ccsnet

Just to be clear.. you need to have a licenced version to access the TMC data either via GPS or accross the net..... ( unless you can access the data via a Free supplier and write some code to use it.... Watch this space )

Terran

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Maximus

Uhm... no you don't
The Swedish Road Administration transmits Traffic Info through the national radio channel "P3".
Public service so it's "free" for everyone.

ccsnet

No what I meant was that you need a licenced version before you can access the data even over the air ( even if its free ) cos the prog wont let you... or is that not the case ?

Terran

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Maximus

I take it you cant see the 800X600pixel screenshot in my previous post

/M

ccsnet

MMMmmmm I stand corrected..

Terran

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Maximus

Well, it's either very smart or incredible stupid.

The routing seems very strange...
You have to enter both your starting point as well as destination in order to make a route.
But you can enter the same location as both starting point and destination and it'll give
you the correct route based on your gps location.

I made a short test route and then it thought that I should go on sightseeing through the
town where I live before finally going onto the freeway, and that despite the fact that
I live one roundabout and 400m of straight road away from the freeway.

But when I switched to "lorry mode" it took the shortest/fastest route.

Second try was a trip from my place to my grandparents place, a 12 hour drive that I have done 100's of times
during the years.... But this little guy managed to find a route that I've never used before and that no other
route planner / navigation software have ever thought of using either. It's not the fastest route
and it's not the shortest so I don't know what factors they use when planning the routes.


/M

ccsnet

Is that not part of the programing of the SDK though ?

Ie you could create a frount end and when entering the start it could say do it automatically. But if you think of it you could use this and make your prog more flexable - ie multiple journey calculated ie way points... so you could do one big jorney but set lots of way points... I can see this function been of some use then...

Also if you did what Route 66 ( I think does ) you can enter your apointments for the day and the locations and it tells you what order and route based on that info... so I can sort of see where its going.

As to its routing above... its had to say with out playing with more routes etc...

Terran

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Maximus

I see the point of having to enter a starting position when you don't have any GPS connected, but once I have GPS lock it shouldn't be necessary.

With the SDK you have no control over the visual aspects, so going into full screen (like in the first screenshot) has to be done manually.
If you could have used skins on the desktop version then we wouldn't have had any need for the SDK at all.

It seems that the SDK is a work in progress, especially if you take a look at the readme file where they say what works and what does not.
Unfortunatley I don't think we'll ever have a SDK that works in the same way as destinator does, so at best you could switch off everything but the map, but the base application would still be running so you wold have to embed that into your own control software and then embed that into your favorite front end.

But it's still a resource hog, 170MB of ram and using 10-20% cpu (Pentium M1.6) most of the time so I can only imagine what it will do on an VIA 800mhz carputer.

MP3Car.com

 

ccsnet

I could see that if the SDK is in use that it would expect the client app to tell it where it is... in other words its prurpsly stupid. That been said I think we need a real contact at Altutrion... I'd like to see a MapMonkey or Freedrive equiv to use this because for those of us in the EU we have got to start considering what to do when Destinator is dead ( and lets face it its not far off ( officially )).

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Altrurion is the best of ( not a bad ) but a young unexperinced bunch, and I do belive in the future it will kick a'' in comparison to others.

Terran

EDIT - Another thought... its not really designed for Via 800's, etc in mind is it ? Lets face it they are getting on now - even now 'I' am moving to an AMD 2600....

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ccsnet

Hi, ( Please aim to the SDK / Develpers )

I write to on behalf of a number of people from MP3car.com ( a InCar Forum ) who have been looking at the SDK you released for v6. Already its been played with an found that it may be lacking in certain areas ( although we know your developing it still. ).

Is it possible for your selves either to provide a limited contact for some one involved with the SDK develpment so we can a) ask you questions and b) give you suggestions for improvement.

Some people would like to see a direct replacment at the very least for certian apps like Destinator which is no longer been developed by Powerloc and at best provide less than good support ( see some of threds on the site ).

May be rather than helping with the SDK we can help with improving the Windows interface instead - again there are good examples on the forum of how this was done with Destinator.

Before you say apply for the beta program - I personally did and have not heard back from your selves so I guess I was not good enough, but hopefully you may provide help to our community at large. ( Which BTW includes the US )

This is the key thred I have spoken about - my self I am know as CCSNET on there as well.

Thanks for your time - and I really hope we hear from you soon.

I'll also post this for others to see.....

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...0&page=1&pp=15

( Ignor the spelling mistakes btw lol )

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Maximus

I'm going to write an e-mail to Alturion but I can only imagine their respons when I say...
"Hi, I've tried out a demo version of your software and although some parts are good it sucks in general, when will you fix it ?"

As you say, it is good and feature packed, no doubt about that.
But it has flaws, the graphics "engine" is really really bad, whenever you do something with the map you feal lucky if it works as it doesn't most of the time.

It isn't cheap either, over here it's ~$330 and for that I wouldn't have expected all those flaws.
Since I didn't buy it yet I'm mostly disappointed because it looked so good on paper.
If I had bought it I would have been pretty ****ed off by now.

As for resources, it uses up four times as much as FreeDrive.

In time I hope it'll be better, but right now it's just not worth the money.

/M

Maximus

Nice... interesting to see if they'll respond / be interesting in supporting the automotive PCs.

/M

klokman

I agree given a decent SDK, and levels of support - this forum is proven to produce the goods time and time again

Mad Ad

/me wallops Maximus with the stupid stick

Maximus

Happy now ?

I for one wouldn't buy something for $330 bucks without trying it first, that was the only way to try it.
If it would have met my expectations I'd have bought it, honest, but right now I think the flaws/bugs
are serious enough that I think it's nothing they'll solve over night.

Improve the graphics "engine".
Add skinning to the desktop version and/or make a "real" SDK.
Improve routing.

Then I'll buy it.

/M

MP3Car.com