Autoroute 2003 : An Insult

Shanerie

Backround: We have used previous versions of
AR from 98 to 2002 for calculating driver routes
and were quite happy.
The time comes when we need an additional licence and
I order the latest and greatest!

"Extensive coverage of western Europe" says the box..

MS decided to remove almost all the Irish
roads from the new version while adding great detail
to 5 (count em! 5!) Irish citys :dublin, cork,limerick, belfast and derry.
If want to leave the confines of those 5 areas dont expect any usefull information.

The Damming evidence: (see attached pic)
Route: From:Kilkenny(city) to: Waterford(city)
We would expect about a 45min southward journey.

Autoroute sends you: NorthWest into Laios (Durrow),
Southwest into Tipp(Cashel,Care,Carrick On Suir) and then
finally after our gruelling 99.5 mile 2Hr 55min journey
we arrive in Waterford.
Note: above example works for shortest and quickest route choice

Last time I looked at the map I was fairly confident at our status as a western European county,
but luckily Microsoft has put it right! Seems we were getting above our station, thinking we were more
than a 3rd world inhospitable desolate wasteland.

Perhaps board Failte paid off MS so poor tourists would
be sent wandering all over the country and spend all their cash...


Having said all that, the detail for the UK and France et.al
is fantastic - which makes it more of a kick in the pants
to remove Irish data which was there since the 98 version..

sceptre

I don't even need to look at your picture - unfortunately I've experienced autoroute 2003 for myself. I've since uninstalled it, returned it and gone back to version 2002 (which doesn't include Shannon airport but I can live with that as I know where it is).

My favourite route was either Galway-Dublin or Limerick-Dublin (can't remember which but it involved going through the other city to get to our fair capital). Some west Cork routes are only available by taking an 80 mile diversion through Killarney. And my girlfriend's home village has disappeared.

Autoroute 2003 is a piece of cak if you want to use it in Ireland. For most other countries the improvements are well-worth it. Here though you'll never find your way to anywhere. Buy it and you'll regret it pretty quickly.

Shanerie

The lovely girl with the french accent from MS
says we cannot use 2002 with a 2003 licence,
but we can ask ms to make it better! :rolleyes:

"Let us know how we can improve our products.
Product enhancement suggestions can include:
*Improvements on existing products
*Suggestions for additional features
*Ways to make our products easier to use "

So anyone with a gripe can talk to the man

http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

or if your product isnt in the list (ahem)
mail em direct at:

mswish@microsoft.com

Perhaps we could convince MS to make it better?....

tom-thebox

There is are large lack of Irish roads, they have the UK and the rest of europe click however. Send your feedback into them about it.

Regards

Hobbes

Maybe the MS Sales rep paid off some people in development so as to get more money?

DMC

Oh thank christ I spotted this. I was going to buy it, but I have AR 2001, which will do me quite fine for now.

I'll send in feedback too.

I keep asking the OSI to produce a CD, but no.

IANOC

does any of the autoroute programs you speak of have the facility to enter the longitude/latitude and get a map location similar to mappoint
what software would i need for detailed maps of dublin?

Dun

Yes to the longitude/latitude question. You can also find out the longitude and latitude of a location using Autoroute. I'm on the 2002 version.

Shanerie, if you do need to get a copy of it, why not try ebay - e.g. here. Wouldn't advise you to 'buy it now' though!

sceptre

Dun wrote:

Shanerie, if you do need to get a copy of it, why not try ebay - e.g. here. Wouldn't advise you to 'buy it now' though!

I suspect he's sorted himself out in the nineteen months (to the day) since he posted:)

Incidentally Autoroute 2004 is crap for Irish roads as well. Still using the 2002 version.

Dun

Bleh! Never event noticed it was one of those kinds of threads.. Shoulda looked, as the Lazarus effect has been happening all over boards recently.

Penfolds

I've always found the route planner on the AA's website quite handy.
http://www.aaireland.ie/routes/

jor el

Autoroute has been pretty crappy for quite a while IMO. The last one I used, probably AR2000, doesn't even know Roslaire port exists. If you plot a journey from Wexford to South Wales it'll send you up to Dublin, across to Hollyhead and then down through Wales. Can't remember what it does for a trip to France, I think it knows about Cork-Roscoff ferry. I know previous versions were like that too. Anyone know if the new versions are updated?

Dun

Read up ^^ ! 2002 version is grand, 2003/2004 is bad for Ireland in general, though apparently better for (5 of the) cities.

Wexford to Cardiff (no stops or special routes specified):

Time Mile Instruction For Toward
Summary: 130.9 miles (5 hours, 36 minutes)
09:00 0.0 Depart Wexford on Local road(s) (West) 0.3 mi
09:01 0.3 Turn RIGHT (North) onto Local road(s) 0.4 mi
09:02 0.7 Bear LEFT (North) onto Local road(s) 0.2 mi
09:02 0.9 Bear RIGHT (North) onto Local road(s) 0.1 mi
09:02 1.0 Turn RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) 0.9 mi
09:04 1.9 Bear RIGHT (South-East) onto N11 [E1] 8.5 mi
09:17 10.4 Turn LEFT (South-East) onto N25 [E30] 12.2 mi
09:36 22.6 *Check timetable* Take Fishguard-Rosslare (East)
12:07 22.6 Entering United Kingdom
[Roads in Wales]
14:36 130.9 Arrive Cardiff

SUMMARY
Driving distance: 130.9 miles
Trip duration: 5 hours, 36 minutes
Driving time: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Cost: €16.55

Syth

That picture of the route from Kilkenny to Waterford is hilarious.
Is there not someway of creating/editing your own maps? That way the Irish bits could be improved remarkably.

