Page 3 of 3

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 10:06 am
by jimlongley
Mike1951 wrote:
Oldgringo wrote:Is a card a SD Chip? Other than new residential districts, how often do cities, towns, counties and states change their addresses?
Addresses on existing streets don't change, but new streets and roads are continuously being added, modified, or extended.

Also, "The Roads of Texas", now being published by Mapsco, if far better than Delorme's atlas, especially in detail of back roads.
While I would agree that Mapsco is more accurate in detail, I would point out that Delorme interfaces with GPS, even ones that are not their own, more easily.

In my long and undistinguished career as a telephone man I learned that maps are only as accruate as the cartographer, and that cartographers are often relying on someone else's information to draw their maps. and that a small error here could be compounded exponentially. For many years JIMAPCO http://www.jimapco.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; was the "official" atlas of New York Teleohone Company, and several of us would update Jim Fisk regularly on errors found, such as roads where there are none, and vice versa, but there was always a lead time between notification and publication, and I have found the situation to be the same with Delorme.

My first contact with Delorme was in the mid '80s when I was evaluating map software for the phone company, with the intention of developing a GIS database to locate telephone plant and equipment that did not have a traditional street address. Jim Fisk declined to participate. Due to their responsiveness to our requests I became a Delorme fan and remain so today, even though the entire project was shelved because the state of the art was not ready for our big dreams.

That said, Delorme still tries to take you across the Tennessee River at Saltillo on a route between Paris, TN and Savannah, TN, at least in the 2009 edition. Trying it that way would get one wet.

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:00 pm
by Keith B
jimlongley wrote:
Mike1951 wrote:
Oldgringo wrote:Is a card a SD Chip? Other than new residential districts, how often do cities, towns, counties and states change their addresses?
Addresses on existing streets don't change, but new streets and roads are continuously being added, modified, or extended.

Also, "The Roads of Texas", now being published by Mapsco, if far better than Delorme's atlas, especially in detail of back roads.
While I would agree that Mapsco is more accurate in detail, I would point out that Delorme interfaces with GPS, even ones that are not their own, more easily.

In my long and undistinguished career as a telephone man I learned that maps are only as accruate as the cartographer, and that cartographers are often relying on someone else's information to draw their maps. and that a small error here could be compounded exponentially. For many years JIMAPCO http://www.jimapco.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; was the "official" atlas of New York Teleohone Company, and several of us would update Jim Fisk regularly on errors found, such as roads where there are none, and vice versa, but there was always a lead time between notification and publication, and I have found the situation to be the same with Delorme.

My first contact with Delorme was in the mid '80s when I was evaluating map software for the phone company, with the intention of developing a GIS database to locate telephone plant and equipment that did not have a traditional street address. Jim Fisk declined to participate. Due to their responsiveness to our requests I became a Delorme fan and remain so today, even though the entire project was shelved because the state of the art was not ready for our big dreams.

That said, Delorme still tries to take you across the Tennessee River at Saltillo on a route between Paris, TN and Savannah, TN, at least in the 2009 edition. Trying it that way would get one wet.
There was a major bypass on US 67 in Arkansas around Walnut Ridge and Hoxie that had been open for 5 years before it showed up on ANY map other than one that the State of Arkansas issued ones. I had to turn in a report to Tele Atlas before they got it out there. It showed up then on the 2009 Garmin, Delorme, Google and Yahoo maps.

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 1:19 pm
by Oldgringo
Oldgringo dumbly wrote:

Other than new residential districts, how often do cities, towns, counties and states change their addresses?
That was a dumb question! :oops: We've lived in the same house for 15 years and that house, while still situated on the original survey, has undergone three (3) different addresses.

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:16 pm
by jimlongley
Keith B wrote:
jimlongley wrote:
Mike1951 wrote:
Oldgringo wrote:Is a card a SD Chip? Other than new residential districts, how often do cities, towns, counties and states change their addresses?
Addresses on existing streets don't change, but new streets and roads are continuously being added, modified, or extended.

