updated through - 5/27/2004
- not ready for "prime time" :-))
for corrections, etc please e-mail ed@ed-thelen.org - thank you
Progress paused for lack of my interest and car traveling.

Experimenting with traveling with GPS
and two mapping programs
- Delorme's "Street Atlas 2004"
- Microsoft's "Streets & Trips 2004"

  • Comments on the USB EarthMate
  • Comments on Delorme's "Street Atlas 2004"
  • Comments on Microsoft's "Streets & Trips 2004"
  • Comments on installing EarthMate drivers for non-Delorme mapping applications
  • Comments by Robert Silverman

    Synopsis -

    1. The USB EarthMate is a lovely concept, and rather well done - but currently in my mobile situation with my laptop cover being closed and opened frequently, there is much frustration.
    2. I, as a rank novice, prefer the simplicity and familiarity of the Windows "standard" interface of Microsoft's "Streets & Trips 2004".
    3. If I were a serious dedicated mapper and GPS user, I probably would appreciate the more full featured Delorme "Street Atlas 2004".

    Disclaimer

    1. I am not willingly a techie early adopter. A functional definition of "techie early adopter" is someone eager for techie pain. Whenever practical, I let others enjoy the suffering during the early phase of a product's life.
      I prefer products when they:
      - are easy to learn (simple, familiar concepts) user interfaces
      - are stable
      - have practical documentation, and maybe even customer support
    2. This is not a comprehensive study. I struggled for about a week with each of the two software products (above).
    3. I recognize that when trying to design a product for mass usage, there are many conflicting choices:
      - dumb it down for the casual/forgetful user (me)(maybe most of us?)
      - make it suitable for a competent amateur
      (and lots of capabilities so that lots of feature boxes are checked)
      - a competent tool the specialist -
      and trying to make it configurable for all the above seems hopeless
    4. In this document I complain about Human Interface or GUI (Graphical User Interface). GUI is at best an art form - and trying to get a GUI that more than one person is satisfied with may be impossible. However, it is helpful to the casual user (me) for the product to have a familiar style, so that I do not have to strain my brain. Consider the modern car - if you can drive one you can drive any - although you may have to search for the map light, seat adjustment, ... In computer applications, for instance, when I want to save a file, I am used to going to the standard Windows format "File" and find "Save" or "Save As". Having to grope about on a busy application GUI to find some off standard way to open or save files is not doing me a favor.

    First, comments on the USB EarthMate

    1. After using up lots of (rechargeable) batteries in my Garmin GPSmap76, the thought of using the handy power from the USB port of my lap top seemed too good to be true
      - and it is - in part -
    2. The unit does indeed work on power from the computer - and of course quits when the power is removed -
      - like when I close the laptop cover and the laptop goes into
      some sort of sleep or hibernate mode
      and when I open the cover - something does not get started up correctly
      I have not determined if it is:
      the laptop BIOS?
      Windows XP?
      Windows XP USB drivers?
      the Delorme USB driver(s)?
      or ????
      the USB EarthMate has to be "burped" - that is
      - the USB plug has to be momentarily removed then reinserted
      into the computer
      - and the operator must mouse around restarting the
      GPS part of the mapping application.
    3. The location of the USB EarthMate (on the dash board) is a mixed blessing
      - handier than a temporary magnet remote antenna on the roof
      with wire temporarily through door jam or slightly open window
      as with the Garmin GPSmap76
      - not so great as a blinking yellow thing on the dash where
      - it is a distraction day or night
      - although it seems to work almost as well as the external antenna
      Maybe I should quit complaining until I can propose a better solution -
    Currently I almost prefer putting batteries into the Garmin every say 6 hours rather than "burping" the EarthMate much more often (in my style of closing the laptop cover when I wish to leave the car).

