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Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 13:46:08 -0400
From: Eric Riback <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: DeLorme's routing
Sender: Eric Riback <[log in to unmask]>
 
Howard's experience applies to one extent or another to all consumer
mapping and routing software and online services.
 
As with many other software applications, technological innovation is
running ahead of the ability to perfect those applications.  In the case of
mapping and routing, indeed there are data limitations, however improvement
is constant. Once the user understands the limitations, the services are
for most still quite useful.
 
Most software classifies roads by type, and so there may be no distinction
between an interstate running through the middle of a major city and one in
a rural area.  The quirks of a particular city's traffic patterns may not
be taken into account.  Calculations are based on mathematics. And the
underlying street data is still imperfect.  In the latter instance, those
services which license data from companies that are collecting it for
in-car navigation systems have the best of the breed.
 
In-car navigation systems sophisticated enough to re-route you based on
real-time traffic information were prototyped years ago. Map publishers are
very much aware of the current limitations. Improvements in data and
technology are ongoing and are driven by competition and economics.
Meanwhile, between online services, CD-ROMs and in-car systems, millions of
people find the current state-of-the-art to be quite useful.
 
Eric Riback
 
 
>I called up the URL for Eartha, and out of curiosity clicked on the
directions to DeLorme's headquarters in Yarmouth, ME from my hometown of
East Providence, RI. The directions and time estimates were comically
impractical and unrealistic. In E. Providence, speed limits of 48 and 60
mph are assumed for congested local streets with a 30 mph speed limit and
traffic lights every few blocks. Instead of routing you around Boston on
I-95, the route brings you through the city and its adjoining suburbs (via
Boston's worst ghetto) on local streets, again assuming average speeds of
50 mph. It's obvious that the route was never field tested or evaluated by
a human being. These directions don't exactly live up to DeLorme's claim to
being a "top map publisher ... providing cutting edge mapping and
navigation products to consumers".
>
>Howard Stone
>Brown Univ.
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