Automobile GPS: Street Names In Voice?
(PeteCresswell)
NJ using a borrowed Garmin Nuvi 265WT.
Didn't seem too bad in spite of totally losing it on the 76's Lee
Tire curve where it had the automobile icon in white space
between roads and was telling me to make a U-turn. I'm guessing
that was something to do with a major television transmitting
antenna farm just across the river.
But it definitely presented problems with multiple possible
turnoffs that were, say, 50 feet from each other.
"Bear Right"..... OK... *WHICH* right? First trip, exiting
into beautiful downtown Camden, I blew it completely although
"Re-Routing..." bailed me out in the end.
Second trip, I ignored the "Bear Right" and went a mile or so up
the road, wherein it took me off at another exit that was much
closer to my destination.
Bottom Line: If this thing would say something like "Bear right
on Walnut Street" it would help a *lot*. Seems like it's got
to know the street names bc at least some of them appear on the
map.
Am I missing some setup parm that tells it how verbose to be?
If not, can anybody suggest a unit that includes street
names/exit ramp descriptions in the voice prompts?
--
PeteCresswell
Peter H. Coffin
> Just did a couple round-trips between Paoli PA (USA) and Camden
> NJ using a borrowed Garmin Nuvi 265WT.
>
> Didn't seem too bad in spite of totally losing it on the 76's Lee
> Tire curve where it had the automobile icon in white space
> between roads and was telling me to make a U-turn. I'm guessing
> that was something to do with a major television transmitting
> antenna farm just across the river.
>
> But it definitely presented problems with multiple possible
> turnoffs that were, say, 50 feet from each other.
>
> "Bear Right"..... OK... *WHICH* right? First trip, exiting
> into beautiful downtown Camden, I blew it completely although
> "Re-Routing..." bailed me out in the end.
>
> Second trip, I ignored the "Bear Right" and went a mile or so up
> the road, wherein it took me off at another exit that was much
> closer to my destination.
>
> Bottom Line: If this thing would say something like "Bear right
> on Walnut Street" it would help a *lot*. Seems like it's got
> to know the street names bc at least some of them appear on the
> map.
>
> Am I missing some setup parm that tells it how verbose to be?
Street name text to speech depends on what *voice* is being used. The
265WT should be able to do it, but you need to pick a voice that
supports it.
> If not, can anybody suggest a unit that includes street
> names/exit ramp descriptions in the voice prompts?
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134 and check "Speaks street
name" on the left.
--
The trouble with things that extend your lifespan is that they happen
at wrong end. I'd hate to be wearing Depends at 85 and thinking "I gave
up booze and cigarettes for three more years of this."
Don B
lane assist. I haven't had a chance to try it on the interstate yet but
it doesn't seem to be too bad a unit. It lacks some features my 2820 has
and has some my 2820 doesn't have. Overall it's a pretty decent GPS
below is a quote from Garmin's site about the lane assist.
No more guessing which lane you need to be in to make an upcoming turn.
Lane assist with junction view guides you to the correct lane for an
approaching turn or exit, making unfamiliar intersections and exits easy
to navigate. It realistically displays road signs and junctions on your
route along with arrows that indicate the proper lane for navigation.
Don B
who asked
<hel...@ninehells.com> wrote with utmost skill:
The 265WT already speaks street names but that isn't what the OP is
referring to. What the OP is looking for would be a unit that has lane
assist and tells you exactly which lane you need to be in. The 265WT
tells you to exit at the street name/exit number or to turn at the
street name but it doesn't tell you which street to bear to when you
need to bear left/right and when you are on an interstate with a lot
of close interchanges and exits that info is really useful.
(PeteCresswell)
>The 265WT
>tells you to exit at the street name/exit number or to turn at the
>street name
The one I tried out did not even to that.
Just found out that was, indeed, a setup issue.
Reset to defaults, and it speaks street names.
That helps a *lot* - making it, IMHO, 100% usable once one gets
in the vicinity of the destination. If the same setup also
causes it to speak exit numbers, that would help too.
"Lane Assist" sounds promising - although the WT265 did, indeed
offer up "Bear Right" and "Bear Left" - albeit at the same time.
Looking back on those situations, they were logical. Maybe one
just has to get used to it a little more.
--
PeteCresswell
Peter H. Coffin
> The 265WT already speaks street names but that isn't what the OP is
> referring to. What the OP is looking for would be a unit that has lane
> assist and tells you exactly which lane you need to be in. The 265WT
> tells you to exit at the street name/exit number or to turn at the
> street name but it doesn't tell you which street to bear to when you
> need to bear left/right and when you are on an interstate with a lot
> of close interchanges and exits that info is really useful.
Fascinating. The 785WT *does* do this, at least specifying "Take exit
1E, on left", or "Keep right onto east Main Street." Or is this also not
what you're talking about?
--
53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry
you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and
kill her.
--Peter Anspach's list of things to do as an Evil Overlord
who asked
<hel...@ninehells.com> wrote with utmost skill:
>On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:09:52 -0600, who asked wrote:
>> The 265WT already speaks street names but that isn't what the OP is
>> referring to. What the OP is looking for would be a unit that has lane
>> assist and tells you exactly which lane you need to be in. The 265WT
>> tells you to exit at the street name/exit number or to turn at the
>> street name but it doesn't tell you which street to bear to when you
>> need to bear left/right and when you are on an interstate with a lot
>> of close interchanges and exits that info is really useful.
