Develop Bugs

Decent Freeware Route Planner for UK??

Hi guys!
Got a bit of travelling to do in the near future and am thinking of getting a route planner for my O2 XDA Exec. Want to try out a few demo's before I buy, so anyone got any advice?
As usual, many thanks! :lol:

I have been trying map24 and it is pretty good. Some of the routing seems a bit obscure though but freeware so worth a look.

Freeware Route Planner
Map 24 has recently released a PPC version. Since the maps are on their servers rather than on your device it means that you will need a decent data plan if you want to use it regularly. I suppose the upside is that it doesn't use precious memory and the maps should be up to date. It also has maps of the whole of Europe.
I've loaded it and, whilst not intuitive to use, has pretty good mapping (I think they use Navteq maps which are also used for the Copilot GPS solution). I haven't really tested, since I already have Co-pilot.
BTW, a couple of things to note - the Map 24 website is a real pig to negotiate and the software has no GPS capabilities.

Thanks guys - I'll have a look and I'll know who to blame if I find myself lost in the middle of Poland!! :roll: :roll:

Ah, I see. Travelling abroad! The roaming data charges would quickly make it completely uneconomic to use Map24. Not sure if it caches data locally though.

Mapopolis
Take a look at Mapopolis from www.mapopolis.com. They offer free trial for up to nine days, the only thing being that you will need to download individual county (read it, I don't mean country) maps and you are limited to about three per session. That said, it's a great product with a very active support community (forums hosted at www.gpspassion.com) so you may be tempted to buy after you try!
Eastern European coverage is zero to limited, so if you're lost in Poland it will be your own fault!
Hope this helps.

What's the best GPS software for Vario II (8525?)

I'm in America using a euro-purchased Vario II on T-Mobile's network. Been upgraded to Black 3.0 but thinking of re-flashing it to something better. Also want to try using GPS with this unit, though I know I need an antenna.
So, what GPS software is best for my situation, and would any particular ROM be best suited? Thanks.

Well there are a few out there. I've used 3 of them. Telenav, iNav, and TomTom6. Of the 3 tomtom is my fav by far.
I thought telenav was the best as far as voice translation goes because it says the street names aloud and does so pretty well and on time. But thats where it ends. Telenav almost never found my GPS receiver and it was the one they recommended. It updates maps as you drive via the web which is a bad idea for GPS. Hit a dead spot and you lose where to turn and get lost easily. I can't tell you how many times i wanted to throw my phone out of the window while driving with that crappy piece of software. Especially paying 10 bucks a month to have it not work.
iNav works much like tomtom but I found the voice to be rather lame and the interface poorly designed.
So on to tomtom6. Works like a charm everytime without a hitch. Simple easy and intuitive interface. Never has any issues finding my bluetooth receiver. Never. Color choice for maps for night/day driving along with other features like weather updates, traffic updates, camera locations. Map of the US and Canada takes up about 1gig. Leaves me with another gig for storage however if I moved up to a 6gig I'd still have 5 left. Couple complaints I've heard with tomtom is map load time. I didn't find this to be an issue whatsoever considering my dealings with telenav. I'd rather wait all of 30 seconds for a map to load if I know its not gunna screw up at all once its loaded. Plus you can plan trips ahead of time so load time becomes a moot point.
Thats about it. I think if you do some research you will agree with me but I know some people who post on here prefer iNav over tomtom. Hell some even like telenav. =)

thanks
I actually almost went for Telnav - I was wondering how that "update as you go" would work. Seems like the preloaded maps are more reliable. Now it's more understandable why T-Mobile doesn't offer it directly. I have tons of space left on my 2gig card so Tomtom might be the way to go.
I noticed you didn't mention Delorme Street Atlas 2008 or any of its previous editions. I was about to try that one but thought some research was in order.
Was it a pain in the ass to get the Tomtom working? Though I like my 8525, I'm always frustrated at what this unit is capable of and what I'm actually able to make it do.

