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xGPS updated - Turn by Turn Voice Guidance Now Included

jimmy83 said:
So you need 3G for this to work? If so, why can't you use GPRS isnt that what tom tom and other sat navs use? As you usually get GPRS 99% of the time :confused:
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I don't think you understand what GPS Navigation is. It uses GPS chips to sync with various satelites to identify location using longitude and latitude.

3G and GPRS is mobile data service are used to download various information such as map and route information. Hence without GPS chip, you can only "estimate" your location base on closest cell phone towers, which defeats the purpose of this app.

Reason why we are referring to 3G iPhone only, because 3G iPhone has GPS chip, and first generation doesn't. However, you can buy an external GPS addon to enable usage of this app.
 
Well, color me impressed....I tested it just now actually, driving back from my local BART train station (for the Bay Area folks out there) to my house. I used the "Route Manager" and tapped the "Go Home" feature, which computed a route to my house from my current location.

I have to say, it did an excellent job mapping out the fastest possible route, which was the way I normally take home, and it even course-corrected when I took a little side-street instead of its suggested route. The voice guidance worked, chiming and notifying you of incoming turns/arrivals. The only caveat I had was that when your position/dot on the route deviated a little, the big "Wrong Way" flashing red box would pop up...if you tapped it, it would try to course-correct, but leaving it alone will eventually cause it to go away because you never actually left the route you were on anyways. This might have more to do with the Google Maps usage though, because even in the standard Maps app, it's not always accurate to the down to the foot, and even with full 3G reception (which I have where I live) your "dot" would sometimes be a little bit to the left/right of where you were actually at. This is obviously a very fixable issue.

I really, really think this app will convince many people to finally jailbreak, and rightfully so. A big thanks to the developers of xGPS, you guys have provided us with something big and for free at that, and something that can only get better over time. Sometimes I think the jailbroken community doesn't know how good it's got it. :D
 
I can also attest to this app's goodness as I used it to "navigate" the way home from my g/f's earlier...gave me the correct fastest route, the arrow moved very accurately with where I was, only thing is the speedometer is still a little wacky but whatever I have one on my truck.
 
UFMatt said:
I can also attest to this app's goodness as I used it to "navigate" the way home from my g/f's earlier...gave me the correct fastest route, the arrow moved very accurately with where I was, only thing is the speedometer is still a little wacky but whatever I have one on my truck.
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ya im not a fan of the speedometer on that thing. its very enticing to look at that for your speed instead of the real one haha. its also a little off so it gives you the wrong idea. so i turned it off
 
I'm glad that some of you are having better luck with the mapping. I tried it out several times today and every time, it took back roads instead of the highway and one time tried to take me through a neighborhood that doesn't allow through traffic. It never once recalculated the route, even though I have it set to recalculate. I know that the routing problem is Google Maps. I went straight to Google Maps and it gave me the same crazy directions.

I look forward to Google Map's routing improvements and recalculating improvements from this app. It's a terrific start and is incredible when it works! We've waited a long time for this and I give kudos to the developers!
 
Gave it a go on the way into college this morning.

I was quite impressed by it, but there were a few things which make it not very usable for me at the moment.
You can't have the ipod on at the same time, as they both use the same volume controls, and the ipod is far louder than the voice commands. Also, if you get a text or a call while your driving, the voice commands just seemed to stop although the dot kept following on the map.

Very promising though!
 
PYR0M310N said:
You can't have the ipod on at the same time, as they both use the same volume controls, and the ipod is far louder than the voice commands.
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Ah yes I meant to say this also, with the ipod playing in my car the gps didn't dim the sound of my music like it does when you receive a call or text, you could barely hear it in the background.
 
It still is far behind actual TbT's...The one on my Instinct was incredible. I could search for any place in the country. It would locate it, give phone number and address. I hit "drive to" and it would take me there. That's TbT to me. This xGPS is good, but only if you have the address in its entirety...zip in all.
 
yeah, I noticed the needed zip today as well. Plus the "Wrong Way" box is annoying, especially when it's on 2 lines with one of the words cut off...

but my biggest issue? It wanted me to turn left where it was a right turn? What's up with that? It had it right on the map, it had the names right even, but it was saying "turn left onto blah blah st in 100 meters" when it was a right turn? Anyone else see/hear this? I'm going to test it again on the way home and see if it's backwards both ways at that corner or what.
 
JohnsonVision said:
Has anyone had a chance to try out the driving directions in the car...I have read on a number of forums some not hearing the voice guidance and the re-routing doesnt happen if you go the wrong way, the directions just disappear.

Anyone have any input?

Once I hop in the car in about an hour I will post my impressions as well.
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Re-Routing doesn't occur. Well at least in my case. I plotted my route to home from work, and it took me in a much less efficient and longer way. Once I left the route, the "WrongnWay" started flashing.....and flashing.....then finally faster and faster until it was non-stop. Never once during the entire drive home did it re-route like a typical GPS will. Finally, once I got back on the path, the "WrongnWay" went away, and voice directions came back. Interestingly, I had my iPhone plugged into my car via the USB to the Ford Sync system. I was playing music the whole time, and when the voice directions came in, you could barely here them over the stereo. A nice feature would be to pause the song playing, and then give the voice command, then restart the song. That way it would be audible.
 
jacobsen1 said:
Plus the "Wrong Way" box is annoying, especially when it's on 2 lines with one of the words cut off...
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You mean you hate seeing

Wrongw
ay!