>
>Fascinating. The 785WT *does* do this, at least specifying "Take exit
>1E, on left", or "Keep right onto east Main Street." Or is this also not
>what you're talking about?
No, the 265WT does the same thing and I think it works well although
it does take some getting used to. The hardest part to me is when you
are in an unfamiliar area and there are several exits and interchanges
very close together. Bear right, keep right, take a hard right, turn
right can be confusing in some instances. It could also be that I need
to experiment with different voices. Initially it was difficult to
understand when I was being told to take a hard left or hard right.
The voice I use would say something like take a hard left onto such
and such. But the way it did so was with a pause between the words "a"
and "hard" and then the word "left" or "right" would blend in with the
word "hard". What it sounded like was:
Take a.... hardleft onto ...
Compund that with hearing difficulties whenever there is background
noise and it became confusing at times.
I have also since learned to check the route being planned for me by
the Nuvi in advance of setting out if at all possible or even checking
it while in route so that I'm aware of those upcoming areas.
frijoli
>
> I have also since learned to check the route being planned for me by
> the Nuvi in advance of setting out if at all possible or even checking
> it while in route so that I'm aware of those upcoming areas.
Which you really should do always. People tend to think of
todays GPS a chauffeurs. The are assistants to your general
current location and that is as far as you really should
trust them.
Peter H. Coffin
> On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:21:28 -0600, "Peter H. Coffin"
><hel...@ninehells.com> wrote with utmost skill:
>
>>On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:09:52 -0600, who asked wrote:
>>> The 265WT already speaks street names but that isn't what the OP is
>>> referring to. What the OP is looking for would be a unit that has lane
>>> assist and tells you exactly which lane you need to be in. The 265WT
>>> tells you to exit at the street name/exit number or to turn at the
>>> street name but it doesn't tell you which street to bear to when you
>>> need to bear left/right and when you are on an interstate with a lot
>>> of close interchanges and exits that info is really useful.
>>
>>Fascinating. The 785WT *does* do this, at least specifying "Take exit
>>1E, on left", or "Keep right onto east Main Street." Or is this also not
>>what you're talking about?
>
> No, the 265WT does the same thing and I think it works well although
> it does take some getting used to. The hardest part to me is when you
> are in an unfamiliar area and there are several exits and interchanges
> very close together. Bear right, keep right, take a hard right, turn
> right can be confusing in some instances. It could also be that I need
> to experiment with different voices. Initially it was difficult to
> understand when I was being told to take a hard left or hard right.
Probably. All those terms mean something VERY SPECIFIC to the GPS.
They're not synonemous. For example, "bear right" means that there's a
fork in the road coming up (or importantly, a median-separated turn-only
lane, not merely a painted turn-only lane), and you're turning off the
main road to the right gently. "Keep right" on the other hand means that
the fork has the main road on the right-hand side and you're staying on
it. "Turn right" means a corner of roughly 90 degrees (+/- about 30
degrees usually) and a "hard right" is turn rather further than 90
degrees, like turning from a road at 6 o'clock onto a road at 4 o'clock
at a six-way intersection.
> The voice I use would say something like take a hard left onto such
> and such. But the way it did so was with a pause between the words "a"
> and "hard" and then the word "left" or "right" would blend in with the
> word "hard". What it sounded like was:
>
> Take a.... hardleft onto ...
I like to think that Emily is checking her notes when that happens.
> Compund that with hearing difficulties whenever there is background
> noise and it became confusing at times.
That's why there's also a diagram of the turn on the screen as well,
plus an arrow on the map.
> I have also since learned to check the route being planned for me by
> the Nuvi in advance of setting out if at all possible or even checking
> it while in route so that I'm aware of those upcoming areas.
Always a good idea.
--
CS is about lofty design goals and algorithmic optimization. Sysadmining
is about cleaning up the fscking mess that results.
(PeteCresswell)
>That's why there's also a diagram of the turn on the screen as well,
>plus an arrow on the map.
... Which is Yet Another Reason I've come to avoid riding my bike
anywhere even *near* automobile traffic.... -)
--
PeteCresswell
who asked
utmost skill:
I wholeheartedly agree. It's just a tool to assist me in getting from
point A to point B, I'm still the one behind the wheel who has to make
all the decisions.
who asked
Almost exactly right as my 265WT performs. I usually get the "hard
left" when entering an onramp to the highway but I've gotten the "hard
left" or "hard right" when there has been a fork in the road.
>
>> The voice I use would say something like take a hard left onto such
>> and such. But the way it did so was with a pause between the words "a"
>> and "hard" and then the word "left" or "right" would blend in with the
>> word "hard". What it sounded like was:
>>
>> Take a.... hardleft onto ...
>
>I like to think that Emily is checking her notes when that happens.
>
>> Compund that with hearing difficulties whenever there is background
>> noise and it became confusing at times.
>
>That's why there's also a diagram of the turn on the screen as well,
>plus an arrow on the map.
>
>> I have also since learned to check the route being planned for me by
>> the Nuvi in advance of setting out if at all possible or even checking
>> it while in route so that I'm aware of those upcoming areas.
>
>Always a good idea.
Agreed.