DeLorme Street Atlas USA 2005

[pienjim]

Well, we just drove the Alaska Highway using the DeLorme GPS and Streets program. There is a big chunk of the highway from the Alaska border to Tok that doesn't seem to be charted properly, telling us frequently we are "Off Route" and recalculating the trip. Kinda hard to be off route when there's only one road!

Now what I like about the GPS is the constant readout of the elevation and longitude and lattitude (and the driver's speed!)

Paula

[Cracker]

Minor gliches aside - like Mary telling me to turn right when I should turn left, incomplete sentences when approaching a turn, difficulty in erasing a current map file to permit starting a new route, etc. - I still love the DeLorme program and I find it's presence, via the laptop alongside on the center console, to be comforting. Generally speaking, I've found the program to be relatively user-friendly. Southerly, and Westerly, routes seem to be the most stable here in the Northeast, with respect to the occasional lost of the GPS signal. The "lost" seldom lasts more than five minutes or so at the extreme. One thing I've noted is that an actual ramp entrance - and the distance thereto indicated by the map, can be considerably different. You have to pay attention to the Exit data on the screen, in concert with the road signs, in order to insure that you don't miss a ramp entrance. This often happens when the traffic is exited early onto a parallel access road.

[Mike and Dee]

Help Again! Just When I Think I Have The Delorme Streets Usa Maybe Figured Out, I Run Up Against A Puzzle. Tonight I Tried To Do A Route From Jeanerette, La. To Huntsville, Alabama, Via Jackson, Ms. For Both Huntsville And Jackson, I Get The Message "not Enough Information". What More Can They Want! Dee And Mike

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Mike and Dee

Help Again! Just When I Think I Have The Delorme Streets Usa Maybe Figured Out, I Run Up Against A Puzzle. Tonight I Tried To Do A Route From Jeanerette, La. To Huntsville, Alabama, Via Jackson, Ms. For Both Huntsville And Jackson, I Get The Message "not Enough Information". What More Can They Want! Dee And Mike

I have used the program ever since it first came out and I never have had that message. I just put in the route you described and it routed perfectly. I did just select an arbitrary intersection in Jeanerette, my old house in Huntsville, and an interstate exit dot in Jackson.

Perhaps you selected a specific start or an end spot that is in error in the DeLorme data. I would move start and finish to major intersections and see if it works then. If it does, then move the start and end back to the original place one at a time to determine at which end the error might be. I always report errors via the DeLorme website.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by pienjim

Well, we just drove the Alaska Highway using the DeLorme GPS and Streets program. There is a big chunk of the highway from the Alaska border to Tok that doesn't seem to be charted properly, telling us frequently we are "Off Route" and recalculating the trip. Kinda hard to be off route when there's only one road!
Paula

The road to my house was mis-coded for a couple of years. Odd thing was that when I tested my OnStar, they had the same error and claimed that I was in the next subdivision. The next year DeLorme was correct and the OnStart was correct a year later.

Now, I have an in-car navigation system by Cobra that has the same error. My street is correct at my end but soon is about a hundred yards off for the rest of its 1-mile length. It drives "Mary" absolutely crazy!

[oxblood]

So is Rand McNally's Road Trips any good compared to Street Atlas or Microsoft's Streets and Trips? Planning a trip this summer from Austin,TX to Yellowstone. I am concerned about the mountainous roads in Colorado and New Mexico. Thx Dennis Sneed 34' Classic with F250 diesel

[markdoane]

Why go through New Mexico? If you go through Wichita it's shorter and flatter.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by oxblood

So is Rand McNally's Road Trips any good compared to Street Atlas or Microsoft's Streets and Trips? Planning a trip this summer from Austin,TX to Yellowstone. I am concerned about the mountainous roads in Colorado and New Mexico. Thx Dennis Sneed 34' Classic with F250 diesel

From Austin, I go through Abilene, around Lubbock, and on north through Amarillo. You can choose flatter roads through eastern Colorado, or Raton Pass. Raton Pass is a non-event in my opinion, but that pretty much forces you to go through Denver.

I recently mapped the same trip since I love Yellowstone and my wife has never been there. In the past, I took my 25-foot sailboat to Yellowstone Lake every year when I lived at Carter Lake, near Loveland. I heartily recommend you avoid Denver; you can miss Denver to the east if you take the eastern route rather than Raton Pass.

Take 287/26 through Wyoming; not a bad road. Expect a major mountain pass going into the Grand Teton Park south of Yellowstone. When towing the sailboat, I always shifted my Blazer into low range to go over that pass.

I liked to come out of Yellowstone through Cody and stop at the museum there. It takes most of a day to go through the museum.

[grizzy]

Originally Posted by Mike and Dee

Help Again! Just When I Think I Have The Delorme Streets Usa Maybe Figured Out, I Run Up Against A Puzzle. Tonight I Tried To Do A Route From Jeanerette, La. To Huntsville, Alabama, Via Jackson, Ms. For Both Huntsville And Jackson, I Get The Message "not Enough Information". What More Can They Want! Dee And Mike

Sometimes its easier to use zipcodes instead of town names for destinations -- eliminates some of the confusion.

