Huge CoPilot Live GPS Software Review at TekGuru

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3073' target='_blank'>http://www.tekguru.co.uk/phpBB2/vie...opic.php?t=3073</a><br /><br /></div>"The final part of the CoPilot Live Pocket PC 4 (CPL) review will briefly investigate the PC software which accompanies the Pocket PC part of the package, and will highlight the 'Live' aspect of the system. The PC software acts as both a combination route planner and an interface for the Pocket PC environment where routes and maps may be created and custom POI data incorporated for download to the PPC system. The Live environment includes such features as Point Of Interest (POI) tracking and communication between the PC and the Pocket PC while out on the road.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040603_copilot2.jpg" /> <br /><br />The PC Base station could at any time decide to send a 'Trip Itinerary Update' to the driver, to do this they would click the 'New Trip' button on the toolbar and create a trip itinerary in the Trip Planner window just as in Planning Mode. Once the journey change has been mapped out the Send button is clicked to send the re-route instruction to the driver."<br /><br />TekGuru has just finished a review of CoPilot Live 4. This last section covers the "Live" aspect, and it's a pretty interesting read. Apparently the software on the Pocket PC can communicate with a "base station" PC via a GPRS connection, which allows for messaging, "pushing" POI and trip/route data, and tracking of the car via the base station. <br /><br />I've always shied away from CoPilot due to the steep price (I'm a Routis/iGuidance man myself), but this kind of functionality seems like it might be worth the extra cash. Does anyone here use CoPilot? How reliable is the "Live" aspect? How does the actual routing portion of the software compare to something like Mapopolis or iGuidance?

[adamz]

Sounds like it still only works in the UK.

Edit: Or the traffic information is what I meant.

[Pony99CA]

Sounds like it still only works in the UK.

Edit: Or the traffic information is what I meant.
Not according to the ALK traffic page (http://www.alk.com/products/consumer/traffic.asp) -- it's available in Minnesota, too. :-D

Steve

[ctmagnus]

Lessee... That's everyone in the UK, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, That strange symbol guy and of course Crystal Eitel who can use it now :D

[Pony99CA]

Lessee... That's everyone in the UK, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, That strange symbol guy and of course Crystal Eitel who can use it now :D
Well, we don't need traffic updates in California. How often do you really need to download "Gridlock"? :lol:

Steve

[claud9999]

I've tried some other mapping solutions and I really like CoPilot the most of all of them (even compared to TomTom, another community darling.) The speech synthesis is a fundamental feature that I can't live without. In dense city streets, saying *which* street to turn left onto can make a huge difference.

The desktop software is solid and lets me export a map of any size. The maps are ok, fairly accurate but always a step behind (but I haven't seen much better.)

Biggest downer is their annoying (de)activation, which becomes a problem if you hard-reset your device or upgrade. Be sure to make a backup of the software once it's been activated or you'll have to call/e-mail the company (a real chore, having done it many times...You usually have to play voicemail tag with their support people.)

The softwares not that much more expensive than the competition, and I think it's worth the $.

[Pony99CA]

The desktop software is solid and lets me export a map of any size. The maps are ok, fairly accurate but always a step behind (but I haven't seen much better.)
One good thing about the maps is that you don't have to pick and choose arbitrary map segments. You can select a rectangular region, specify a city and a radius around that city or export a specific trip (starting point, ending point and the corridor between the two). I haven't heard of any other GPS software that does that.

Yes, the maps are out of date in some places, but ALK is good about updating them if you send them tracks and/or maps. The maps around my house were 5-6 years out of date when I got Pocket CoPilot 2.0 (in late 2001, I think), so I sent ALK maps from MapQuest with changes labelled and GPS tracks for my neighborhood. All the new streets were in Pocket CoPilot 3.0.

After that, I sent them tracks to my brother's house in the middle of the Arizona desert near Tonopah, and his house is now in CoPilot Live 4. That's pretty good.

Biggest downer is their annoying (de)activation, which becomes a problem if you hard-reset your device or upgrade.
Yes, the activation does suck, but the trade-off made was worth it -- they stopped locking the software to their hardware, and now support most NMEA devices.

More annoying is the registration, where I have to type the registration key in three times -- once on the desktop, once on the Pocket PC and once during activation (if I remember correctly).

Steve