Am I the only one that installed MapSource, slogged through the registation, tried the software, thought it sucked, and abandoned ever using it again? I just haven't seen the value of the software.
Garmin
- Thread starter JimLor
- Start date
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TheAxeman
Well-known member
I think its funny that the rudimentary Telenav mapping software that I use for the gps on my cell phone works far better and is much more intuitive than the Mapsource for the Garmin. <_< I definitely feel JIMLOR's pain.
twowheelnut
R.I.P. Our Motorcycling Friend
Well, alrighty then... Lessee if I qualify as an old fart: I graduated college without a computer (but I did have an HP Ti60a and made vain attempts to solve load and stress calcs using COBOL strings on the one school computer that was available at, oh, 2 AM, when the geeks down at MIT were done and my piss-ant school could finally log-on) and I can prolly do calcs quicker on my slide rule than opening a math program on the computer and I'll kick your young punk ass in Pong while blind folded with one hand tied behind my back, standing on one leg in a boiling tar pit, while covered in fire ants and whistling Yankee Doodle. And my Garmin stuff works pretty well, except when in the Bay Area.
Oh, yeah, let me leave you with this final Scabism: Bite me!
:****:
Randy
Well-known member
I'll agree that the mapsource software leaves a lot to be desired, but, I didn't buy the GPS for the software. I will also agree that the Garmin units have made me a little frustrated at times when trying to find something. However, for the 35 bazillion times that I've been misguided in a strange town where that little box helped me find my way, it is well worth it. All of the devices I have used have their own little nuances and require that you learn to speak their language.
Worst GPS unit I have used is the one that cost me an extra $2K as an option in my Acura.
Worst GPS unit I have used is the one that cost me an extra $2K as an option in my Acura.
twowheelnut
R.I.P. Our Motorcycling Friend
exskibum
~<>~<>~<>~<>~
I didn't do COBOL, but I was FORTRAN programming back then with you -- after typing out punch cards and submitting the carefully ordered stacks at the computer lab to run. Do you remember what "Timeshare" meant back then in the computer lab?
Loved my slide rule in college. Then I dropped out to the construction industry, and when I came back a couple years later, we'd moved on to really amazing technological stuff: a Texas Instruments calculator!!!! Huge for as little as it did, but hey -- you could get accurate square roots off it. Seemed like cheating.
But there was no such thing as AIDS, gangs were barely on the radar screen and mostly confined to their own limited neighborhoods, nubile young scantily clad hotties thought that we guys (at that age) were studs and liked to ride helmetless on our bikes from parties at which we picked them up, . . .
Oh **** -- does reminiscing ever make me feel like I must be in the stale fart category.
HIJACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm thinking one might expand that accurate observation to girl parts in general. :blink:
tee. it must be a mental thing. apple didn't exist as a company until i'd been out of the army for a few years. the ibm pc didn't exist for several years after that. the first pocket calculate Sears sold, while i worked there, was a TI 4 function unit for $300.
but then i also had an early version of Mapsource (Metroguide and Roads & Recreation) that not only didn't do any auto-routing (manual entry of each turn, but R&R only support as-the-crow flies for route segments). i suspect that may have something to do with my perception that, while not perfect, it's much better than it used to be.
when needing to do serious routing to places i know little about and don't have much time to mess around, i prefer the DeLorme products.
dgfella
Well-known member
Garmin has taken a step backwards with their latest software, both on the unit, and the mapsource program. I had the 2610, and v6 Mapsource, and 'upgraded' to the 2730. It is much less intuitive, and the mapsource program is even more problematic. When I converted my routes from the 2610, I lost a bunch of data due to incompatible underlying maps. I haven't really tried to drive my old routes yet, but I know I'm in for trouble.
As far as 'old farts' go, I think that the current generation is more accepting of crap software, and that the older generation valued simplicity and use for value. Its a shame that software isn'tr developed with simplicity in mind. Instead we get more features that don't work.