    Comments on Delorme's "Street Atlas 2004"

    1. The software and hardware installed and started up beautifully - I thought I was in heaven -
      then I became less and less satisfied.
    2. Delorme has an interesting voice advisory system that tells you what to do while driving - I think it is cool, and seems to work quite well, even helping (mostly) you get back on your route if you wander off. My youngest son hates to drive with the sound on - I guess to each his own.
    3. I did not try the voice recognition -
    4. I had been warned that the Graphical User Interface (GUI) or Street Atlas 2004 was considerably different than Street Atlas 2003 and that some diehards still much preferred the interface for "SA 7". Garmin seems to have a serious "issue" or problem.
    5. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is indeed a challenge. I don't like to be challenged 'cause I always seem to lose. The GUI seems designed by a loosely controlled group of engineers:
      • each made his/her part have its own Non-Apple, Non-Windows GUI
        and it takes a lot of time to get used to it
      • There really seems to be no design control evident -
        - every little function seems to have its own quirks
        - with little correlation to the quirks of the other functions
      • the ZOOM level is controlled by 3 small buttons near the upper left corner. The zoom level is reported as 2 digits, a decimal point, and another digit. What the meaning or correlation of the digits with map scales is not obvious, and not explained in the 163 pages of documentation.
      • After struggling to gain control of Windows, why should I have to learn yet another interface - and whether you like it or not Windows is at least rather consistent.
    6. Too many techie options
      • you can see where which satellites are supposed to be and the signal strength (dB) of each acquired satellite
        - again techie amusement? (I love it - but it is not useful)
      • you can even log the NMEA type signals coming from the GPS unit
        - fun as techie amusement
        - probably great for debugging software
        - but useless confusion for 99.9% of the users
    7. There is no paper book just the usual .pdf manual to be viewed on your computer screen. (Even Bill Gates says that he prefers to read paper than the computer screen.) I eventually printed out all of the 163 pages of the book - in gray scale to save money - and lost the color of the icons - which made reading less certain of which icon was which.
    8. I tried Delorme's system of "layers" over the base map. I had no previous experience with the concept of "layers" overlaying the base map. I presume that layers are useful to serious users - but as a complete novice I found them a problem and frustration. The "book" assumes that you have some knowledge in the theory and practice of "layers".
      Then when you are done with a map, there is a confusing dialog about saving the layers -
    9. I had a terrible time running the software "my way". I like to close the laptop cover when going away for a while, without turning off the laptop and having to spend the 30 second shut down and 60 second start up each time.
      "Street Atlas 2004" would get into a mode where the GPS was reporting data "blinking green" and the screen would show green status, but the data on the screen would not update nor would the position icon move. "Burping" the USB EarthMate did not seem to help. The only thing that seemed to help was to terminate "Street Atlas 2004" and start it up again.
    I really felt that this application was on Alpha release for the Human Interface and Beta release for stability.
    I finally go so frustrated that I un-installed Delorme's "Street Atlas 2004" and bought Microsoft's "Streets & Trips 2004"

    Comments on Microsoft's "Streets & Trips 2004"

    1. For better and worse, Streets & Trips 2004 seems to follow the Windows GUI (Graphical User's Interface) we know and ?love?
      Better because:
      • There is the (usual) slider for controlling the zoom.
        not three buttons
      • More familiar loading and storing Routes
      • 'Everything' is more familiar
      Worse because:
      • Information boxes can be at inconvenient locations (unless you move it).
        For instance, the main map function can have boxes (such as GPS data) overlaying it, and your present position icon (on the main map) can be under the box, creating uncertainty where the icon is.
      • You get a feeling of "hacked together", items not fitting into some optimum, preplanned scheme, such as might be possible in a hand tailored
    2. xxx

    Comments on installing EarthMate drivers for non-Delorme mapping applications

    Comments by Robert Silverman - 5/27/2004

    About your Earthmate stalling, and needing "burping": Sometimes mine also does that, due to an erratic USB contact. Perhaps when your computer tries to enter the "sleep" mode or "hibernate" mode, because either it times-out or you closed the lid, this may cause the Earthmate to pause. To avoid this, set your Power Settings to "stay awake", even if the lid is closed (closing will still save energy, by turning off the monitor-screen).

    I like to run both DeLorme Street Atlas and Microsoft Streets and Trips--each program has different strengths & weaknesses. About a year ago, after I updated both programs to their 2003 versions, I got rid of the faulty old DeLorme GPS, and installed the new Earthmate. This new GPS hardware is an enormous improvement. The regular Earthmate installation coupled well to the DeLorme mapping programs, including Topo-USA. Then I tried to install it to be NMEA-Compliant (the "serial emulator" version), but then the device would not couple to either the DeLorme or Microsoft Mapping Programs.

    Microsoft says that the real-time GPS-compatibility was greatly improved in their 2004 version. I may wait to buy until this July, to see if their 2005 version is even better. I will not be trying to install my Earthmate as NMEA until I update my 2003 Streets & Trips, but when I do, I will keep you informed.