Have a try to iGo ( http://www.i-go.com/en/ ), I found it far better than Tomtom (auto zoom in/out, auto 3D => 2D, ...)

iGO is for Europe only, though, right? And it looks like some of the products have been discontinued.

if u live in the us tomtom dnt even think twice about it

Gman007 said:
iGO is for Europe only, though, right? And it looks like some of the products have been discontinued.
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Not true... I use iGo 2006 in California. It is fast and map access is automatic and fast. Delay is the least compared with tomtom. Color options are more vivid and has day/night option auto-switch.
that brings us to another issue.... for the 8525 model you need a gps adapter. 8525 does not have a built in one. In my opinion, thats better, since all the devices that have built-in GPS receivers are weak and signal reception is minimized. In 8525 and while driving you can place the gps adapter anywhere you get the strongest signal. I use Holux 1200. I had a Nokia GPS adapter.. a piece of sh*T. The Holux is by far the best I used. You can get one on ebay real cheap.
As soon as Goggle-Nav gets its act together, the GPS they will produce will be the best. They are working on some kinks with MS DirectX-3D interphase. You can wait for it or enjoy iGo Nav right now.

one more vote for tomtom here. i don't know where i'd be without it, literally.

Not sure how you are using iGo in cali and where you managed to get your maps from. Their website offers nothing on the US not to mention it is advertised as "door to door navigation across europe". You sure you are even using iGo? lol
edit: Well I found some info about the US version. apparently its out in beta possibly final by now. From what I have read though the maps are not as good with iGO compared to tt6. I also read that some people don't trust iGO when it comes to navigating onto on/off ramps for the highways. Just cause a program looks cooler doesn't make it better especially when it comes to proper navigation.
I tried google navigator. There is a cooked rom somewhere that actually allows it to run even though it has a dx issue that prevents it from running on most roms. If the final version is anything like the version I tried. It will be worthless. Slowest application for GPS I've used yet. Sometimes a ton of graphical features are just a bad idea for a device with only 64megs of ram and poop graphics.

surrept said:
Not sure how you are using iGo in cali and where you managed to get your maps from. Their website offers nothing on the US not to mention it is advertised as "door to door navigation across europe". You sure you are even using iGo? lol
edit: Well I found some info about the US version. apparently its out in beta possibly final by now. From what I have read though the maps are not as good with iGO compared to tt6. I also read that some people don't trust iGO when it comes to navigating onto on/off ramps for the highways. Just cause a program looks cooler doesn't make it better especially when it comes to proper navigation.
I tried google navigator. There is a cooked rom somewhere that actually allows it to run even though it has a dx issue that prevents it from running on most roms. If the final version is anything like the version I tried. It will be worthless. Slowest application for GPS I've used yet. Sometimes a ton of graphical features are just a bad idea for a device with only 64megs of ram and poop graphics.
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I have been using iGO for the last two months. I have downloaded US maps, 8 of them alltogether. I also have maps for Europe and the Mid-East. I have no problem with it, as I did with TomTom, which in lots of incidents lost the GPS signal, doing the same rout as I do with IGO. It is now a matter of personal preferance.

asfoor said:
I have been using iGO for the last two months. I have downloaded US maps, 8 of them alltogether. I also have maps for Europe and the Mid-East. I have no problem with it, as I did with TomTom, which in lots of incidents lost the GPS signal, doing the same rout as I do with IGO. It is now a matter of personal preferance.
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Do you have a torrent for that? All I get is spam and trojans.

No warez here guy. Asking for stuff like that will flip people out.

Navigon trial and network connection

Hi
Just downloaded the navigon 30 day trial and I noticed it requires network access to run. I`m going away in a few weeks time to Italy so dont want to use any network data. Any ideas if the full version requires network connection too?
thanks

I was under the impression that it only needs network access to download the maps to your SD card.
Regards,
Dave

Nope, if you disable all network connections it doesnt run, complaining of no network. Once it finds a network then it comes up with the screen to upgrade,trial,etc

Does it work with just WiFi or does it need cellular data connection?
Maybe trial version needs network to decide how long it has been installed.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

paulruk said:
Hi
Just downloaded the navigon 30 day trial and I noticed it requires network access to run. I`m going away in a few weeks time to Italy so dont want to use any network data. Any ideas if the full version requires network connection too?
thanks
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As a user of the full version I can confirm that it is only the trial version that requires a network connection. The full version doesn't.

martuk said:
Does it work with just WiFi or does it need cellular data connection?
Maybe trial version needs network to decide how long it has been installed.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
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Yes, the trial does work with a WiFi connection. As you surmise it is to check that you have not gone beyond the 30 day limit, and also to give you the options to upgrade to the full version.

