Android GPS voice synthesis pre-processor

Can't be much worse than my Garmin GPS saying, "Take Exit 30 E, then keep left", meaning west :-( ...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: skypeanalog | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at

| 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

At least it doesn't say "Take exit 30 ergs"

or "Take exit mc^2 where m=3.33 * 10^-16"

Several things I wish these GPS units would do...

1) Be capable of enough smarts to realize the shortest route is often not the fastest.. my Garmin Nuvi is fond of ignoring that a few hundred feet longer route has one less traffic light, and bypasses a school zone.

2) Be able to train it to a specific route... freeways make my wife extremely nervous... I'd like to load in routes that bypass most of the freeway system for her. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142     Skype: skypeanalog  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Mine allows setting for time or distance. But, they can't know that the speed limit *temporarily* drops to 15MPH (from whatever it is otherwise *posted*) in certain *spots* (apparently chosen by some wonky non-intuitive criteria) during a short period at the start of the school day and the end. Presumably, to allow students to cross.

Worse is the fact that they (well, *most*) don't know about changing conditions. E.g., which roads are being torn up *this* week...

I'd be happy if you could simply set "obstacles" that would bar it from routing through a particular area. E.g., everyone thinks there is a short-cut through our subdivision (to "cut the corner", so to speak). And, after driving half a mile into the subdivision, they encounter a locked gate: "WTF! That's not on the map!"

And, of course, the GPS *insists* that this is the shortest way past our subdivision...

It would also be nice to have some control over *what* is said as well as how frequently. E.g., "a soft "beep" instead of "recalculating".

And, an *easy* (gestural?) way to query it ("How much further?") as well as silence it ("Yeah, I'm taking a detour. Don't keep telling me how to go back the way I came!")

Yep. That would be one way to handle it. Microsoft Streets & Trips map software has that feature.

"Recalculating" drives my wife bonkers... so I just don't hit "Go" until I clear our new neighborhood... our streets don't exist yet in the database.

My Nuvi does have a detour button, and it at least shows an ETA. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    | 
| San Tan Valley, AZ 85142     Skype: skypeanalog  |             | 
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  | 
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     | 
              
I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

As you can't (while driving) really influence the routing that the device chooses, it seems like it would make sense to have a "trust me (the driver)" mode where it just watched where you went and was *ready* to step in with *THE* recalculated route when you indicated a need for it.

Or, an option to replace it with a soft/gentle tone.

Reminds me of the Star Trek computer: "Working..." (really? I thought you were NAPPING!)

The (complete) interface is too complex for something to use *while* driving. As such, it should stay out of the way and act as an

*advisor* instead of a *director*.

I keep one in each car and one to carry while hiking. But, the one that sees the most use is the one I keep in the kitchen cabinet IN PLACE OF a city map. Far more convenient ("The reception will be at the corner of WALK and DON'T WALK. What part of town is that in? What are the nearest cross-streets?")

I think I have tools to rework the speech in them. Maybe I should see if I can just replace "recalculating" with a tone, etc.

At least cell phone navi apps will try to find the *current* speed on the various highways and will take that into account. I see the expected time of arrival going both up and down, as the traffic changes. Of course "current" might not be of any use by the time you get there.

Every GPS I've used allows one to select "no highways", "no tolls" and sometimes other options for this purpose.