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First time usage of navigation over a imported cycling route : (beginner ? ) issues

Dirk Deberlanger shared this question 8 years ago
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Hi, my requirements as a cycling amateur were the following :

-have easy voice navigation ( through bluetooth headphones ) along (imported) routes. Just to make sure on regular time intervals that you are still on the right track ( in case onsite indications are missing or got hidden )

so I ended up buying locus map pro which fits these requirements.

My first 'in the field' experience next day ( with audience ) was quite disappointing but I do think it's due to my lack of knowledge about the app ( many features which are not always very clear for new user how to fit the best to your scenario ).

Biggest problem was for sure that voice commands were plain wrong ( e.g. go left while the onsite indicators say 'right' ) . In combination, once of track there didn't seem to be 'auto-recovery' ( like we are used in cars ) . Sometimes it went silent for longtime. Sometimes it started out of the blue to route you back to starting point ( even along highways... ). I'm sure there are reasonable explanations for all of this but I don't know where to start.

( I had automatically recalculate route on and strict route navigation off, using the mapquest routing engine with profile cycling )

My first idea of what could have gone wrong is the following :

I used a downloaded vector map ( Belgium ) -- I only have one map downloaded -- . Does this mean it always use the offline downloaded map ? ( or will it use some online map while connected ? ). In any case I could import my ( selected on a local cycling site ) route and it showed up on the map. To post-analyze the issues I zoomed in great detail and I notice that the route does not always follow the available road on the map 100%. How is this handled when route navigation starts ? Does it revert to using the most nearby road/ path ( difference is in the order of maybe 20m ) . Or do i need to edit the track and 'pull' the waypoints on the used map exactly on the road ? ( not sure if the predefined route is inaccurate of if locus map draws a straigt line between points , ignoring the underlying road details ) ?

I noticed that I can turn a waypoint into a navigation point. So I assume in my imported route there are no navigation instructions. When starting route navigation there was no popup to generate them automatically ? ( I think it should if I read the manual ? )

When starting route navigation i got error like 'o.aap : incorrectly ...%d'. Could that be related to the language ? I'm using application in dutch language with google tts for dutch language.

Do i need internet connection when using turn-by-turn route navigation ( which would make in my scenario using offline maps pretty useless of course...) ?

Does brouter support voice turn-by-turn navigation ? Also offline ?

Regards

Dirk


PS It seems that providing a 'use cases' manual for frequently used scenarios ( in addition to technically describing each option ) would be a good idea :-)

Replies (3)

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Hi Dirk,

it's quite a lot of questions in one query :) but lets start from the beginning:

- navigation along an imported (or recorded) route - you don't need any routing service as you want to be navigated along the pre-defined route, right? Therefore you don't need internet connection for route calculation - when you do leave the route, you'll be simply guided (not navigated) to its nearest point. If you have problem with TTS, I recommend to download a "voice file" from our Locus community: http://docs.locusmap.eu/doku.php?id=community:navigation_custom_voice_files that works with BRouter as well.

- the map doesn't have influence on navigation - visible map and "invisible" map used by routing services are usually from different sources (except MapQuest)

- the map doesn't have influence on the imported routes - route may have been drawn on a different map or recorded in terrain and there are always slight differences between recorded tracks and roads in map due to the GPS (or map) inaccuracy

- Locus Map doesn't display any dialog when generating voice commands - thanks for notifying us, the text in Manual was obsolete in this topic and have been updated immediately. Locus Map generates the voice command points but doesn't ask anything so as to simplify the proces of launching the route navigation

- "use cases" are stored in FAQ section of the Manual. If your query was such a case, it would appear there.

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Hi Michal,


Thanks for digging in all my questions :-). I'm trying to digest your answers and draw conclusions on how to improve my user experience.


-You say that navigation along a route ( = a set of waypoints ) doesn't require 'routing' because the path is 'given'. But I would assume that routing is still done between each consecutive set of waypoints ( using the underlying choosen map according to best effort 'snapping' it to available roads. If you say that the 'route navigation' in locus map is merely a straight line ( totally independant of any map ) I wonder if it can be usefull ? e.g. It would 'guide' me through a corn field instead of using the road around it if no waypoints are set on that road ?