I'd be interested to know if this is any good? Dont even wanna attempt the trial if it was as bad as the iphone version?

ok thanks for clearing that up, have to test it out before going away and then purchase if its any good.
What was so bad about the iphone version btw?

It sucked, I had virtually all the main gps navigation aids on my 3gs, and I used then with the tom tom gps cradle (enhancer). The problem with nearly all of them was rerouting. This was my main gripe. Lets say you take a wrong turn, by mistake. This is easy with navigon as I found its graphics were the worst in as much as road names were tiny and the colors were pooh. Navigon and copilot would somehow assume that you know where your going and recalculate a completely different route. Now if that means a 20 mile additional journey, who cares. It showed you a way, you didn't take it, so have this 20 mile detour! And you would be none the wiser. Tom tom would get you to do a uturn at the first available point, if it was still the quickest route and straight away you know you've gone wrong.Its routes were generally poor regardless of setting. As were the rest to be fair. But tom tom was the best, followed I believe by sygic, copilot had a great ui, probably the best in fact, but it often failed to find signal, the same as navigon. And that was with the enhanced gps. Copilot took over a month to reply to my email. What i really like about the desire maps is the road in front is accurate, the severity of bends is correct, a little laggy, but the maps are spot on. I didn't see this on navigon, they straighten the roads out, some more than others to save space which can add to confusion as to where you are. Navigon I also found laggy, roughly the same as google navigation.

Dunbad said:
It sucked, I had virtually all the main gps navigation aids on my 3gs, and I used then with the tom tom gps cradle (enhancer). The problem with nearly all of them was rerouting. This was my main gripe. Lets say you take a wrong turn, by mistake. This is easy with navigon as I found its graphics were the worst in as much as road names were tiny and the colors were pooh. Navigon and copilot would somehow assume that you know where your going and recalculate a completely different route. Now if that means a 20 mile additional journey, who cares. It showed you a way, you didn't take it, so have this 20 mile detour! And you would be none the wiser. Tom tom would get you to do a uturn at the first available point, if it was still the quickest route and straight away you know you've gone wrong.Its routes were generally poor regardless of setting. As were the rest to be fair. But tom tom was the best, followed I believe by sygic, copilot had a great ui, probably the best in fact, but it often failed to find signal, the same as navigon. And that was with the enhanced gps. Copilot took over a month to reply to my email. What i really like about the desire maps is the road in front is accurate, the severity of bends is correct, a little laggy, but the maps are spot on. I didn't see this on navigon, they straighten the roads out, some more than others to save space which can add to confusion as to where you are. Navigon I also found laggy, roughly the same as google navigation.
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Thanks. Just tried Navigon today and yeah its a fast but hideous looking interface. Is it me or is there no way of removing all the POI info. It seems really lacking in settings, it also didnt re-route very quickly.
I`ve tried co-pilot, and I liked its features but like you say can take you on some wild detours. Instead of using motorways that were quicker but longer it would try and use A roads that were shorter, but slower. Even adjusting the settings to say not too, it just ignored it. So you really had to check your route before leaving.
I`d like to try sygic but there doesnt seem to be a trial, and at £50 / 59euros i`d rather not have to buy it and find out its not what I want.
I really wish tomtom would bring out an android app.

Yeah X2 on the tom tom. It wasnt great, but it was the best by some way. I could rely on it anyway. If I was you and had co pilot, id stick with it. try navigon and see what you think. It maybe better on android. Near in mind though, when you buy, those roads might straighten out! Would not surprise me! if you dont wanna buy a standalone, copilot once the route is checked with a map,??? and you've gone through the ball ache that is entering the destination on co pilot or navigon, then your good to go. It really is nice to follow. (providing come the day of the races it loads! Lastly, the tome it takes to recalculate the route, I thought was reasonable on all of them. But its HOW it re routes thats vital. And most get it wrong! That all said things might be different on android. As for me, im not even bothering till tom tom comes out.

