Specific needs for a Sat Nav

Name Changed

Before starting this thread, I have read a lot of the previous threads and none really cater for what I am looking for.

Basically I work in west Dublin and I would like a relatively easy to use Sat Nav that has good maps and directions for estates within west Dublin.

I was recommended a Garmin 255 but from reading the threads here I see that you have to enter specific addresses to get to a particular place.

What I need is a Sat Nav that would for example: Get me from Ballyfermot Road to Berryfield Drive in Finglas the quickest way.

I don't need other things that Sat Navs offer such as details for restaurants and that kind of thing.

I want a Sat Nav with good maps with would get me from a to b quickly. And I need a Sat Nav that is specifically good for estates within such areas.

I like the sound of the Garmin 255 but if I could not put in something like Cherryorchard Avenue to Blanchardstown then it would not be much use to me.

Also I would like if the Sat Nav I buy would have good road maps of County Clare.

I don't want to go overboard on what I spend as I will mostly only use it for work. The Garmin 255 is about €123 in Elara which is a decent price. I know Tesco have a 30% sale on tomorrow. Would a TomTom cater more for what I'd be looking for?

European or UK maps are not needed. It would just be for Ireland.

R3al

I use a Garmin 310 Deluxe, I find that the device is excellent, clear instructions, uses most direct route and you can use it as a hands free kit for your bluetooth phone, bought mine online from UK and saved about 33% on the Irish price (paid about €140 including shiiping).

From the reviews I have read Garmin maps of the rep of Ireland are superior to TomTom

robinph

What your looking for is probably not going to be exactly possible in any SatNav, it's all down to how the maps have been programmed though. You may be able to get directions to some generic location if you just want to get between Dublin and Cork, but it will probably just take you to where ever the main post office is in that final location. If you want to get to an estate rather than to a specific road/ house number in that estate then you'll be out of luck. There will be a central point programmed into the maps for the center of major towns, they will not be programmed into the maps in that way for estates though so you'd have to actually select some random road within that area and then just ignore it once you get close. I doubt that there would be a central point programmed into the maps for subburbs such as trying to find the center of Blanchardstown, you'd have to either know the street name of the center of the village or just set it for the shopping centre for example.

Name Changed

Sound, thanks for the replies.

garydubh

Name Changed wrote: »

Before starting this thread, I have read a lot of the previous threads and none really cater for what I am looking for.

Basically I work in west Dublin and I would like a relatively easy to use Sat Nav that has good maps and directions for estates within west Dublin.

I was recommended a Garmin 255 but from reading the threads here I see that you have to enter specific addresses to get to a particular place.

What I need is a Sat Nav that would for example: Get me from Ballyfermot Road to Berryfield Drive in Finglas the quickest way.

I don't need other things that Sat Navs offer such as details for restaurants and that kind of thing.

I want a Sat Nav with good maps with would get me from a to b quickly. And I need a Sat Nav that is specifically good for estates within such areas.

I like the sound of the Garmin 255 but if I could not put in something like Cherryorchard Avenue to Blanchardstown then it would not be much use to me.

Also I would like if the Sat Nav I buy would have good road maps of County Clare.

I don't want to go overboard on what I spend as I will mostly only use it for work. The Garmin 255 is about €123 in Elara which is a decent price. I know Tesco have a 30% sale on tomorrow. Would a TomTom cater more for what I'd be looking for?

European or UK maps are not needed. It would just be for Ireland.

Firstly - in terms of maps the least you will get is Ireland and UK but that is not a problem

Then - you do not have to enter your current location just the destination and you will always have to spell that out unless you have it entered as a favourite or PON Codes have been implemented.

Finally if you want to check the mapping before you buy - Garmin uses Navteq so look at http://maps.live.com/ which uses this mapping and TomTom uses TeleAtlas mapping so check out http://maps.google.co.uk/ which uses the same mapping.

sk8board

garydubh wrote: »

Finally if you want to check the mapping before you buy - Garmin uses Navteq so look at http://maps.live.com/ which uses this mapping and TomTom uses TeleAtlas mapping so check out http://maps.google.co.uk/ which uses the same mapping.

thanks for the links; from my perspective the teleatlas actually seem better in general, even though Navteq are known to be better. TA have the M4/M50 junction, the Carlow by-pass etc, although they don't have a new road (2 years old) at the end of our street, which Navteq has.

I spoke with someone today who happens to work for the OSI who said NT aren't updating their mapping, and while TA's are improving, its possible OSI might start provide center-line mapping.