[Mike and Dee]

I have learned a few tips about the Streets and Trips from the forum. Such as setting the "preferred" setting when calculating trips, also setting " limited access roads" as preferred. Another thing I learned by trial and error is that I can't put a .period after the state abbreviations. That kept getting me the "need more information" error.
But one more thing I'd like to know is after I set "limited access roads" as preferred, and I also go in an set "avoid" for unimproved roads for the same calculation. I haven't travelled enough lately to get hands on experience to see if I can use two settings on one calculation. Anyone know?
I keep getting sent on a gravel road, also it makes me backtrack to use this gravel road when I leave home and want to get on our major u.s. road going in the opposite direction. Dee and Mike

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by Mike and Dee

But one more thing I'd like to know is after I set "limited access roads" as preferred, and I also go in an set "avoid" for unimproved roads for the same calculation. I haven't travelled enough lately to get hands on experience to see if I can use two settings on one calculation. Anyone know?
Dee and Mike

I believe that you should be able to set any number of preferences concurrently; for instance avoiding both forest and unimproved local roads and preferring limited access roads. I can't think of a positive way to test that theory, though.

Be aware that there are quite a few road coding errors and they are probably most prevalent in little local roads where no one has sent in any error feedback. I can visualize someone sitting with an aerial or satelite photo and some sort of measuring instrument and coding in roads. What something looks like in the photo may not quite be what we encounter on the ground. I can see where new gravel would look just like paving, for instance.

[Mike and Dee]

Thanks for the input...sometimes I like this program and other times I don't!
I understand what you're saying about the local roads.
I'm going to a state park outside of Huntsville, Al. and needed exact driving instructions to get to the park, and then need to get to the Von Braun Center in Huntsville from the park.
I did a Mapquest and a AAA Trip Tik...NOW Iwill take a look at the Delorme Street Atlas.
Maybe if I have all this information I can trust the GPS to get me there.

[oxblood]

What exactly is a limited access road? Does this mean I can take a 34' Classic Airstream towed by a F-250 Diesel? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[markdoane]

Limited access roads don't have stop signs or traffic lights.

[oakwood]

I just received two DeLorme products. Never used Street Atlas before; always relied on the wife reading multiple maps or the large print Road Atlas as we traveled (The paper maps were always in a ball when she finished, and the Road Atlas is no longer usable nor alphbetically oriented since several pages are missing. This usually indicated maximum, full bore frustrtion and a huge waste of paper.) (I'm like "Detective" Adrian Monk: I like my maps folded up on the same lines when finished. Oh, well.)

In comes a new system. SA2005 works great! For an upcoming trip to the Grand Canyon, I set our house and the ranger station on the North Rim using zip codes only. I did not set "vias" but I did set the 1600 mile trip on limited access highways (ie Interstates). The routing is virtually identical to the AAA TripTik which I had gotten earlier. But SA2005 lets me set detail to my liking, calculated and marked suggested fuel stops and overnights based on how many miles I wanted to drive each day, elapsed time, etc. Very flexible.

The GPS is another matter: a little tricky to set up because the instruction pamphlet is short on substance, but I am impressed. It worked well when I walked and turned in my backyard and when I drove, where else, to the hardware store. Having said that, I just tested the maps and the GPS in my neighborhood, so my real world experience is between zero and less than zero.

Stick with it, Dee. Just be patient and read the "help" messages.

[Mike and Dee]

I just did a route to huntsville using different settings...preferred vs standard, quickest vs shortest.
It looks good when you look at the overall map. Looks as though it would be all "limited access roads" preferred...but when i go to the directions just at the beginning of the route where roads are familiar to me i see "lots" of major errors. First they want me to use a gravel road when i have other hardsurface options. Then they take me off of a u.s. road through the town of lafayette and send me through (and out of the way) busy downtown streets. There's no way that is the shortest or best way.
If i see all these horrors close to home, how do i trust the directions in a town and area that i am unfamiliar with? We pull a traveltrailer and thought this program would make it easier for us. Have my doubts. But i will stick with it. Although
I think i do better with maps...and a watchful eye.
We leave in two days on this trip. I'll let you all know how we make out...if I can find my way back to louisiana using streets & maps!!!!

[Pahaska]

I did a quick and dirty fix on the previous post which was all capital letters. Please do not post in all caps; it violates forum guidelines and is generally considered shouting.

If you choose "shortest route", you will usually find a number of quirks such as you mentioned. Some anomolies are caused by incorrect coding of the map, others are because the program takes your instructions very literally. Shortest really means shortest to a computer.

I always check the routing for oddities in both DeLorme and Microsoft map programs. It usually takes an "avoid area" or two in Microsoft or some "vias" in DeLorme to fix up any long trip. For instance, it takes some fiddling to get a routing out of Austin on the best way going north. I obviously know the best route and don't need the map at this point, but I always fix up the routing so that my odometer matches along the way.

I usually find that after a full day of driving, my odometer matches the routing within a mile or two and some of that is accounted for by fuel, restaurant, and rest stops.

[SilverRanger]

This is an old thread, but I just thought I would let you in on a deal on Delorme Street Atlas 2008. Ollie's Bargain Outlet is selling the software and the GPS receiver for $19.99. I have been really disappointed with MS Streets & Trips, so I tried it. While it's a bit quirky, at first impression, I believe it to be much better than the MS package.

My favorite feature: You can give it voice commands through a microphone, so you can tell that annoying voice to "shush".

[Wingeezer]

I have used different GPS devices for RV and motorcycle travel for a few years and while I find them to be a fantastic tool and would not travel without one, I find the routing features don't generally work for me so I have devised my own method of routing.

Works for me - but maybe not for you!

What I do when planning for a longer trip is to decide the route I want to take, then pick a few towns along that route between origin and destination. Maybe a half dozen on a thousand mile trip. I do this to force the gps to follow the overall route I have selected. I jot these down in sequence on a scrap of paper.

Then, I set the gps to take me to the first city on my list.

When getting close to that city - within a few miles - I reset the gps to take me to the next city on my list. This avoids a possible undesired side trip to the centre of the first city!!

I repeat this exercise during the day's travel and wind up following the general route I have selected without needing to worry about the details!

Works for me! ................. Brian.