Dorchester — Nov 8th 2016

David Parnell is an enthusiastic user of a Garmin Sat Nav. His ‘Zumo 660’ is designed for motorcycles and includes bluetooth allowing for wireless sound in the helmet, however it is equally at home in the car and can even be used when walking. The unit comes preloaded with street maps for Europe and millions of points of interest (POIs) that include hotels, restaurants, and petrol stations. The ‘BaseCamp’ Mac OS route planning software has less detailed maps so when planning a journey David connects the Sat Nav to his computer so it can access the full detail. Using BaseCamp David showed us how to click on the start and end points and add way-points to the route which can then be dragged to alter it, add a deviation, new way-points, such as a stopping point, or hotel. Users can set travel preferences on both the unit and BaseCamp which are not synchronised. The unit will follow the instructions created in BaseCamp using those preferences, but — after you take an unplanned diversion — when you revert to plan the Unit follows its own preferences and may take a different route than that planned although you will still reach the next stopping point. David gave us lots of useful tips including don’t leave your SatNav stuck to windscreen before the bike’s MOT!

Georgia showed us the free SatNav App, ‘Here we go’ which seems very comprehensive. She showed us her ‘Collection’ of favourite saved places she visits in both the USA and UK. The App is highly rated on the App Store. As well as turn-by-turn navigation, it includes public transport directions, with pedestrian and cycle navigation. David had just purchased the TomTom App so as not to have to rely on internet access to maps when creating a route as is necessary with Apple Maps, but was disappointed that, unlike earlier versions, it does not allow setting up way points. Mick pointed out that the earlier version came with a one-off cost which included automatic map updates, the new version comes with one, or three-year update and cost options.

Michael compared Google Maps and Apple’s ‘Maps’. Google has the advantage of being able to including way points, editable routes and downloaded maps for offline use. Google also allows users to plan routes and upload them to both TomTom and Garmin. Apple’s Maps seems to be more up to date than Google but Google’s Street View is a big plus. Apple’s Maps offers 3D view which David demonstrated, this is almost the equivalent of ‘street view’ but still only covers a limited number of urban areas. None of these apps are much use for walks as they stick to main roads. Routes using public transport are only covered in the major urban areas. Michael has also used ‘Waze’ which is also highly rated on the App Store (Waze was bought by Google in 2013). Like many reviewers, Michael recommended its ability to exchange traffic information in real time with fellow users. Michael also introduced us to ‘Maps.me’ — mentioned by a member at the Beaminster meeting as being much more walker friendly. (Maps.me is very highly rated on the App store. It was originated by Nokia and is now owned by my.com). Maps.me include downloadable maps so does not need Internet for access

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