OK, so I just spent about 4 hours inputting a route I frequently lead driving tours on into Garmin MapSource. It's absolutely not a route the computer would choose (probably the slowest/longest possible route between) so I had to use a very, very large number of Via Points to get the route onto the roads I wanted. I did each "segment" (warm up, morning, after lunch, etc) of the day as a separate file due to the bug with transferring multiple routes to Garmin Mobile PC. It all looked great in Mapsource, so I exported the routes one by one over to Mobile PC.

I wanted to hear how Mobile PC would handle the announcing of the Via Points, so I activated the shortest section of the tour and told Mobile PC to Simulate Route. It all seemed to go swimmingly until I noticed that the pink line on the map wasn't in the right place. It turns out that Mobile PC doesn't use the same routing as Mapsource does even when you explicitly send a route from Mapsource to Mobile PC.

Obviously, this is a pretty severe problem if staying on a specific route is your goal. I've attached the very small segment of the total tour that we use as a warmup because it's, well, small and has a clear example of the problem. Below, you'll find two pictures, one of the (correct) route I made in MapSource (light background) and one of what happens when you activate the route in Mobile PC.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Does anyone know how to fix it? Sadly "shaping" the route in Mobile PC doesn't even work as it just adds to the route, not removes the part of the route that's wrong.

Attached Files

example.zip (5.1 KB)

Are you sure you didn't ask Mobile PC to optimize the stops? That is what it looks like. You can reorganize the stops in GMPC to match the ones in MapSource.

Are you using the same map data for both? Elsewhere you said MapSource was 2010. GMPC is only 2009. Maybe the unused road is rated differently in the 2 versions.

Try another stop on the road GMPC does'nt use and see if that fixes it. OR just use the route modification tools in GMPC.

Terry

I can't make MapSource route from Murray City to your next stop using the New Pittsburg road in 2009 or 2010. Are you using CNNA NT maps or one of the Topo versions?

Terry

I did not ask it to do anything like that. Who knows what it's doing on its own. I merely transferred the route to GMPC from MS and then opened the route in GMPC. Is there a default option I need to check to make sure that GMPC isn't trying to optimize things without asking?

I've got the CNNANT2010 maps in GMPC as well.

I can force it onto the right route eventually if I keep adding Via Points in MS. However, that totally defeats the purpose of being able to export a route to GMPC if I can't trust that it'll work out right.

Also, using the route modification tools in GMPC doesn't actually fix the problem. I can force GMPC onto the road it's trying to avoid but it will still have that short connection that it shouldn't and there's no way to convince it not to do that.

CNNA NT 2010 in both MS and GMPC.

Are you saying that if you download the .zip I attached to my first post and load the enclosed Garmin file into Mapsource you get a different routing than the one I pictured?

Your zip works fine but I can't duplicate that section. It always goes via Highway 216 in 2010. Strange!

Terry

Attached Images

routetest.jpg (147.4 KB)

Interesting. After asking you that question, I quit Mapsource, restarted Mapsource, and then opened that file. It still runs southeast down 216 to Murray City, then back northwest on CR-22/New Pittsburgh Rd. just like it does in my initial screenshot.

This all may be pointless, though. I created one of the longest sections of the tour. Trying to send it to GMPC from MS immediately crashes GMPC so I may be totally out of luck.

The best I could do with your route in GMPC was add a stop at the terminus of CR-22. I picked that location as it was the only place I could get MapSource to route to not using Hwy 216.

Terry

Attached Images

GMPC Test.jpg (107.9 KB)

Recalculate that route. It changes to 216 when I do that with your Zip file.

Terry

Darn, you had me hoping I could predict how things were going to turn out. The route stays right on CR-22 when I click Recalculate Route in MS.

Wait, I think I have it. If I go into the Mapsource preferences and change the Road Selection slider, I can eventually get it to pop onto 216 after Recalculating. The only problem then is that it also makes some other changes to the route that GMPC doesn't. I wonder which setting of the Road Selection slider exactly matches the behavior in GMPC.

Well, still doesn't matter too much if GMPC is going to crash every time I send it a big route.

I would guess in the middle as that is where mine is set - probably default.

Break your route up and see what size it can handle by trial and error. I've never played with that.

Terry

But! But! It took so LONG to create!

Yeah, I'm going to split it up tomorrow and see what happens. Its a little late (2:30am local) to deal with something frustrating yet tonight.

I think it is easy to break up in MapSource but I wouldn't try it at 02:30!

Terry at 23:45

I have very little experience with Mapsource. What's the easy way to split a route up?

Open MapSource with your route. Double click on the route under the Routes tab to get a Route Properties box. Click on the first point you want and shift-click on the last point you want. You should see the points hightlighted. Ctrl-C to copy.

Open another copy of MapSource and Ctrl-R to open a new route. Ctrl-v to paste your selected points and hit the Recalculate button and Show on Map. Save under a different name.

Terry

I lied. Or I got bored. One of the two.

It's fine with 26 Via Points in a route but number 27 kills it. I'll have to create (tomorrow) another route with more than 26 Via Points in it to find out if it's a quirk of the 27th point in this route or if it's a real limit.

How many points are you dealing with overall in the route you've prepared? Can you break it by day?

Terry

I gat a failure at 32 on a quick test (it transfers but GMPC shuts down when trying to calculate the route on open. 31 was ok. The test route was in quite a small area though.

Terry

Attached Images

Route Properties.jpg (193.2 KB)

GMPC Route Properties.jpg (160.0 KB)

Yeah, I'm actually breaking it down by bathroom stop That leads to having several independent legs per day anyway. The problem is how to handle the crash-limit coming in the middle of a leg. I can't activate the next route while driving, obviously, and it often can be very hard in mountainous or hilly areas to find a place to safely pull 10 cars off the side of the road for 30 seconds while I switch routes. Not sure what I'm going to do about that yet.

For the simpler legs of the trip, I'm looking at 25-30 points. For the more complex segments, well, I've got one with more than 75 already.

You may find this interesting. I took the 31 point route I had transferred from MapSource and started adding end points at ridiculous distances compared to the original. I got to 4 with no problems and could probably go further. You might experiment with increasing the route length using GMPC instead of MapSource and come up with some pretty good lengths. GMPC is not as easy as MapSource but pretty straightforward once you get used to it and it recalculates after every change.

Another approach to try!

Terry

Williaty,

I haven't done anything with your routes but here are a couple of things to look at.

Splitting routes in Mapsource - turn on the "Track Edit" toolbar and use the Track Divide tool (same as TOOLS menu/Track Divide). You can also edit and join tracks and even draw them manually.

Route preferences - in Mobile PC make sure you do not have something set to avoid that you don't want to avoid. Settings/Routing/Avoidance Setup is the rough equivalent to the slider in Mapsource. Sort of.

...ken...

Do the Track tools work on Routes as well? I'm used to software treating tracks and routes as different things.