IANOC

thanx for the replies
which is the best for detailed maps of dublin only
anyone know where can i get them or has anyone got any for sale?
cheers

Cabaal

Maybe they removed all the Irish roads because the maps could be used by terrorists?

ColmOT [MSFT]

Hi all, I've just checked the Kilkenny city - Waterford city route in AR 2005 (default install with no optimisations), and it goes on the expected route (via Ballyhale), a 48.8km journey taking 37 minutes.

Autoroute 2004 reproduces what you mention here Shanerie.

I don't work in the AR/Mappoint team, so I've no idea what's going on. But it appears that they've fixed whatever it is that was causing the routing to go arseways.

Hope this helps.

Hagar

If you want a laugh try planning a route from Athlone to Moate. Only a few miles apart yet the route goes through Templemore?

We contacted Autoroute and were told they were aware of the problems but had no plans to issues a patch or revision as the market in Ireland was too small. It will be corrected in the next edition we were told, but I won't be buying it.

grumpytrousers

sceptre wrote:

I don't even need to look at your picture - unfortunately I've experienced autoroute 2003 for myself. I've since uninstalled it, returned it and gone back to version 2002 (which doesn't include Shannon airport but I can live with that as I know where it is).

My favourite route was either Galway-Dublin or Limerick-Dublin (can't remember which but it involved going through the other city to get to our fair capital). Some west Cork routes are only available by taking an 80 mile diversion through Killarney. And my girlfriend's home village has disappeared.

Autoroute 2003 is a piece of cak if you want to use it in Ireland. For most other countries the improvements are well-worth it. Here though you'll never find your way to anywhere. Buy it and you'll regret it pretty quickly.

If only some enterprising type would "Print Off" on a big sheet of paper a representation of all the towns and cities in the country and perhaps all the interconnecting roads between them.

Such a "Regional Overhead Accurate Drawing Multi-Access-Planner" or ROADMAP could be indispensable if you could 'fold it up' and keep it in the vehicle in which you happened to travel...it's portable nature would mean that both pre-journey planning and on the fly 'in-car' planning was also possible

If I were selling these ROADMAPs I should try and have them positioned in Bookshops and the like in the Travel Section and also sell them from roadside garages.

No upgrades, no licenses, no villages or airports disappearing....job's a good 'un...

AutoRteUsr

A friend of mine works in MS and on the AutoRoute/MapPoint team and was kind enough to show me the newest version of AutoRoute 2005. He promises that the routing problems as described have been fixed.

Victor

Online, but decent maps

Maps and journey planner http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm

Dublin maps and journey planner http://www.dto-journeyplanner.ie/dtojp/jsp/content/start.do

ColmOT [MSFT]

He promises that the routing problems as described have been fixed.

The maps are still crap for Ireland though...
Considiring it's distributed with every new OEM pc, I'd say the install base for AR in Ireland is pretty high (whether users are aware of it or not).

AutoRteUsr

ColmOT [MSFT] wrote:

The maps are still crap for Ireland though...

Jus so you know Microsoft buy their data from a vendor company so its the vendor company that determines the quality of the data in their maps. MS are responsible for all the routing and design issues.

Krusty_Clown

AutoRteUsr wrote:

Jus so you know Microsoft buy their data from a vendor company so its the vendor company that determines the quality of the data in their maps. MS are responsible for all the routing and design issues.

And is this vendor selling Autoroute 2005 to the general public, using choice phrases like:

software that quickly finds the best route to your destination - in the UK and all over Europe.

Followed by choice nuggets, such as:

Plan a Journey Anywhere in Europe
See high quality, up-to-date maps of over 4.7 million kilometres of motorways, roads and streets in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and The United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Have plate movements under the earth's crust resulted in Ireland joining another continent (America for example?)

Don't blame the vendor. Microsoft surely knows how to negotiate with vendors. If they're not getting what they want/need, they should fix it, instead of selling a sub-standard product. As [Colm] above suggests, if this product is being distributed on OEM PCs, then it's not doing MS any favours..

AutoRteUsr

Krusty_Clown wrote:

Microsoft surely knows how to negotiate with vendors. If they're not getting what they want/need, they should fix it, instead of selling a sub-standard product.

Fair point

Capt'n Midnight

"all over Europe" , "remove all" - someone should take a case against microsoft for continued misuse of the three letter word "all"

all over europe -
except for Ireland, Finland, Norway , Iceland , All the former communist countries (which include most of the land area of Europe) Yugoslavian states , Albania ,greece, eastern turkey

Are the little countries there like andora, monaco , san marino , leichenstien, aarland , cyprus , malta

It's more like AutoRoute "Western Europe, the UK and Sweden"

maxheadroom

I don't understand why anybody would buy this when virtually the same service is available for free on maps.msn.com...

Victor

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

aarland

?

Do you mean Åland? Not a country.

http://www.aland.fi/english.html