Hello,

I have some issues with Metroguide 8 & 9, patched with Metrogold, compared to City Navigator 8.

Although it's nifty to "upgrade" Metroguide with Metrogold, it's not working nearly as well as City Navigator.

Example: Yesterday i was going to a town, about 300 Kms from where i live.
My garmin Vista HCx (firmware 2.60) was loaded with CN9, and i asked it to find the address i was going to and calculate a route.
And it did - just as expected.

However - on the Vista there was only 9 (maybe 10) turns - while on Mapsource - having selected MG9 (of course) there were twice as many turns!

And i'll claim had it would not be possible to navigate to my destination with this setup, had I not known the way myself.

Now .. that got me curious, because Friday this week i am going on the annual ski holiday in Austria.

In Mapsource with MG9 my route indicate 35 turns.
Same route - loaded from a file - with MG8 say 36 turns.

And with City Navigator 8 - again loaded from the same file - 44 turns.

Now .. the really weird thing is - when the Vista is asked to calculate the route, using the exact same waypoints - loaded onto the GPS from Mapsource - 14 turns!

No doubt I'll get lost on the way there

So i have reloaded City Navigator 8 on my GPS. And when I check the calculated route it says - 44 turns.

I have attached the *.gdb fil, so you can experiment yourself.

I do not think I've made any mistakes, because a mate of mine have the same issues with his setup, that's almost exactly the same as mine. Only difference is his Vista use firmware ver. 2.50

Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

Mikael

Edit - I am not allowed to attach a *.gdb file .. but on request i cam mail it to you

Not sure if I can do something about this, but yes please send the GDB file. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Received the gdb file, but didn't have time to experiment with it yet.
However this problem is really new to me and I didn't experience it myself ever. That's why I'm coming to think that your GPS is routing on the basemap and not on the Metroguide map. That would be an explanation for this behaviour.
Are you really really really very sure that it is routing on the Metroguide map and not on the basemap?
(Make sure the Metroguide map is the one active in your Vista and that the route is not going outside the uploaded maps.)

Thanks for the reply,

I don't have time to swap maps tonight - it takes forever!
But i will give it a try first thing tomorrow.

Best regards,

Mikael

Okay .. I'm back in Denmark, where religious arseholes (excuse my language) are burning down schools, cars etc, all because of a cartoon.

Anyway .. back to the issues i'm having.

To make things simpler, i have nor infront of me 2 identical Garmin Vista HCx units.

Unit number one (mine) is now loaded with City Navigator 8 AND the European basemap from your site.

Unit number 2 is my mates GPS, loaded with Metrogold patched Metroguide 9. There's the original US basemap on this unit, but not the Euro basemap.

I asked the two units to calculate a route to my parents summerhouse.

Unit 1: total distance: 422.2 Kms with 33 turns.
Unit 2: Total distance: 421.3 Kms with 18 turns!!

One thing is .. unit 2 has turn number two after 367 Kms, where mine has made 16 turns already.

After this point - as far as i can see - they seem to be guiding the rest of the way identically.

Unfortunately your theory about it's routing on the basemap doesn't seem to be right.

Any other theories?

Kind regards

Mikael

I'll try to look at this this weekend. Don't have time before that.

Well I did some comparing myself.
I took the GDB file you sent me and calculate the route therin on different devices.
These are the configurations that I used:
1. Calculate in Mapsource with Metroguide EU V9 (gold)
2. Garmin Mobile XT on Mio Pocket PC with City Navigator NT v9
3. Garmin Mobile XT on Mio Pocket PC with Metroguide EU V9 (gold)
4. Garmin Etrex Venture CX with Metroguide EU V9 (gold)
The map (gmapsupp.img) used for 3. and 4. are exactly the same, generated from your skiferie.gdb.

Here's the results:
First of all, on all devices the calculated routes are (more or less) the same. There is certainly nothing wrong with the ability of route calculation on any configuration.
Now here's the number of turns that I got:
1. 39 turns
2. 40 turns
3. 32 turns
4. 24 turns
So indeed there's definately a difference in the number of turns on different devices even if the map is exactly the same. Conclusion: the device makes up the turns, not the map.
Now I did a more detailed comparison in the turns with configuration 1. (Mapsource) and 4. (Etrex). You can see a comparison table in the attached PDF file.
If you look a the table there are a lot of "keep left's" and "keep right's" on for example the E47 that you will see in 1. but not in 4. In fact "these turns" are NOT actually turns, but "going straights" on the same highway. This goes for all the "turns" that you won't find on the Etrex. The Etrex defines these "turns" as going straight (which it actually is) and won't show a turn.

Here's my overall conclusion so far:
Personally I'm happy the Etrex leaves out a lot of "nonsense" turns. I don't agree to the point that you are trying to make that you won't get to your destination with routing on Metrotroguide/metroGold: First of all the number of turns depends also on the device not only the map. Secondly you're not only using the turns while finding your way, you also have the mapview on your device.
Now I do agree to the fact that routing on City Navigator and Metroguide is different, esp. where it comes directions on roundabouts. I will do a more detailed comparison between these when I have more time.

Hello admin,

thanks for your reply.

May i suggest we analyze the other example - the route from my home to the summer house.

There are a couple of advantages doing that:

1. It's much simpler - shorter distance.
2. I know the way by heart, and can tell if something important is missing (and infact there is).

Monday morning, when i have access to both units again, i will mail you the GBD file.

Does that sound like a plan?

Best regards

Mikael

Sure, that's ok.
Maybe include the "start" and "end" addresses of the route in your mail. It's easier to input in the device.

Hi again,

Sorry about the delay, but i haven't been able to borrow my mates Vista earlier.

Start address:

Århusvej 34
DK-3000 Helsingør
Denmark

Destination address:

Havet 128
DK-8585 Glesborg
Denmark

Unit 1 (CN8) distance 422.2 Km, with 33 turns
Unit 2 (MG9 - Gold) 421.3 Km, with 18 turns.

The first important turn unit 2 miss is after 3.9 Km - unto E47.

The next important turn unit 2 miss is (and this is fatal!) at 51.3 Kms. Miss this turn and you end up in Sweden!!

Next important is at 77.8 Kms - E20. Miss this and you never get to Jutland (where the summerhouse is located).

At 248 and 250 Kms unit 2 again miss the turns - and making the wrong turns here possibly will get you to Germany!

From this point on, both units navigate you correctly to the destination.

Could the issues be related to the max number of turns MG 9 (Gold) can produce? 18 is a strange number .. but i am not a programmer.

If you need the GDB file, i can mail it to you - but it's the same file i mailed you 2 weeks ago.


Kind regards,

Mikael