Guest JudgeMental Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Tony..you dont need internet to use the mapping on a laptop :-D I am driving to Spain for Easter. it took me about 10 minutes to write a route on PC I only use the sat nav on route even when away for 6 weeks last summer. This way the sat nav takes me the way I want to go, and like I said earlier a mixture of toll and N roads. A sat nav is a blunt instrument, tolls are either on or off, I dont have to stop or be delayed fiddling with it.....Plus sat navs are pretty stupid anyway and love taking you down dirt tracks and the like when we want to stop for the night I just select somewhere from my custom POI...have been doing it this way for over 12 years. I know others are happy to do it on the unit but I prefer it this way..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Tony You may find the attached diagram of POI file format and types useful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 JudgeMental - 2013-02-27 8:57 AM Tony..you dont need internet to use the mapping on a laptop :-D In that case, I can see the point. I'll take a look at Basecamp - thanks Eddie. This way the sat nav takes me the way I want to go, and like I said earlier a mixture of toll and N roads. A sat nav is a blunt instrument, tolls are either on or off, I dont have to stop or be delayed fiddling with it.....Plus sat navs are pretty stupid anyway and love taking you down dirt tracks and the like Yes, "Jenny" (our TomTom) had one or two "obsessions." Sometimes she'd get all fixated on motorways and dual carriageways, taking us miles out of our way just for the joy of using a short stretch. Then later on the same trip, she might cut a corner off the clearly-signed route to our destination, by taking us down a narrow road just because it's technically "derestricted," although only an idiot would attempt to go over 25 on it! I assume there's no reason to think the Garmin will be any better in this resepect - even though we've designated it "male!" - so the opportunity to plan my own route easily, then let "Daniel" guide us along it, will be really useful. I'll download it and give it a try. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 Tony The beauty of BaseCamp or MapSource is the facility to pull up Google Earth directly from either program. In the menu bar for either, click on "View", and at the bottom of the pull-down you will see Google Earth. Click that, and Google Earth will open, and "fly" to the centre screen co-ordinates as showing on your on-screen map. If you are centred on a POI that is open in the mapping program, the pin location will be visible on Google Earth. If you have a route open in the mapping program, that route trace will also be visible in Google Earth. When using downloaded POIs this can be very useful, as not all folk pinpoint the entrance to whatever when filing the co-ordinates. Their co-ordinate may be to a place on a campsite or aire, or just to the street in which the whatever is located. As the entry lane to some of these locations may not be mapped, the program will merely take you to the nearest point on a road, which may not be the road from which the whatever can be accessed. I have even found small rivers between the point I have arrived at, and my objective! Tedious turning round to go back for a bridge, and a waste of time! Think also supermarkets in urban areas. You may have a co-ordinate that is near an exit point rather than an entrance. Your sat-nav will then effortlessly guide you to the exit while the entrance you want is the other side of the block, in a one-way street. Using Google Earth and Google Streets (for which you do need an internet connection) allows you to look at the position of the co-ordinate on the ground, and using "Streets", to see whether it should, actually, be the other side of the block in that one-way street (you can also see whether it has height barriers - and whether these are present at all entry points, or only at the more obvious ones). Then, your sat nav will effortlessly guide you to the actual entrance, with no height barriers, and you will be happy! A little planning is no bad thing, IMO! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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