Microsoft Autoroute Europe GPS 2010

[HymerVan]

Has anyone bought or successfully downloaded this product ? The Microsoft website says it exists and Amazon claimed to be releasing it today but now have no release date and only two copies in stock. I am guessing that there are bugs in it which may have delayed release but that is just a guess !

[lennyhb]

Bugs in a Microsoft program surly not :D

 

I'm downloading the 60 day trial at the moment, I went through the buying procedure on MSN site got as far as the checkout without any problems.

 

It's a big download over a 2 Gig., ground my PC to sails pace had to pause the download to edit this.

 

Another edit:-

 

Don't pause the downland can't save it so have to start over again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Philman]

I received mine yesterday from Amazon. Good thing because my 60 day trial was close to running out. It should have been released in November but was delayed until early December and finally end of December.

 

Autoroute is probably the best software that Microsoft have ever issued. Earlier versions even included many campsites. Now I use the ACSI DVD for those and use Autoroute to position the ones I plan to visit.

 

Have it on the laptop for touring and it is so useful for accurate routing especially when Plan B is required. Don't leave home without it. :-D :-D

 

Phil.

[Syd]

Was stunned about an hour ago when someone dropped me a copy off, am going to try it in a few minutes

[Brian Kirby]

Now it is out, could anyone please spare the time to have a look and say if the non-GPS version is available as well, and also what is the scope of the European mapping in AR2010? 

I am presently using AR2002, having bought and returned AR2007, which was sold as having "improved Eastern European mapping" or similar, but actually missed off all roads other than main roads East of the German/Austrian/Italian borders.  Gave some very funny results when I tried opening my AR2002 planned routes for Hungary and Czech Rep in AR2007 - miles of the journey was across open countryside, where the earlier version had shown roads!  What detail has 2010 of, for example, Greece?  Many thanks.

[DonB]

Brian, what's the difference between GPS and non-GPS versions? Please? I no understand!!

[Way2Go]

Brian Kirby - 2010-01-10 11:48 AM

. . . . and also what is the scope of the European mapping in AR2010? . . . . for example, Greece?  Many thanks. 

Hi Brian,

The new version seems to cover central and western Europe. It excludes Russia, North Africa and Turkey etc.

Greece consists of Athens and very little else (see maps below).  The roads in Athens have names but elsewhere there is very little detail and certainly no road names but this is in keeping with GPS software as I understand it.

The electronic mapping of Greece appears to be non existant.

Hope this helps.

W2G

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

with all this type of mapping software it seems that you can set avoidance. I want to set it to avoid PAY mototrways/toll roads, but not motorways genrally....Anyone have an idea please how to do this?

 

heading for Vendee, St Gilles Crox de vie? in June at half term from Dunkirk. I want to avoid tolls, but mapping shows what looks like a much longer way around if I tick the "no tolls" box. we usually use toll roads so this is all a bit new to me......

[Way2Go]

JudgeMental - 2010-01-10 3:28 PM . . . I want to set it to avoid PAY mototrways/toll roads, but not motorways genrally . . . . Anyone have an idea please how to do this?

Well, if your planned route involves a toll road TomTom flashes up a message to ask if you want to use the toll road or not.  If you say Yes then you'll get the fastest route (using the toll road) but if you say No you'll get the route that avoids the toll road bit, even if its much further . . . could there be a reason there's a toll road there me thinks?

Does this answer your question m'laud?

W2G 

[Guest JudgeMental]

have been playing a little more and found where to avoid tolls, as both autoroute and garmin mapsourse use navteq, the routes have come out within a few miles of each other.....Like you say, there are times when tolls probably make more sense so a mixture is probably the best way, but that needs more route planning then normal *-)

[Brian Kirby]

DonB - 2010-01-10 1:00 PM Brian, what's the difference between GPS and non-GPS versions? Please? I no understand!!

Don't know for certain with AR 2010, hence the question.  However, earlier versions came either with a GPS receiver (so that you could run the programme on a laptop and the plug-in GPS receiver would track your progress, a bit like a portable GPS unit) or without the receiver (in which case it could only be used as a route planner unless you supplied your own receiver (the functionality remained within the programme whichever version was bought)).  The GPS version was more expensive, and I can't see the practicality of trying to drive with a laptop running, so I don't want the GPS receiver.

