Be very wary of using postcodes for large companies. You will find you get directed
to the largest nearest main post office or sorting office!
That has just answered a question which has been bothering me for months. A large company I visit has a postcode which is about 5 miles away from its actual location. Y'see I knew someone would know why eventually ! Even their staff didn't know. Must look out my "smart-alec" trousers before my next visit !
|
|
|
You will find you get directed to the largest nearest main post office or sorting office!
I told my TomTom to direct me to Stansted Airport the other day and it took me to the place where all the lorries go to load/unload! I wronly assumed it would take me to the terminal. Not a disaster though, as there was another POI that took me to the terminal, only 5 minutes away.
The TomTom is generally accurate but you do have to be careful with those POIs. Sometimes badly labelled or slightly misleading, other times completely wrong!
I try not to trust the TomTom 100% but sometimes, due to time contraints, I don't have time to familiarise myself with the route independently of the TomTom (e.g. Google Maps). It's never badly let me down. No regrets buying it.
Edited by pendulum on 24/12/2007 at 23:45
|
You can't use sat nav post code to get to my place - the post code puts you on the other side of town. Something to do with it being a new build or something.
Not that any of you would have my postcode, but it's confused a few delivery drivers since I moved in!
|
|
|
Airports are about the best signposted things on our road network and I can't think of a major airport that isn't right next to a major trunk road - they kind of go together.... Doesn't it worry you that you are out there on the highway but so disengaged from the information provided for your information and safety and taking such a passive role in your driving?
I would be ashamed to have been so lame behind the wheel of a car.
Edited by Nsar on 25/12/2007 at 23:01
|
|
|
|
I'm really annoyed, me mate bought round his tomtom yesterday to show me, i'd got it all figured out in about 30 seconds (and i am completely useless), lovely little inexpensive device.
We then looked at the built in satnav in our toyo, he couldn't get the thing to work, and the biggest joke is i can't either, the handbook for the satnav alone is as big as the book for the rest of car. Its so complicated its untrue. Something like 13 different ways to enter an address.
Is it me?
|
We then looked at the built in satnav in our toyo he couldn't get the thing to work and the biggest joke is i can't either
Is it me?
Nope. My dad spent over 1k on having a satnav fitted by the dealer he bought his new car from (official kit, etc).
When he saw my £200 TomTom he admitted mine was much better. It's got a big, colour touchscreen for a start and it's an absolute synch to use. Most importantly the verbal and visual directions are clearer and better on the TT. The in-car system is pretty rubbish and a nightmare to use in comparison.
With expensive stuff, you don't always get what you pay for!
Edited by pendulum on 24/12/2007 at 23:59
|
|
i wonder how good the satnav was when nottingham east midlands airport was so named . its not in nottinghamshire its in leicestershire and its got a derby post code!!!!
|
dont worry, it will change its name again next year. Its only had 4 names so far. Its not even in the East midlands.
------
< Ulla>
|
|
|
I can verify that a Tomtom will take you to East Midlands with no problem. Mine handles Brum very well too, taking you directly to the short stay entrance, but it does get a bit confused on that sharp right hander and roundabout on the way out :)
My standard way of pre-planning for satnav now is to enter the postcode to get me in the general vicinity, look it up on microsoft Live maps (best low level mapping IMO) and then manually adjust the destination point to account for precise entrances and the like based on the overhead photo.
Edited by Kuang on 25/12/2007 at 09:45
|
Worst I ever had was a built in Sat Nav that sometimes used to lose the Satellites ,but remain running on its giroscope (or whatever;)
It would then leave the road and take off across fields. In one of its worst sessions I was in south Leeds and the Sat Nav making its way across those Rhubarb fields in Carlton, Rothwell, about 6 miles away.
Edited by oilrag on 25/12/2007 at 22:42
|
|
|
|
When Castle Donington airfield, near Derby, expanded to become a regional airport it was suitably name East Midlands Airport. It serves Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire including the cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham.
There's no logic to the recent change adding Nottingham into it's title - it's probably just spite since Robin Hood Airport is a rename for Doncaster, which used to be in Yorkshire!
Whenever I've questioned the accuracy of sat-navs I've been told, by those that use and rely on them, that they shouldn't be treated as gospel and a map should also be checked - since I can buy an updated map each year for £10-15 I don't see the point in buying a satnav.
I'm told that certain oversize vehicles shouldn't use sat-nav for detail work, only general routing - UK road signing is good enough to get into a general area.
Map accuracy is improving all the time - it'll be ready for general use in a year or two.
|
There's no logic to the recent change adding Nottingham into it's title - it's probably just spite since Robin Hood Airport is a rename for Doncaster which used to be in Yorkshire!