As far as 'old farts' go, I think that the current generation is more accepting of crap software, and that the older generation valued simplicity and use for value. Its a shame that software isn'tr developed with simplicity in mind. Instead we get more features that don't work.
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exskibum
~<>~<>~<>~<>~
See my signature line below.
First electronic calculator I saw was as a junior in high school. And I am teaching my kids to do math in their heads without paper and pencil or calculator..... they don't teach that in school anymore?
Oh, I hate computers, and I was a mainframe operator (back when they had THOSE) for 10 years........ they haven't gotten easier to run in my opinion.
I've heard others say the the interface of the 2610 is better. Too bad the hardware of the 27xx is so much better with the brighter screen in sunlight. That's one of the reasons I didn't go with a 2610 myself.....not because I'm accepting of bloated software. The overall value of the 2730 was better in my personal equation....and it would seem the markets as it continues to buy new Garmin products.
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JimLor
Well-known member
I think the market may continue to buy Garmin products, as well as others, because we think that they'll fix this with the next version. I thought that when I bought my second - and in case I wasn't clear in my original post, final, Chrysler product.
Fencer
Why yes, I am a Smart ASS
I have the 2820 with the latest V.8 update.
It has been lost when I have not on many an occasion. It does not know there is a toll bridge off the interstate that will cut 30 min of my time. The bridge is at least 10 years old. And yes, when I drive that route, I get the annoying make a u-turn speech for 10 min while I am in never-never land on the screen when I am on a highway.
Riding with Jurgen a week ago, we were cutting across Birmingham, to go out to the NW side of our state and I had It programed to avoid highways so we could just explore, I did have a destination programed into the unit that was 2.5 hours away from my driveway. It has us running through some not-so-nice heading to some areas that may be unpleasant and as we are still in town and know where we are going to get out of town. I hop on the interstate for three miles to do a quick cut over and avoid those areas. I look down and it has added another hour on the route and is sending us to a area I REALLY don't care to go through.
I have learned they are def. not infallable. And yes I agree mapsourse sucks. I have had to use free mapquest to plan a route then transfer it MS to the unit.
It has been lost when I have not on many an occasion. It does not know there is a toll bridge off the interstate that will cut 30 min of my time. The bridge is at least 10 years old. And yes, when I drive that route, I get the annoying make a u-turn speech for 10 min while I am in never-never land on the screen when I am on a highway.
Riding with Jurgen a week ago, we were cutting across Birmingham, to go out to the NW side of our state and I had It programed to avoid highways so we could just explore, I did have a destination programed into the unit that was 2.5 hours away from my driveway. It has us running through some not-so-nice heading to some areas that may be unpleasant and as we are still in town and know where we are going to get out of town. I hop on the interstate for three miles to do a quick cut over and avoid those areas. I look down and it has added another hour on the route and is sending us to a area I REALLY don't care to go through.
I have learned they are def. not infallable. And yes I agree mapsourse sucks. I have had to use free mapquest to plan a route then transfer it MS to the unit.
raclow
Well-known member
Put in "Main" and you will see a different approach. Map Source only wants simple things...you will figure it out.There is an understatement if I ever read one!I've plugged in an address and Map Source won't find it. I go and find it on another mapping source such as S&T or mapquest, zero on on Mapsource by using the cursor and find the street. This one was spelled Main St not Main Street. AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! :angry: MS S&T will at least give you some choices. I've even found the street off the map using the cursor yet when I spell it's iteration out in the "Find" menu of Map Source it still won't find it! :angry2:
Garmins Map Source is an embarrassing piece O crap for software and I curse it everytime I have to use it. That said, I like the Quest I have as it gets my honey around the country side for social work visits. It's a pain sometimes getting the address's for the routing, using several different mapping sources, but so far it gets done.
JimLor
Well-known member
Just went to MapSource. Tried to Find "Georgia Ave NW" - no luck. HOWEVER, if I go to "Intersection," under "second Street" - there it is! Of course I can't use it to find an address...lovely, just lovely.
