the freeway.

I love it but it's not perfect.

[FLPilot]

Originally posted by florida_guy
I keep forgetting to post this...

I have a favorite park nearby where I like to take walks along the lake and through the woods to relax.

The second last time I went after I had winded my way through the park to the place where I park I marked it as a way point. I was looking forward to seeing how well it would do on the park roads.

The last time I went I told it to take me to the way point. Well what do you know. When it said "Arriving at destination" I was EXACTLY right in front of the very parking spot where I was when I set the way point.

I have experienced some trouble though with it thinking that I was on the frontage road next to the freeway when I was actually on the freeway.

I love it but it's not perfect.

Yep, that's why it's a tool and not to be considered 100% reliable. If it was that perfect, they could just hook it up to the computer of the car, add some sensors to the front, sides, and rear (so not to crash into others) and let it drive itself. I have found that it works well until you get into an area where there are several roads/highways above and below you. Like you said though it works well for the most part.

[HDTVEE]

I have a 2610 and love it. Has anyone had a problem with the new firmware release from Garmin this past week? I have trouble downloading to unit and it locks up with old version number when attempting the upgrade.
Thanks

[speedlever]

What version are you attempting to update to?

Did you see my msg of 11/26 in this thread?

[florida_guy]

I have created a bunch of routes in MapSource for my trip home for Christmas that I am currently downloading to my StreetPilot.

The problem I'm having is that once you create a route it is always displayed in purple. I have purple lines going everywhere. If I highlight a route that one turns yellow. However, if I hove over a street that is part of a route in shows the route name NOT the street name.

Is there a way to hide the routes on the map without deleting them?

[LChisum]

Hey florida_guy. Did you mean MapSource rather than MapQuest?
If so, which model of StreetPilot do you have? MapSource will download multiple routes (each route has a unique name) to the StreetPilot at the same time, however, in the StreetPilot GPSR, you can only select, display, and track one of them at a time.

Larry

[florida_guy]

Well this is a first. I just posted a new post on 1/19/04 and came back to add a thought to it. I accidentally edited this one. I overwrote the original message with a paste and now have no idea what I originally said here.

I don't know if the moderators can look back and put my original post back or not.

[FLPilot]

FL_GUY: I either have not had the patience to deal with the routes or there just is no easy way to use it. I have found that it is easier to just save waypoints and that way no matter where you are all you have to do is tell it to send you to that waypoint. Am I making any sense? It is a lot easier for me that way.

[LChisum]

florida_guy. It will require some of your time, but you can manually sort out the routes. Pull up your file with the 30 routes, eliminate all but the current one you want to save, and use "save as" to save that individual route with a unique identifying name. Open up the file with the 30 routes again, and repeat the process for the next route. You end up with a separate file for each route that can be opened and viewed individually.

Larry

[florida_guy]

Originally posted by FLPilot
FL_GUY: I either have not had the patience to deal with the routes or there just is no easy way to use it. I have found that it is easier to just save waypoints and that way no matter where you are all you have to do is tell it to send you to that waypoint. Am I making any sense? It is a lot easier for me that way.

It makes sense but there are some advantages to routes.
1) The biggest one is that you can insert via points that change the route to the way that you want to go. Even when I know how to get somewhere its still easier to program it in rather than to keep checking the map along the way. The StreetPilot will then tell you when it expects you to get there. How long to the next turn and all that neat stuff. Its makes it a lot less likely to miss a turn. And if you still manage to miss a turn it will get you back on track.

2) By making it a route you can see ahead of time how far it is and how long it is expected to take.

I found the route tool very clunky to use. The easiest way I found to make routes is to create way points and then either from the menu Edit|New Route or Cntr-R bring up the route window then click the insert route button and select one. If it's not something I want to clutter up my waypoints list with then I click the find button.

I fumbled around with the route tool a bunch in frustration. The way I described above is really easy.

Don't forget about the little yellow arrows on the left side of the route window that let you move the route destinations up and down.

Here's one example of what I'm talking about...

When I am traveling north on a long trip from home I prefer to go south a bit and get on the expressway and be done with it. MapSource calculates it is faster to take a bunch of city streets north for quite a distance before joining up with the freeway. It doesn't know about the areas heavy traffic and long lights that make this take a lot longer than the speed limits would cause it to calculate.

What I do is put a way point on the freeway some distance after the on ramp I take. Then I insert that into the route as a via point. Once it gets there it then calculates that staying on the freeway is the fastest route and I get the benefits of the street pilot the whole way and don't have to listen to it "recalculating" after I leave home until I'm finally far enough off its original route that it decides my way is now better.

The interesting thing is that I pay attention to the times with and without my via point. Sometimes the difference is just a minute or two that will easily be made up by one less stop light.

When I'm home for Christmas and plan to figure out how to do via points from the GPS itself but I know it will always be easier to do this in advance on the computer IF you know you'll be making a certain trip.

I still want to be able to do this while on the road though.

[florida_guy]

Originally posted by LChisum
florida_guy. It will require some of your time, but you can manually sort out the routes. Pull up your file with the 30 routes, eliminate all but the current one you want to save, and use "save as" to save that individual route with a unique identifying name. Open up the file with the 30 routes again, and repeat the process for the next route. You end up with a separate file for each route that can be opened and viewed individually.

Larry

Well, that's a pretty Kludgy solution. I'd never go to the trouble of making a different file for each though. I just thought of another Kludgy solution that's a little easier than that.

1) Save as "different file name"
2) Delete all routes
3) Open original file
4) Copy the route that you want to see
5) Open new file and paste in the one you just copied (This will work)

Now if you want to see a different route you just delete and copy a different route.

The original file is easy to reopen from the bottom of the file menu.

This is a solution but I was hoping for a simple "toggle route off" kind of thing.

[colorider]

Originally posted by FLPilot
FL_GUY: I either have not had the patience to deal with the routes or there just is no easy way to use it. I have found that it is easier to just save waypoints and that way no matter where you are all you have to do is tell it to send you to that waypoint. Am I making any sense? It is a lot easier for me that way.

This is how I always used my SPIII (when I owned it).