Don't worry it changed it's name earlier this year again to
East Midlands Airport
|
Don't worry it changed it's name earlier this year again to East Midlands Airport
>>
The airline world has always had it as EMA- never mind what you call it.
www.eastmidlandsairport.com/emaweb.nsf
|
There's a major surprise the rebranded official website calls it by it's rebranded official name ....
Personally I've always called it 'East Midlands' - unlike my old neighbour who still calls it the old RAF base .....
|
Personally I've always called it 'East Midlands' - unlike my old neighbour who still calls it the old RAF base .....
..... and I always refer to Doncaster as Finningley :-)
Regards
Paul
|
|
|
Personally I've always called it 'East Midlands' - unlike my old neighbour who still calls it the old RAF base .....
We flew from EMA in the mid seventies at which time the ticket and baggage codes were, IIRC CDD presumably for Castle Donington. Some pilots also still refer to CastleDon Approach (or Tower)
|
What a fabulous name for an airport - Castle Donington. If you paid fitch and fitch billions for a rebranding exercise they couldnt come up with a more appealing, romantic and intruiging name.
------
And I dream Im on vacation - cos I like the way that sounds -
Edited by Altea Ego on 27/12/2007 at 09:17
|
I tried to use my Garmin to get from Bristol Airport to Cardiff - due to Bristol Airport's rural location the satnav was taking me down some narrow country lanes and out of the way so I eventually gave up and followed the main road signs.
I never trust my sat nav to get me somewhere just be entering an address - I always have an idea of where I should be going first and as NSAR says airports are signposted from miles away so I'm surprised anyone would either miss these or choose to ignore them and blindly follow satnav. Road signs may not indicate be the most direct route, but they do keep you on major routes.
|
"What a fabulous name for an airport - Castle Donington"
Castle Donington of course is a village and has lent it's name to the airport and racing circuit.
I think there was a castle there from around 1200, hence the name. Then a later castle's stone was used to build Donington Hall, a gothic building that is now bmi's headquarters. An interesting building.
|
Erm... to get back to the original topic... My Tomtom once thought I was in the sea as I left Topsham (S. of Exeter), having managed to park near the harbour, and failed to locate me on any roads whatsoever for a good ten miles driving inland.
No idea what the problem was - maximum satellite reception, no high buildings, clear visibility.
It quite amuses me when I drive somewhere where the map is out of date, I'm on a new road and the poor thing madly keeps recalculating, while the voice gives ridiculuous instructions. My favourite is the A1 just south of the A1/M1 intersection.
But generally I'm a convert. I bought mine to cope with navigating in Leeds (never did understand the road system - very complicated) and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where my son and daughter live (or used to live, in the latter case). As such, it does a briliiant job.
The only drawback, for me, is that at the end of a journey relying on satnav, you have little feel for the route you've taken, or in fact any real knowledge of where you have been travelling.
|
|
Ah, Leeds. I once tried to navigate it without sat nav and got trapped in the one-way system for nearly 3 weeks. TomTom is brilliant, she even tells you what lane you should be in.
|
The other thread about using the sun reminded me.
In Boston a couple of years ago in a hired Jeep with built-in Satnav, we put in Logan Airport, thought it was strange that it took us through the city, got to the harbour and saw signs for Logan Airport admin offices, Fish Pier St or something. Looking more into the Satnav options in "places of interest" (or whatever the menu was called) brought up other options such at arrivals and departures.
It was a bit tight making the flight.
Would have been better with a map or even a compass.
|
I was thinking of buying my first Sat Nav during the Xmas sale. But after reading this thread, I gave up the idea for time being ;)
|
I tried using my Mio to navigate to a multi storey car park near my place of work. The POI appears not to be at the entrance to the car park from the street but at the barrier, which is at the top of the entrance ramp. If I'd obeyed the instructions I'd have been directed to a one way street on the wrong side of the building. To be fair, I would have been a few feet from my destination but would have needed a car that levitates, or drives up walls, to reach it.
There's a very useful road near where I live that's been open since mid 2005. It isn't shown on even the latest navigation software or Google Maps, which also uses data from Tele Atlas. Therefore, when I'm driving along it, my sat nav mostly thinks I'm crossing part of a municipal golf course, but for part of the distance it thinks I'm on the nearest road that it knows about.
Don't be put off getting a sat nav. They're wonderful gadgets if you recognise their limitations and accept that it's still your fault when you drive into a river.
|
In reply to Cheddar.
Somebody once told me never to drive in Boston. Hey I thought "I've driven, London, Liverpool, Manchester even Malta"........ Piece of Cake compared to Boston.
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 29/12/2007 at 00:08
|
Is Madeira mapped by any chance and if so to what level?
Cheers.......MD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
