Waypoints and U turns

[Pukmeister]

On todays ride to Brands Hatch, I loaded a route I planned on Mapsource (my first ever) and all seemed well.

Whilst riding through the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells, I was visually on the loaded route on my map screen, but the voice and direction instructions kept trying to send me into town rather than through the outskirts. I trusted my instincts and stuck to the route on the map and eventually "she" decided to continue on the route instead of guiding me back towards town. GPS is clearly not the be-all and end-all of navigation. As lead rider, I could have ended up a laughing stock if my expensive GPS toy got 5 riders going around in circles.

Is this because I had used Tunbridge Wells as a waypoint and it expected me to hit the waypoint exactly before moving on to the next ? Presumably this waypoint was the town centre (which I had hoped to avoid).

 

[MikeP]

Is this because I had used Tunbridge Wells as a waypoint and it expected me to hit the waypoint exactly before moving on to the next ? Presumably this waypoint was the town centre (which I had hoped to avoid).

Yes. Don't take my word for it though, I have been known to b@lls it up once or thrice!

 

[DodgyGeeSer]

I've found that with my Quest it will usually try to direct you exactly to your via point for a short while, before it continues onto the next via point. But then, my via points are usually locations I wish to visit, so it usually suits..

You should probably select via points that are exactly on the route you wish to follow, or try and avoid using them. If there are roads you want to avoid, use 'avoidances'. I think this is a feature in the newest version of the MapSource software.

 

[Twotter]

Is this because I had used Tunbridge Wells as a waypoint and it expected me to hit the waypoint exactly before moving on to the next ? Presumably this waypoint was the town centre (which I had hoped to avoid).

I did this once using Oxford as a waypoint. Only once mind !

 

[Taff]

If the truth be known, you will probably find that the vast majority of people who use GPS have done exactly the same at some time or another. One useful tip which has been mentioned on this site previously, is if you want to mark a waypoint at all, mark it on a road the other side of a town or city, eg in your case place your waypoint on the other side of Tunbridge Wells and let the computer select the fastest route.

Personally, I would be inclined to use the new Route Avoidance feature in Mapsource, and just avoid the whole of Tunbridge Wells.

 

[PanEuropean]

Is this because I had used Tunbridge Wells as a waypoint and it expected me to hit the waypoint exactly before moving on to the next?

Mike P. was correct in his response to you. When you set up an intermediate waypoint on a route (this is called a 'via point'), the GPSR will attempt to guide you EXACTLY to that point. Exactly means right on top of it, within 10 or 15 feet of it.

A few years ago, I suggested to Garmin that they allow us to create sort of a modified via point called a 'just pass by this one' via point - the idea being that as long as we got within a mile or so of it, the GPSR would be happy. The software engineers agreed with the idea in principle, but didn't implement it, because it would have satisfied the needs of the 1% of us that are power users, and confused the heck out of the other 99% of the users out there. I honestly can't blame them for that decision.

Taff made a very good suggestion (above) when he suggested that you put intermediate waypoints - ones that you create for the sole purpose of causing the GPSR to take you down a specific road - OUTSIDE of towns or cities. If you do this when you are creating the route with MapSource, the waypoint will likely 'magnetically attach' itself to the road, and what you will see when you drive by it is a notice that says 'approaching waypoint' and that is all. If the road is a dual carrigeway, and your waypoint attaches itself to the wrong side of the road, you might get some screwy directions to turn around and go back to it, but you can safely ignore those.

When you drive past an intermediate waypoint (a via point), the GPSR pays attention to what you are doing - once you get past it and it is obvious that you are not going back, it disregards it. But, as long as the via point is ahead of you, it will give you directions such that you pass directly over top of it.

Finally - another workaround (though a tad more time-consuming) is to create your via points on MapSource, then, after you have created your route, zoom in very tightly on each via point (50 foot zoom level) and if necessary, move the waypoints so they are just outside the towns and on the correct side of the road. To do this, you will need to read the instructions that explain how to move waypoints within the MapSource application.

Regards, Michael

 

[Deleted account W]

Am I correct in thinking that you set your GPS to take you via Tunbridge Wells and are now unhappy with the fact that it did what you asked it to?