-You say that if you leave the route you are guided ( not navigated ) to the nearest point. I think I understand the difference between guidance ( e.g. to be used on sea -- no roads -- ) and navigation ( as explained in the manual ) but in my case I need road directions with clear instructions and that is what you would expect from a GPS navigation tool, right ? I've choosen 'navigation' so I expect my tool to assist me in the best possible ( and obvious ) way at all times ( meaning : when I make a mistake, get me efficiently back on track --literally -- and ideally, notify me in clear language what is going on in the background e.g. 'You left the route. Recalculating route back to nearest point', and 'You are now back on the route'. Please elaborate if I got this wrong.


-I downloaded the specific voice file from the link you provided and activated it in the voice options. Does it mean I now don't need internet at all for route navigation ( using turn-by-turn voice navigation )


-If the navigation commands are generated on the fly in the background when starting route navigation, wouldn't it be a good idea to show them on the map like explicit navigation commands ? So you can 'inspect' the guidance upfront at critical points ?


Thanks

Dirk

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"If you say that the 'route navigation' in locus map is merely a straight line ( totally independant of any map ) I wonder if it can be usefull ? e.g. It would 'guide' me through a corn field instead of using the road around it if no waypoints are set on that road ?"


- navigation along a pre-defined route (imported or recorded track) in Locus Map works like you say if you switch automatic recalculation off and switch strict route navigation on. Otherwise it recalculates the route around the corn field but not to the nearest point of the imported route but to its final point according to the pre-selected settings of routing service. That's current solution and after my discussion with Locus developer, it's not final.


"... if you leave the route you are guided ( not navigated ) to the nearest point. I think I understand the difference between guidance ( e.g. to be used on sea -- no roads -- ) and navigation ( as explained in the manual ) but in my case I need road directions with clear instructions and that is what you would expect from a GPS navigation tool, right ?"


- it's related to what I wrote in the previous answer - currently, when you need to stay on the imported route, don't use routing service as it completely recalculates the whole route, not just a part to its nearest point. On the other hand, when the recalc is off, and you leave the route, Locus Map notifies you about it and guides (not navigates) you to the route's nearest point which is displayed on the map.


"I downloaded the specific voice file from the link you provided and activated it in the voice options. Does it mean I now don't need internet at all for route navigation ( using turn-by-turn voice navigation )"


- correct, when you use BRouter as the routing service, the navigation works completely offline


"If the navigation commands are generated on the fly in the background when starting route navigation, wouldn't it be a good idea to show them on the map like explicit navigation commands ? So you can 'inspect' the guidance upfront at critical points ?"


- actually they are shown on the map both on the line and in a frame in the upper left corner of the display (shape and distance of the direction change) - not statically but dynamically, i.e. when you're coming closer to the intersection, they appear and the voice command sounds

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Hey Dirk,


First tests not with a group until you have setup Locus program to your expectations completely. ;-)

Indeed a lot of questions.

A first issue: Dutch language tts error message.

Download attached zip. Unzip into file: "nl.tts"

Close Locus and with android explorer (or Total Commander app) place "nl.tts" into folder: Locus/data/tts.


<NL>Start Locus Pro. Selecteer: Taal&eenheden. Taal: Select Taal Nederlands en Selecteer Google Tekst-naar-spraak-engine -> Taal nld enz. Test nu via het blauwe veld: TEST-TEKST-NAAR-SPRAAK. Je moet nu horen: "Hoe vind je Locus"

Een Tweede test: Bij Instellingen -> selecteer Navigatie -> Stem kiezen: Selecteer Tekst-naar-spraak. Nu zou je moeten horen: "Tekst-naar-spraak versie 4 correct ingesteld". Werkt dit alles correct zonder foutmelding ?

<EN> First problem solved hopefully. Dirk are you also member of Locus forum ? http://forum.locusmap.eu/index.php

Files: nl.zip

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