:D:D


jacobsen1 said:
but my biggest issue? It wanted me to turn left where it was a right turn? What's up with that? It had it right on the map, it had the names right even, but it was saying "turn left onto blah blah st in 100 meters" when it was a right turn? Anyone else see/hear this? I'm going to test it again on the way home and see if it's backwards both ways at that corner or what.
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Mine has a tendency to be upside down..The locator on the screen is coming towards me, holding it in my hand, so I think that is what makes it have you turn left when it's a right. It F'd up!


KidStallyn said:
Re-Routing doesn't occur.
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You have to turn it on....the reroute that is. I did and it works, but takes to long to recalculate. I have 3 miles down the road before it redid the route.
 
geekmommy4 said:
I'm glad that some of you are having better luck with the mapping. I tried it out several times today and every time, it took back roads instead of the highway and one time tried to take me through a neighborhood that doesn't allow through traffic. It never once recalculated the route, even though I have it set to recalculate. I know that the routing problem is Google Maps. I went straight to Google Maps and it gave me the same crazy directions.

I look forward to Google Map's routing improvements and recalculating improvements from this app. It's a terrific start and is incredible when it works! We've waited a long time for this and I give kudos to the developers!
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Update: Mine didn't re-route yesterday, but on the same path today, it did. Not sure what made the difference.
 
Jamesdamon said:
I can't seem to get the voice to work.

I have set my lanuage to English. I have enabled voice guidance.

ANy other ideas guys?
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If you are sitting somewhere waiting for it, not gonna happen. You have to be in the actual route to make the robot talk.
 
Gix1k said:
It still is far behind actual TbT's...The one on my Instinct was incredible. I could search for any place in the country. It would locate it, give phone number and address. I hit "drive to" and it would take me there. That's TbT to me. This xGPS is good, but only if you have the address in its entirety...zip in all.
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I have tried a number of times for driving directions without the zip and it's calculated the directions with no problem. I have even just typed in a city name, no state and it calculated the directions.
 
JohnsonVision said:
I have tried a number of times for driving directions without the zip and it's calculated the directions with no problem. I have even just typed in a city name, no state and it calculated the directions.
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Hmmm, 1.1 made me...maybe it's changed for 1.2
 
I have a question...........

I just tried it on my way home from work and it worked pretty darn good.

The voice is annoying as hell, but I can deal with it. lol

My question is I didn't download any sort of maps or anything and it still was able to take me from work to home, perfectly.

Did this work because I was over the 3g network? and if that's the case and I choose to use the 3g network every time, does that mean I wouldn't have to download any maps before driving?

Why would someone want to download a map for? Just so they can use XGPS when offline? Or out of 3g network coverage area??

Please advise.

Thanks
 
Jamesdamon said:
I have a question...........

I just tried it on my way home from work and it worked pretty darn good.

The voice is annoying as hell, but I can deal with it. lol

My question is I didn't download any sort of maps or anything and it still was able to take me from work to home, perfectly.

Did this work because I was over the 3g network? and if that's the case and I choose to use the 3g network every time, does that mean I wouldn't have to download any maps before driving?

Why would someone want to download a map for? Just so they can use XGPS when offline? Or out of 3g network coverage area??

Please advise.

Thanks
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Yes, if you have 3G + good coverage, you will not need to download any maps, but your map loading will be entirely dependent how strong your 3G reception is.

Downloading of maps is done primarily if you have to travel somewhere that lacks good 3G reception, as this way you will be able to use the "Offline" mode and calculate routes without the need for a cellular data connection.

Whatever the case, xGPS downloads any maps that you use anyways..so if you check your downloaded maps, it should be relatively small (a couple megs) if you've test driven it like me over a distance of only a few miles. I hope they implement a "stream only" option though, as I do not want the maps stored on my phone automatically, taking up space.
 
Edge should be fine for this, right? Telenav works perfectly on a Blackberry running on Edge and Telenav doesn't install any maps when you install the program.

Someone please correct if wrong...
 
legaleye3000 said:
Edge should be fine for this, right? Telenav works perfectly on a Blackberry running on Edge and Telenav doesn't install any maps when you install the program.

Someone please correct if wrong...
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It doesn't matter if it's Edge or 3G, you just need to have a GPS chip built-in or external.
 
i took XGPS out for a spin this evening on a short trip to wal-mart to pick up some ammunition.

with careful choice of music, you can hear MC hawking over the ipod. with the CD master of "in rainbows", for example, i could barely hear that XGPS was saying anything at all. but with the MFSL CD master of "dark side of the moon", MC hawking came through loud and clear.

the other thing about using XGPS is that you should not greet the "wrong way" indicator with the same urgency as you would in mario kart.
 
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