Well after using Navigon trial for a while at both home and abroad I have decided to purchase , having tried all the other navigation software. Its slightly lacking in features compared to co pilot but what it does do well is navigation. Its fast, good display, accurate and comprehensive speech and the poi`s are pretty good. Probably used it for 300 miles without a hitch.
Thanks for the help

GPS Voice Navigation

You should check this new app released yesterday. Uses Bing maps, Google maps and MapQuest.

metric supported?

Peew971 said:
You should check this new app released yesterday. Uses Bing maps, Google maps and MapQuest.
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Looks good.
http://www.wp7connect.com/2011/06/03/gps-voice-navigation-new-wp7-app-for-gps-navigation/
dxdy said:
metric supported?
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From the pics I'd say yes (check Settings -> Map).

So what is MS's equivalent to Google Navigation?

Peew971 said:
You should check this new app released yesterday. Uses Bing maps, Google maps and MapQuest.
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Thanks for the tip Peew971.
I tried it, unfortunately it does not work in France. Not at all.
Whatever the provider it says "Unable to find the route".
On the contrary Turn-By-Turn Navigation by GPS Tuner works great. Fantastic
But I would be glad if GPS Navigation worked because it uses Google Maps, whereas Turn-By-Turn Navigation uses exclusively the terrible Bing Map.

6 pounds it's qouite expensive.
I tried at least 3 navigations in Poland and none of them was working.

I emailed navigon about having ther ofline system on wp7. I used it when I had the iPhone. Loved it as I do a bit of travelong with work and it kept everything together in one place. Got a rely saying they are testing a version. Will post the email tomorrow when i am at the pc.
Sent from my 7 Mozart T8698 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

I tested both T-B-T and GPS Voice today. Unfortunately, neither of them are really close to perfect.
Some of the UI elements of GPS Voice are much nicer (such as the larger, clearer turn icons, and the way it retains the previous route on the map as a ghosted image if it needs to reroute), but it did a very poor job of actually routing me, opting for slow residential streets instead of faster, wider roads, even when neither option represented a longer or shorter distance. Also, it seemed to get VERY confused at at least one intersection. I was stopped, waiting to make a turn, and it kept alternating between "turn right now" and "go straight for 1 miles" for the entire time I was waiting (about 2 minutes). It was very annoying. And I am not sure why, but it did not display or speak any partial mile instructions. Everything below 1 mile was directed in feet, such as "turn right in two thousand, six hundred and forty feet", instead of what I would expect, which would be more like "turn right in one half mile".
I'm sure it will improve over time, but right now GPS Voice is not a real choice for me.
T-B-T, while its UI isn't as flashy, did a better job of navigating, although it did miss some obvious chances to find shorter routes than the one it chose. And I'm not sure (I need to do some more tests), but it seemed to eat up my battery like candy. Part of that may be due to me leaving the screen on more than I needed to, but it may also be polling the GPS more than it needs to. On the other hand, it worked flawlessly under the lock screen (unlike GPS Voice), and the timing of its turns was always spot on.
I might purchase T-B-T, if for no other reason than to encourage future development and enhancement.
Neither of these apps can hold a candle to AT&T Navigator right now (POI destinations, 3D view, spoken street names, flawless route planning in the 3 years that I've used it, etc), but then I suppose that is to be expected, considering its $10/month cost. Whether they will catch up only time will tell.

installed it today, crashed my mozart terribly. it turned itself off and i couldn't turn it back on, not until removing the battery

re: Turn By Turn
I've purchased it and have been testing it each drive... Works well and have jumped onto their support page and requested the ability to rename favourites (5 George St to Mum's Place) and they replied within a day to tell me this feature is in their wishlist and will be implemented in an update...
/me = suitably impressed

I gather the lack of a reply means there's simply is no Google Nav equivalent for WP7? *walks to VZW store to exchange this heap for an Android device*

