Bossybabe Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Statistically they can expect a few of them to go wrong. Putting satellites in orbit is not as easy as most people make out. Is that what causes GPS to send people through fields for a short cut? Or on one memorable occasion in Spain, mine sent me up a road that ended suddenly in a sheer 100 ft drop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Is that what causes GPS to send people through fields for a short cut? Or on one memorable occasion in Spain, mine sent me up a road that ended suddenly in a sheer 100 ft drop! That's generally the fault of the mapping software not the GPS. You should always check that the route looks sensible before using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 That's generally the fault of the mapping software not the GPS. You should always check that the route looks sensible before using it. I'll get my son to scout ahead with his hexacopter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 I'll get my son to scout ahead with his hexacopter. Decent navigation software lets you check the route on screen before entering navigation mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChumpusRex Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 Is that what causes GPS to send people through fields for a short cut? Or on one memorable occasion in Spain, mine sent me up a road that ended suddenly in a sheer 100 ft drop! Nah. That's poor quality route finding software and incorrect map data. There's a "road" near me listed on digital maps published by Navteq (now Nokia). The road doesn't exist, there is nothing there, just a drainage ditch. I can only assume that the maps were made by employing people to draw lines on aerial photographs; the drainage ditch connects two roads and some guy on minimum-wage has decided that it looked like a road and just traced over it. Can you report this map error to Nokia? Nope. They don't accept corrections. The other issue is that early versions of software didn't take speed or type of road into account when calculating routes (or did so only crudely - e.g. assume the speed limit). This might end up taking you from Swansea to Birmingham by taking you down single-track unclassified roads through the Welsh valleys, because the route is significantly shorter than going down the M5 (and the speed limits are nearly the same). The more modern software is a lot better in that it tends to have decent estimates about the expected achievable speed on a given road, and potentially how that might change with time-of-day and day-of-week, and has some knowledge of the class of road (e.g. single track road suitable for access only) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sPinwheel Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Is that what causes GPS to send people through fields for a short cut? Or on one memorable occasion in Spain, mine sent me up a road that ended suddenly in a sheer 100 ft drop! "In 100 yards, plummet 100ft and turn left." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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