[Brian Kirby]

Way2Go - 2010-01-10 1:58 PM

Brian Kirby - 2010-01-10 11:48 AM

. . . . and also what is the scope of the European mapping in AR2010? . . . . for example, Greece?  Many thanks. 

Hi Brian,

The new version seems to cover central and western Europe. It excludes Russia, North Africa and Turkey etc.

Greece consists of Athens and very little else (see maps below).  The roads in Athens have names but elsewhere there is very little detail and certainly no road names but this is in keeping with GPS software as I understand it.

The electronic mapping of Greece appears to be non existent.

Hope this helps.

W2G

Thanks Barry.  That's kind.  I see you have your's then!  Coverage seems identical to my latest download from Garmin.  Eddie says both are Navteq based, so it seems the AR version of the mapping is quite fresh.  Creepy: two electronic maps that both tell the same lies!!  Whatever next?  :-)

[Brian Kirby]

JudgeMental - 2010-01-10 4:22 PM have been playing a little more and found where to avoid tolls, as both autoroute and garmin mapsourse use navteq, the routes have come out within a few miles of each other.....Like you say, there are times when tolls probably make more sense so a mixture is probably the best way, but that needs more route planning then normal *-)

It's worse than that!!  The Garmin option is to switch on, or off, toll road use.  If it is on, the stoopid thing will travel miles to get to a motorway type road, because it assumes you'll travel at warp speed all the way, if you switch it off, it then won't go anywhere near a toll road, even if it is by far the quickest way to go to get round a large town.  If you use a toll section with the toll roads option off, it gets apoplexy, and keeps shrieking to take the next exit wherever it is pointing at every conceivable means to leave!  The only solution is to work out your route in advance, decide where you want to use toll roads, then pause at the entry point to switch toll roads on, drive to the exit you want, and then pause just beyond the barrier to switch them off again.  Or, just join the toll road and switch Nelly Knowall off until just after the exit before the one you want.  She usually gets her knickers on the right way round before you get to the exit and more or less resumes the right route!  Serves me right of course, for knowing where I want to go, and how I want to get there!  :-)

[Guest JudgeMental]

MMmm....Just wondering why both autoroute and garmin choose what looks like the longer roundabout route........ leaving Rouen:

 

Caen - rennes - nantes - st gilles

 

when the more direct route looks to me.

 

Alencon - le mans - angers - st gilles

[Brian Kirby]

Try Dunkerque, Rouen, Alencon, Le mans, Angers, Cholet, La Roche-sur-Yon, St Gilles.  Probably the nearest sensible straight line.  There is little alternative to A16/A26 Dunkerque - Rouen; off motorway that would be slow and not hugely pretty.  Once beyond Rouen, probably A28 to Le Mans, then A11 to Angers and A 87 to La Roche-sur-Yon, D948 to Aizenay, D6 St Gilles.  About 450 miles.  Take the pretty route, and it will take you well over a day of driving time.

[lennyhb]

Brian,

 

2010, is just like earlier versions the GPS version is the same software packaged with a GPS reviver, much cheaper to buy the receiver separately.

 

 

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

Brian Kirby - 2010-01-10 7:16 PM

 

Try Dunkerque, Rouen, Alencon, Le mans, Angers, Cholet, La Roche-sur-Yon, St Gilles.  Probably the nearest sensible straight line.  There is little alternative to A16/A26 Dunkerque - Rouen; off motorway that would be slow and not hugely pretty.  Once beyond Rouen, probably A28 to Le Mans, then A11 to Angers and A 87 to La Roche-sur-Yon, D948 to Aizenay, D6 St Gilles.  About 450 miles.  Take the pretty route, and it will take you well over a day of driving time.

 

Thanks Brian, That is the way we always go...... i just dont get the longer route that both sets of software come up with :-S

[Lord Raindrop]

Regarding toll roads,

 

I've not been to France for some time but I used maps with the toll roads marked. It was easy to decide on a route just using some tolls for convenience.

 

A bit like Brian suggested, use the on / off button to make a suitable route.

