Laptop GPS World

I did a bunch of address searches in Nanaimo using SA 2008 for garage sales for my wife last year. I don't recall that being a problem. Maybe its specific to certain locations.

Terry

Hi Terry,

Perhaps it is. I haven't done enough checking in other locations to say. I just know that when checking some local addresses here in Regina, including my own, SA couldn't find them. I probably won't test it extensively, either. I normally use my Garmin iQue PDA when navigating around locally.

If I want to find addresses for garage sales, all I need is my wife. She's the garage sale queen and she can be giving me verbal directions to get to an address in any part of the city before I can even get it typed into my GPS! And she just loves telling me where to go....

...ken...

Ken,
I certainly didn't do them in the vehicle. I did them the night before and printed them. My wife and daughter were the garage salers. We are not familiar with the street layout in Nanaimo and it is unusual.

I found in Vancouver, that the Dodge diesel was not a good vehicle for garage sales. I used to sort the newspaper entries in S&T, then do it in Mapsource and transfer the route to the Street Pilot. While it was fun, the truck is a standard and not particularly maneuverable. It or me usually got tired and irritated long before we were through.

Terry

My garage sale tolerance level most days is about ... one, so I salute you for doing it at all in a rig like that. My wife goes by herself 99.9% of the time. The only time she lets me come is if she has her eye on something that needs two people to get it into the vehicle. Even then she'll take our daughter if she's available before she'll take me. She can't stand all the whining.

...ken...

I have just returned from a >800-mile trip this weekend and used SA2009 all the way, ncluding installing SP2 while at the hotel on Saturday evening. I also ran the Garmin 76CSx and the in-dash GPS system (both of the latter use Navteq data) throughout the trip (can we say "GPS Geek"?), and I will say that SA2009 seems mostly quite stable and accurate. I did notice one thing that happened while stopped for gas near Scranton, PA. While parked beneath an overhead metal roof, the signal was lost. Once I returned to the highway, we noticed the display show a "straight-line" route from our starting point through the "via" and to the finish point, but was not registering any movement of the GPS data (arrow icon not moving). The GPS was 'on', and the only way around it was to shut down the program and restart it. My wife was operating the T61 and LT-40 as I drove, and I asked her to save a screen shot of the display and save a log of that part of the trip.

Right now, I am not sure if this is a bug or something we did wrong.
Aside from the above, the rest of it worked quite well, and the data seemed fairly accurate, although (like any mapping setup) some of the estimated times enroute were a bit long, and some of the routing seemed a bit odd to me, although the suggested routes are probably geared to somebody who knows absolutely nothing about a given area, and prefers the best main roads. This makes sense, although once I learn of a good shortcut, I utilize that rather than the GPS' suggested route.... just me being geeky again.

The 3-D view was a bit strange at first, but is a neat way of viewing navigation when one does not need turn-by-turn directions listed at the bottom. The blue navigation bar is also a handy addition.

We are still very happy with SA2009, and plan to do more "testing" in the near future.

__________________
"Non Impediti Ratione Cogitationis"

Overland1-

Would you be able to send me your screen cap and log file?

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Shannon
DeLorme
www.delorme.com

I will gather them and send them along to you; please check your PM's.

Thanks!

__________________
"Non Impediti Ratione Cogitationis"

Ok, I bought it (SA2009) and it arrived today. Do I uninstall 2008 or just install 2009 in a different place? I guess I really don't need to keep both. Should I export my address book?

Thanks

boalexander-

You can have both Street Atlas USA 2008 and Street Atlas USA 2009 on the same machine if you choose, they can co-exist.

You do not need to export your address book, but you can. When you open up Street Atlas USA 2009, open up the address book dialog choose import and if you have installed to the default location c:\delorme docs\ you will see a folder called address book and in there will be your address book file(s) a .dab file.

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Shannon
DeLorme
www.delorme.com

Thank you

Hello, my first post in LGPSW.
I bought SA2009+ with a BT-20 bluetooth GPS receiver. The receiver is quite fast (my very first BT GPS so I can't compare. Warm start takes about 3 seconds. Ongoing refresh was every second I think. It was right-on accurate with SA2009 on my Verizon Touch.

However, the handheld functionality leaves a lot to be desired. Yes it has voice prompts but had me "go straight for a mile" when I was approaching a left turn on the visual. At other turns it failed to give me a warning also. I'm waiting for a trial version of iGuidance and can compare that with SA. I'm expecting that the former will be far superior! I guess I could have tried to return the product but I like the desktop version and the 150 million phone #s and the BT-20, while it looks like a credit card on a super dose of steroids (its a half inch thick, fat by today's standards) it ain't bad so I'm keeping it.

I've read a cross country review by someone earlier in this thread. Ugh, the program made the user look like he was boating along deep in water in an RV....!!

Anyhow, I don't intend using SA2009 on my Verizon Touch again. Its just no fun. Maybe SA2010 will have perfect handheld functionality!! I have a laptop with Bluetooth, but I don't think I'm going to take the time to install the program on it and see how accurate the BT is....I know from the handheld it is quite accurate.

Roger

Roger, welcome to Laptop GPS World! I moved your posting from SA 2008 Review thread, here to the discussion of SA 2009 .

I think some people may buy SA+ just for the 150 million phone numbers - it may be well worth it if you need the functionality.

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Marvin Hlavac

PC GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics

I was getting ready to order SA 2009 when I stumbled across this forum. Looks like some good info. Is this address issue only in Canada or is it US also?

This will be an issue everywhere. It's also an issue with other products, like Garmin, Microsoft, etc.

The problem is a well-known issue in computer database searching for decades. In this case the problem is being too specific.

As has been mentioned on many occasions in the various forums here, it's often difficult or impossible to know where the boundary for one town, city or municipality ends and the next one begins. So with any of these products you are always better off not using the city/town name if you have that option. As Shannon mentioned, Postal or Zip Codes are a better way to narrow the search so it doesn't take all day but doesn't depend on knowledge of municipal boundaries.

...ken...

Yes, each program has its own address look-up issues. No program is perfect, and each of us just wants a good balance between the features we need and the quality of the map data that comes with it.

I observed that most of the earlier-mentioned addresses that I was unable to find, I can actually find if, instead of entering Toronto, Ontario into DeLorme Street Atlas 2009, I enter what the program thinks the correct name for the city is. To find out what SA 2009 wants me to enter, I first zoom-in on the desired area on the map, and chances are that the town name will be there (at certain zoom level).

So for example, instead of entering the correct address:

500 Murray Ross Parkway, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

to look it up successfully, I would have to enter into SA 2009:

500 Murray Ross Parkway, Black Creek Village, Ontario, Canada

I can guarantee that if you go to the above area of Toronto, and ask anyone on the street what city they are in, they will all unanimously say Toronto, Ontario - no one will say they live in Black Creek Village, Ontario .

__________________
Marvin Hlavac

PC GPS software reviews | Stores offering discounts to our members: Semsons & Co. Inc. and Deluo Electronics