Also, "The Roads of Texas", now being published by Mapsco, if far better than Delorme's atlas, especially in detail of back roads.
While I would agree that Mapsco is more accurate in detail, I would point out that Delorme interfaces with GPS, even ones that are not their own, more easily.

In my long and undistinguished career as a telephone man I learned that maps are only as accruate as the cartographer, and that cartographers are often relying on someone else's information to draw their maps. and that a small error here could be compounded exponentially. For many years JIMAPCO http://www.jimapco.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; was the "official" atlas of New York Teleohone Company, and several of us would update Jim Fisk regularly on errors found, such as roads where there are none, and vice versa, but there was always a lead time between notification and publication, and I have found the situation to be the same with Delorme.

My first contact with Delorme was in the mid '80s when I was evaluating map software for the phone company, with the intention of developing a GIS database to locate telephone plant and equipment that did not have a traditional street address. Jim Fisk declined to participate. Due to their responsiveness to our requests I became a Delorme fan and remain so today, even though the entire project was shelved because the state of the art was not ready for our big dreams.

That said, Delorme still tries to take you across the Tennessee River at Saltillo on a route between Paris, TN and Savannah, TN, at least in the 2009 edition. Trying it that way would get one wet.
There was a major bypass on US 67 in Arkansas around Walnut Ridge and Hoxie that had been open for 5 years before it showed up on ANY map other than one that the State of Arkansas issued ones. I had to turn in a report to Tele Atlas before they got it out there. It showed up then on the 2009 Garmin, Delorme, Google and Yahoo maps.
I found a stretch of highway near Paintsville, KY that had been traightened years before, but my GPS software told me that I was off route and rerouted me every few yards for several miles. :woohoo

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:14 pm
by Rex B
Oldgringo wrote:
Oldgringo dumbly wrote:

Other than new residential districts, how often do cities, towns, counties and states change their addresses?
That was a dumb question! :oops: We've lived in the same house for 15 years and that house, while still situated on the original survey, has undergone three (3) different addresses.
I woke up last June 1 in a new ZIP code. Never felt a thing.

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:25 pm
by ELB
Oldgringo wrote: We've lived in the same house for 15 years and that house, while still situated on the original survey, has undergone three (3) different addresses.
Yes, I lived in a house like that, as San Antonio moved closer, the address changed at least three times. This resulted in the Bexar County septic system police leaving nastygrams all over our neighborhood one day stating that none of us had licensed septic systems and threatening court action. Turns out because of the address changes, they didn't recognize that the licenses were in fact on file, just under the old addresses. Thank God the man who originally built and lived in my house still lived in the area and magically still had the original license, even tho my house had changed hands twice since he owned it.

GPS units are great, and especially helpful at finding addresses that are poorly marked or on busy streets. But they do not replace thinking.

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 5:29 pm
by chabouk
There's some major interstate construction going on here. They're changing all the frontage roads to one way, moving all the exits, using temporary exits, using detour routes, building new flyovers, and generally changing things up almost every day.

There are warning signs well in advance of the construction, and all the routes are well marked. Still, I can't tell you how many people I've seen pull into a convenience store to ask directions after their GPS pointed them to an exit that either no longer existed, or had been moved by a mile or more.

I don't mind when people talk on the phone while driving, but it really worries me when so many people are navigating by a screen inside the car, instead of looking out at the road and roadsigns.

Re: Vehicle GPS Units

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:24 pm
by Oldgringo
chabouk wrote:
I don't mind when people talk on the phone while driving, but it really worries me when so many people are navigating by a screen inside the car, instead of looking out at the road and roadsigns.
It's all pretty much the same distraction, isn't it? I really get exercised when I see a person talking on their cell phone with a cigarbutt in one hand while doing their eyelashes...at about 60-70 mph. :eek6