Seemingly because NT are the best, but are now falling behind, a whole host of other mapping companies are approaching the OSI to finally get off their ass

garydubh

sk8board wrote: »

I spoke with someone today who happens to work for the OSI who said NT aren't updating their mapping, and while TA's are improving, its possible OSI might start provide center-line mapping.

Seemingly because NT are the best, but are now falling behind, a whole host of other mapping companies are approaching the OSI to finally get off their ass

Navteq are indeed updating their data - and they outlined exactly how recently at a conference in Tullamore at which the OSI spoke as well. In fact they have a permament survey team on the island of Ireland for this purpose. So I'm afraid your absoultely wrong on this.

OSI and Navteq are begining to compete with each other so you should be careful about what you believe!

And again you are wrong....... the OSI is not starting to provide centreline data - it has always done this. OSI is however is starting to provide attributed data which at some point could be used by SatNav map makers and users. Indeed Navteq and TeleAtlas could purchase and use this data. This would bring the OSI into line with other OS operations worldwide!!! This is exactly the progress which is absoultely necessary so that we Irish SatNav users get full benefit from SatNav's which have the potential to save 20% in fuel costs for business users in Ireland.

Your preference for Navteq and TeleAtlas is up to you - but you should be careful about what you believe.

sk8board

garydubh wrote: »

And again you are wrong....... the OSI is not starting to provide centreline data - it has always done this. OSI is however is starting to provide attributed data which at some point could be used by SatNav map makers and users

they have center-line data (we all know that), but don't have it in a format suitable to SatNav's. Which is what I was saying.

to clarify, I used to work in GIS, working in conjunction with the OSI, and my colleague works in digital mapping at the OSI. these other companies (non NT / TA) are approaching them all the time. Eventually they'll have to provide the data I suppose, but I imagine NT and TA would of course prefer if they didn't.

No need to get all authoritative, we're all after the same result :rolleyes:

garydubh

sk8board wrote: »

they have center-line data (we all know that), but don't have it in a format suitable to SatNav's. Which is what I was saying.

to clarify, I used to work in GIS, working in conjunction with the OSI, and my colleague works in digital mapping at the OSI. these other companies (non NT / TA) are approaching them all the time. Eventually they'll have to provide the data I suppose, but I imagine NT and TA would of course prefer if they didn't.

No need to get all authoritative, we're all after the same result :rolleyes:

Its the road attribute data that that makes it suitable for use in routing engines in SatNav's - "metadata" from your GIS days! Centerlines are just polylines but they need road width, classification, surface type, speed limit, weight resrtictions etc,etc etc to be of use for SatNav's - OSI have never collected this type of data before - nothing to do with format!

So why do you think you were told that Navteq are not updating?

Will you be waiting for a SatNav with OSI data?

Not authoritative - just factual....
Same result - yes maybe - but it will need more than the OSI I'm afraid - they do not build or manage roads and quality updated road data will need the proactive involvement of Local Authorities and the NRA both of whom use SatNav's but do not contribute in any way. ESRI and Intertrade Ireland spent fortunes on researching transportation policy in Ireland - not a single mention of SatNav whilst in the UK, the Dept Of Transport has identified up to 14% fuel savings with the efficient use of SatNavs.

Sorry but without Navteq and to a lesser extent Teleatlas - we would still be relying on rotating road signs in Ireland....

and you stated that Navteq were not updating their data - unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sk8board

garydubh wrote: »

ESRI and Intertrade Ireland spent fortunes on researching transportation policy in Ireland - not a single mention of SatNav whilst in the UK, the Dept Of Transport has identified up to 14% fuel savings with the efficient use of SatNavs.

you might just be able to partly blame me for that unfortunately. We were part of that in the mid-nineties in one of the semi-states. Forward-thinking wasn't and still isn't very prevalent

What we found at the time is that Ireland is not a big country and for the more detailled house deliveries in 90% (geographic coverage) of the rural areas we just used GeoDirectory. I still believe this is the best case. There are a number of private postcode attempts ongoing at the moment, but I think AnPost will have the final say with geodirectory, with its XY co-ordinates of every single building in the country.

We worked on projects in the 90's for some of the worlds biggest distribution and freight companies. It brought about the development of the Routefinder s/w at the time, and as you said, the fuel savings were incredible just from a bit of route optimisation. One big drinks company saved 20-30%, just from making sure the lorries weren't half-full leaving the depot's, and making sure the routes started and finished close to the depot, like the petals around a daisy.
Our biggest problem was actually implementing the projects on-site, as virtually all the trade unions in those companies weren't happy at the changes to driver procedure!

I think we both know just how slowly we can expect things to change.