EDIT - raclow you're on to something. I typed "Georgia" and it did list Georgia Ave NW. So, it is there - you just have to trick f it to show what you want it to!
EDIT - raclow you're on to something. I typed "Georgia" and it did list Georgia Ave NW. So, it is there - you just have to trick f it to show what you want it to!
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skyway
Well-known member
I'm really stretched for time right now, but there are ways to avoid using mapsource for routing offline. There is an easy way to use S&T for planning routes/waypoints and then transferring them with a single click of a 3rd party software program to the Garmin GPS. I'll come back to this thread when I have more time and make step by step instructions.
Mapsource is by no means the easiest piece of software to navigate, but it does have it's uses, especially for making backups of all waypoints, routes, tracks etc from the unit.
Customizing the unit to suit your driving habits also makes the world of difference on how it will perform. And also change the option to de-activate the voice for turn-by-turn directions, the make a u-turn speech is a royal PIA. This happened to me while riding at around 50mph on that gravel road approaching area 51. :glare:
It has been my experience with the 2730, that it is on the money 95% of the time. The other 5 can be attributed to operator error and the unit deciding to go where it wants. Nothing is ever perfect, and this gadget should be treated as only a tool as with any other piece of electronic equipment.
Mapsource is by no means the easiest piece of software to navigate, but it does have it's uses, especially for making backups of all waypoints, routes, tracks etc from the unit.
Customizing the unit to suit your driving habits also makes the world of difference on how it will perform. And also change the option to de-activate the voice for turn-by-turn directions, the make a u-turn speech is a royal PIA. This happened to me while riding at around 50mph on that gravel road approaching area 51. :glare:
It has been my experience with the 2730, that it is on the money 95% of the time. The other 5 can be attributed to operator error and the unit deciding to go where it wants. Nothing is ever perfect, and this gadget should be treated as only a tool as with any other piece of electronic equipment.
JimLor
Well-known member
Well, this rant has helped me sorta figure this out. Just by taking raclow’s advice that, “Mapsource only wants simple things…” I was in fact able to find Georgia Ave NW in Wash DC. Raclow opened a door – you just have to think of yourself as a mindless, lazy, shiftless, pimple-faced, teenager who possess the logic and reasoning skills of a gastropod mollusk (slug), and bingo, you’re in, a whole new world opens up!
I also was able to figure out how to make a route file and have a couple of waypoints listed – again, not intuitive, but not bad if you put yourself in the right mindset (see above). I am mildly optimistic that I can actually use the MapSource program – I only hope that I am able to return to the world of reason, logic, and human interaction after each MapSource experience.
I stand by my comments that this isn’t “intuitive.” For instance, you need to list what city and state the street you’re looking for is in (sorry, bad English) – ok, then how come when the screen comes up it doesn’t ask for City, State, number, street in that order? No, it lists the data required in the “classical” mailing address order so one has to jump around to input required data - damn, there I go “thinking” again.
Thank you raclow – you are the Socrates of GPS!
I also was able to figure out how to make a route file and have a couple of waypoints listed – again, not intuitive, but not bad if you put yourself in the right mindset (see above). I am mildly optimistic that I can actually use the MapSource program – I only hope that I am able to return to the world of reason, logic, and human interaction after each MapSource experience.
I stand by my comments that this isn’t “intuitive.” For instance, you need to list what city and state the street you’re looking for is in (sorry, bad English) – ok, then how come when the screen comes up it doesn’t ask for City, State, number, street in that order? No, it lists the data required in the “classical” mailing address order so one has to jump around to input required data - damn, there I go “thinking” again.
Thank you raclow – you are the Socrates of GPS!
FJRocket
Doctor Throckenstein !!!
Skyway was talking about a UK program he linked to earlier. I thought he was talking about GPSBabel. His recommended program to convert S&T to MapSource is a LOT better.
Read on!
Read on!
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