29 ms·

Especially now that we all use navigation apps in our cars.

by panic 8y ago

fredley 8y ago
To be fair, even with navigation apps central London is a nightmare...
- ghaff 8y ago
  Like a lot of automated things, navigation apps are pretty much designed for the 95% case. Especially somewhere like a city, they fall down on the lack of instructions like "You want to be getting over into the right hand lane soon. You'll be making a turn up at $LANDMARK in a couple of minutes." Or, in London, which of the 5 streets coming off the circle do you want to be taking exactly?
  - laumars 8y ago
    I don't agree with your examples. I've used a few different sat navs over the years and I've found they generally do 2 of the 3 things you suggested: > You want to be getting over into the right hand lane soon Granted it's not 100% accurate 100% of the time but you do often get advanced warning to change lanes - particularly on faster roads. On my VW I have two screens on the satnav (one behind the steering wheel and one on the central entertainment system console). The entertainment system displays a map view and the other display is a turn-by-turn display. The beauty of the turn-by-turn display is it also gives a countdown (in the form of a gauge bar) until you hit a junction so if the map is a bit cluttered or there are a few junctions (or even if the junction isn't clearly visible for whatever reason), you not only get advanced warning about when you're approaching it but you can clearly see which junction it is and precisely when you'll hit it. Sometimes I'll have that sat nav on even for routes I'm familiar with just so I get a reminder to change lanes on the busier roads and longer journeys where you might lose concentration about the route you're taking. > You'll be making a turn up at $LANDMARK in a couple of minutes Yeah, I've not experienced that. It would be a cool feature though. > Or, in London, which of the 5 streets coming off the circle do you want to be taking exactly? The sat nav in my VW explicitly gives a junction number. Eg "leave the 2nd exit". It does this both on roundabouts and on straight roads which have a cluster of exits near each other. It also has a display showing which of the multiple exits to take. I can't emphasis enough just how good the dual-display system is. It means at any point in time you know exactly where you are and where you need to be.
  - xapata 8y ago
    Google Maps recently started using landmarks. Yesterday it told me to turn right after the IHOP.
- sjwright 8y ago
  It is a nightmare for cars, but navigation apps do make it an absolute joy for tourists. I can hop around with busses and the the tube like an expert. When on foot I can even find the most interesting detours off the most efficient route. Cities like London prove that a city designed for pedestrians is better than a city designed for cars, for the simple reason that cars don't scale nearly as well as pedestrians and public transport. Somewhat ironically, successful future cities are going to look more like London than your typical large US city. More walkable areas. More car restrictions. More car exclusion.

Especially now that we all use navigation apps in our cars.

by panic 8y ago

Especially now that we all use navigation apps in our cars.

fredley 8y ago

To be fair, even with navigation apps central London is a nightmare...

ghaff 8y ago
Like a lot of automated things, navigation apps are pretty much designed for the 95% case. Especially somewhere like a city, they fall down on the lack of instructions like "You want to be getting over into the right hand lane soon. You'll be making a turn up at $LANDMARK in a couple of minutes." Or, in London, which of the 5 streets coming off the circle do you want to be taking exactly?
- laumars 8y ago
  I don't agree with your examples. I've used a few different sat navs over the years and I've found they generally do 2 of the 3 things you suggested: > You want to be getting over into the right hand lane soon Granted it's not 100% accurate 100% of the time but you do often get advanced warning to change lanes - particularly on faster roads. On my VW I have two screens on the satnav (one behind the steering wheel and one on the central entertainment system console). The entertainment system displays a map view and the other display is a turn-by-turn display. The beauty of the turn-by-turn display is it also gives a countdown (in the form of a gauge bar) until you hit a junction so if the map is a bit cluttered or there are a few junctions (or even if the junction isn't clearly visible for whatever reason), you not only get advanced warning about when you're approaching it but you can clearly see which junction it is and precisely when you'll hit it. Sometimes I'll have that sat nav on even for routes I'm familiar with just so I get a reminder to change lanes on the busier roads and longer journeys where you might lose concentration about the route you're taking. > You'll be making a turn up at $LANDMARK in a couple of minutes Yeah, I've not experienced that. It would be a cool feature though. > Or, in London, which of the 5 streets coming off the circle do you want to be taking exactly? The sat nav in my VW explicitly gives a junction number. Eg "leave the 2nd exit". It does this both on roundabouts and on straight roads which have a cluster of exits near each other. It also has a display showing which of the multiple exits to take. I can't emphasis enough just how good the dual-display system is. It means at any point in time you know exactly where you are and where you need to be.
- xapata 8y ago
  Google Maps recently started using landmarks. Yesterday it told me to turn right after the IHOP.
sjwright 8y ago
It is a nightmare for cars, but navigation apps do make it an absolute joy for tourists. I can hop around with busses and the the tube like an expert. When on foot I can even find the most interesting detours off the most efficient route. Cities like London prove that a city designed for pedestrians is better than a city designed for cars, for the simple reason that cars don't scale nearly as well as pedestrians and public transport. Somewhat ironically, successful future cities are going to look more like London than your typical large US city. More walkable areas. More car restrictions. More car exclusion.