Re: GPS maps for pedestrian?

From: Chris Malcolm (cam_at_holyrood.ed.ac.uk)
Date: 02/07/05 

Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 12:37:07 +0000 (UTC)

Peter <prathman@comcast.net> writes:

>newspost@hotmail.com wrote:

>> GPS for pedestrians could take in considerations shortcuts and
>> bottlenecks where cars cannot go through, ignore highways (motorways)
>> and one-ways restrictions for cars, for example.

>> I would personally like to have one of them for my city exploration for
>> finding shops and addresses whenever I get out the bus or the train
>> (where I normally get lost).

>The GPS V does have auto-routing and you can set it for
>pedestrian use so it will avoid freeways and ignore restrictions like
>one-ways and no left turn corners which only apply to vehicular traffic.
>But I see little added value in the auto-routing while walking. If the
>GPS just indicates where the destination is located and displays the
>map, then I'd just as soon define my own route while walking.

Since most pedestrian-walkable cities are laid out with a very roughly
rectangular array of streets you don't need maps or routing, all you
need to know is the direction and distance of your destination, and
you can make up your own route on the spot using your own brain and
eyes.

This doesn't work when there are specific barriers like rivers to
cross, or deliberately mazy housing estates with very few exits, but
those problems are easily sorted with an extra waypoint or two, such
as the location of the intermediate bridge.

Since the local detail a pedestrian sometimes needs is usually in
excess of any electronic map you can load into your GPS, so you need a
local city map on paper anyway, I'd say you don't really need a
mapping GPS for pedestrian city navigation. It's nice, but it costs a
lot of extra money for very little extra functionality.

As a pedestrian city navigator I get most of my city waypoint refs
from free web-based city maps, and when I arrive at a new city, I'll
buy a local map in the railway station or airport when I arrive.

As a pedestrian I always carry my non-mapping GPS and have never felt
the need for a mapping one. It's different for driving. 

--
Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB,  Informatics,  JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

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