Bing Navigation is coming this Fall with Mango.
Sent from my Omnia 7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Better late than never my reply from Navigon
Thank you for your e-mail.
Regarding your inquiry, for the moment our MobileNavigation software for Windows Phone 7 is in a testing period for certain customers such as Telekom SIM users. However, we can not confirm if this software will be released for other customers also.
We advise that you subscribe to our newsletter on our website to receive the latest information once they will be made available in this matter.
We hope to have been helpful with the information above and we are at your entire disposal for further assistance.
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RoboDad said:
I tested both T-B-T and GPS Voice today. ...
... And I'm not sure (I need to do some more tests), but it seemed to eat up my battery like candy. Part of that may be due to me leaving the screen on more than I needed to, but it may also be polling the GPS more than it needs to. ...
.
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Automotive style GPS apps are not built to save batteries. They assume you are plugged into your car's DC power outlet.
I have been using Turn By Turn, and so far like it. May buy it, but seems silly when Bing Navigation will appear in 4ish months.

Titus_Andronicus said:
Automotive style GPS apps are not built to save batteries. They assume you are plugged into your car's DC power outlet.
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OK, first, I'm not an idiot. I know how GPS navigation apps are designed to work. On a long trip, using a car charger would be an obvious necessity. But it should NOT be a necessity for a cross-town round trip.
And second, my comment was based on comparing the behavior of T-B-T to AT&T Navigator on the same phone. I have used Navigator for trips lasting well over an hour, without using the car charger, with no unusual battery drain. T-B-T, on the other hand, appeared to eat between 10-15% in a 15 minute trip. Again, I need to confirm this, and it may be that some of the drain came from having the display on for the first half of the trip, but it still seemed excessive, even for a GPS app.

Titus_Andronicus said:
Automotive style GPS apps are not built to save batteries. They assume you are plugged into your car's DC power outlet.
I have been using Turn By Turn, and so far like it. May buy it, but seems silly when Bing Navigation will appear in 4ish months.
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I felt the same way, about waiting for Bing maps with navigation, but I think spending $5 for months of turn by turn navigation is a pretty good deal. If Bing navigation is better I won't feel like I wasted money, but if Turn by Turn is continually improved I may just keep using it instead.

Tomtom?

Is there Tomtom navigation software for android that would install to the SGS2?
Also I haven't really tried out the built in google navigation properly yet, but does it do as good a job as tomtom and does it come with traffic camera alerts?
Thanks.

No Tom \Tom never used navigation i dont get lost .
You need to try answer is probably not as good as Tom Tom but free .
jje

Tomtom will release an android version in the future but the date is not known yet.
pocketgpsworld.com/We-Meet-TomToms-MD-Corinne-Vigreux-Before-Break-Free-Event-8910.php

Navigation is very basic, but since it's free you have to expect that. Saying that, it is very good. I've used 4 or 5 different satnav apps over the years (always on mobiles - never dedicated) and I judge them on how well they take me through central London, as it's a bit of a tightly-packed maze if you don't know where you're going. Google Navigation has done that for me many times without fail, so I use it and trust it.
There are downsides, however. It needs a data connection to plan the route. I've read that it doesn't need it again after that, but I'm not convinced. If it doesn't need data then why does it tell me it's lost data connection when I go through a tunnel? Also, I recently had to find my own way around a closed road because Navigation doesn't give you the common option to avoid a part of the calculated route. That was not fun!
Sygic Aura seems to be getting quite a lot of attention, and you get a 25% off code when you purchase it. XDA, being what it is, has a thread where people are posting their codes...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=859223&highlight=sygic+aura
You get 25% off, and then post your code so that the next person gets 25% off. This is sometimes a great community
Hope this helps mate

Thanks guys.
johncmolyneux, I'll give it a try, though I'm not sure what that data connection is about. I did a quick test from in my house the other night and input a route to my mum's house and it came up with the route directions and voice instructions. I've got the old tomtom navigator 6 and navigator 7 with traffic camera alerts on my touch diamond. I think what I'll do is get hold of any old sim card just so I can use that phone as my sat nav, at least, if I find I'm not happy with google nav. And thanks for the link about Sygic Aura!

copilot is very good! works fantastic on sgs2, very cheap to buy as well, a must buy for an alternative for tom tom

vimto25 said:
copilot is very good! works fantastic on sgs2, very cheap to buy as well, a must buy for an alternative for tom tom
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Yeah, I'd be interested to know which is better out of copilot and sygic aura for reliable navigation and traffic cameras.

tomtom is in development for android