 

If I went now using GPS I would make use of way points to take me on and off some toll roads. Much the same thing (I think).

 

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

lennyhb - 2010-01-10 8:26 PM Brian, 2010, is just like earlier versions the GPS version is the same software packaged with a GPS reviver, much cheaper to buy the receiver separately.

Thanks Lenny.

[HymerVan]

Thanks for helpfull responses especially Philman. I have now successfully downloaded the trial version which seems to work well and have also ordered the full GPS version from Amazon with the confidence that it exists/will arrive. As regards the GPS/Non GPS version I think the programs themselves are identical you are just paying about £30+ extra for the compatable GPS receiver which some people will want/need and some not. I will play with my copy and any comments I can add for the benefit of Brian Kirby in particular will follow.

[Brian Kirby]

Lord Raindrop - 2010-01-10 10:53 PM ............. If I went now using GPS I would make use of way points to take me on and off some toll roads. Much the same thing (I think).

Well, up to a point, Lord Copper!  The problem with that is that, at least on the Garmin, once an intermediate waypoint is inserted, if you encounter a diversion (and who has not, at some time, encountered the famous French "Deviation"? :-)), it has to be deleted to prevent the device trying to navigate back to it.  Simple in principle, but not generally safe to attempt while actually trying to follow the deviation signs, with Nelly Knowall yelling opposing directions at you, to take you back to the, now redundant, waypoint.  You just have to stop, delete the waypoint from the route (involves a bit of delving into sub-menus), then check any further waypoints remain logically relevant, and delete those that are not; after which you can go happily on your way to the next Deviation!

In practise, it is easier to avoid inserting intermediate waypoints and, if you want to split your journey to visit particular locations, set each location in turn as you go along, as a final destination.  That way, if diversions are encountered, the device will re-calculate the route on the fly.  However, you still need a map and common sense to exert discipline, because it seems it will initially try to find the shortest route back onto the original track (sometimes down "interesting" roads), and not necessarily recalculate a whole new route along the best roads from where you now are.  So, consult map, select best route, and follow that until Nelly Knowall catches on, stops being lazy, and does the "proper job".

With toll roads, the simplest solution is to tell Nelly not to use them, then use them as and where it suits you, using a pre-planned route and map, and just mute Nelly (quick and easy while driving) while doing so!

The best short route planning tool from A to B, generally, is still a map and Mk 1 Eyeball.  However, for longer distances, say several hundred miles, the computer based route planning programmes are far quicker and, once you set the correct driving speeds etc, provide much subtler ways to play around with variations.

If you have a stored database of campsites, aires, and supermarkets etc, plus any other points of interest, it is so easy to see which are closest to the emerging route, and when you are likely to arrive, and then include them into the route, with forecast stopover times, and then move on down the route for the next desired halt and so on.  That kind of exercise would take for too long using just map and eyeball.

As you progress from port to supermarket to overnight halt to point of interest as you travel along you route, you just set each in turn as Nelly Knowall's next destination and follow her directions, while the navigator supervises her performance using a map, and issues correcting instructions as necessary.  At least, that the the menage a trois we have arrived it, and it seems to work quite well.

[DonB]

Thank you Brian, for the explanation. I'm running 2006 Mappoint. Never had the GPS receiver, didn't know you could get it, and like you, can't see the point of it as we use satnav for driving and the laptop for route planning. I will have to think about updating to 2010 if it's not too expensive.

[Guest JudgeMental]

I have used Garmin since 2000 and hardly ever use a map. just plan route on PC and download to GPS unit. Re diversions amd waypoints, I just ignore the instructions and follow my nose "Nelly now it all " (love that) normally comes around after a while of pressing the recalculate button....the best thing about gps is having the Aires and sites at hand at a touch of a button.

 

The pain for me is on mapsource or autoroute it does not show the pay sections of motorways......many moons ago I had a map of France showing these. is there an on line map resource that shows toll sections?

[Philman]

Toll motorways and non toll motorways are shown in different colours in Autoroute.

 

Phil.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Philman - 2010-01-11 6:08 PM

 

Toll motorways and non toll motorways are shown in different colours in Autoroute.

 

Phil.

 

Blimey! you are right! Thanks for that Phil........my eyes are pretty bad :-S