Friday, November 18, 2016

A Better "I'm Feeling Lucky" for Google Play Music

There is a lot to like about Google Play Music. However, its multi-genre music discovery capability is not one of those things. Don't get me wrong, Google Play Music's discovery capabilities are quite good. However, those capabilities are rigidly tied to two things: one musical genre / time period (Rock or The 80's) or an activity ("Watching the Sunset").

I don't know about you, but that's not how I listen to music. My idea of a great playlist is a mix of Zac Brown Band, Prince, Van Halen, Kenny Chesney and a some Rumpshaker.  Sure, you can create a playlist that contains that music but with a playlist that I create I'm hearing the same songs over and over again. There's no discovery.

Sure, Google Play Music has the "Thumbs up" auto-playlist, but again, it's the same songs over and over again (plus any new ones I add). There's no discovery.

Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature should be the answer to this need. But, for some inexplicable reason, Google Play Music's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature produces a genre-specific playlist. That playlist will likely be very nicely tailored to your preferences if you use the app a lot. However, you're locked into listening to one genre at a time. Every time you initiate "I'm Feeling Lucky" it changes to another genre. I don't know the rationale for that design decision but it makes no sense to me.

Luckily, the Google Play Music webpage has a way to overcome this significant limitation in Google Play Music.  If you've got a history of "thumbs upping" songs you like within Google Play Music then follow along. You'll like this.  Open Google Play Music on the web (not the smartphone app). Click here. Make sure your current listening queue is completely empty before you continue.

In the upper left corner, click the three bar menu icon, then select Music Library.


When the Music Library opens, select Playlists at the top of the screen.


Scroll down the page and find the section called Auto-Playlists. There, you'll find an Auto-Playlist called "Thumbs up" which represents every song you've ever thumbs upped in Google Play Music.

DO NOT click on this playlist. DO NOT open it. Instead, hover your mouse on the bottom right side of this playlist (below Peter Cetera in the above example). You'll see the familiar "3 dots" menu. Click the 3 dots menu and select the oddly named "Add Playlist to Playlist." When you select that command, you'll see a list of your current playlists and the option to Create New Playlist. Select that option. Name it whatever you'd like. I named mine "Jeff's Mix."

Now you have a new playlist called "Jeff's Mix" in your Playlists which, at the moment, is identical to your "Thumbs up" Auto-playlist.  If you have several hundred songs in your thumbs up playlist wait for a few minutes before you proceed to the next step. If you proceed and get an error, wait a little longer.

Once again, DO NOT click on this playlist. DO NOT open it. Instead, hover your mouse on the bottom right side of this playlist (below John Cougar in the above example) and click the 3 dots menu. You'll see the golden ticket! Click "Start Radio."

You've just created a custom radio station, not based on a single genre or a particular activity, but rather based on your unique collection of thumbs upped songs. You'll find it in the radio station section of Google Play Music. Mine is called Jeff's Mix Radio.

Hover your mouse over the bottom right corner of your new radio station and again, select the three dot menu. Select Add Station To Library to make this station a permanent part of your library. You can also download this radio station offline from your smartphone.

You've just created your own personal radio station based on the songs you like, with the added benefit of music discovery!  It won't take you very long in the listening experience of your new radio station to begin hearing discovered music that wasn't thumbs upped by you before. As you listen, you can thumbs up / down as you like to further tune your custom radio station. If you download offline on your smartphone, each iterative refresh will be tuned more and more to your liking.

It may seem silly to have both a Jeff's Mix playlist (static) and Jeff's Mix Radio (dynamic with discovery) but I'd recommend not deleting the static playlist. I've noticed that if I delete the static playlist that the radio station ends up disappearing as well.

It's a shame that Google can't just give us a straight forward way to enjoy multi-genre music discovery but until they do this is next best option. Enjoy!

Thursday, August 18, 2016

TomTom wins big global contract with Volvo

Volvo has selected TomTom as their global supplier of maps, navigation and traffic content for their new infotainment system.

Full details here.

Uber picks their dance partner

Uber has picked their partner for their future. Volvo and Uber have announced a partnership to develop self-driving, autonomous cars which will serve as the next generation of Uber's service - one without cranky, demanding drivers.

Read more here.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Nissan & Infiniti using SiriusXM subsidies as a differentiator

Interesting news from Nissan & Infiniti. They appear to be using SiriusXM radio and data services as a differentiator by subsidizing the cost of the services for years.

More here.

Automatic's OBD-II telematics solution moves to the cloud

Aftermarket telematics company Automatic has released their latest product, the Automatic Pro. This aftermarket device plugs into your car's standard diagnostics port (OBD-II) to connect your car to the digital integration world. Uses include reading car diagnostic codes, analyzing driving behavior, providing emergency services and opening your car up to select 3rd party capabilities through the use of compatible apps.

The new Automatic Pro has an integral 3G data connection for direct communication to the cloud. The previous generation of the product required a bluetooth connection to a smartphone. Automatic has priced the Automatic Pro in a way that does not require service fees or a separate 3G data plan.

More information available here.

Ford continues its buying and investing binge

The news from the Ford Smart Mobility press event that Ford made a substantial investment in Velodyne was widely reported. It turns out, that was only part of the story. It was also announced that Ford has acquired SAIPS, an Israeli company that specializes in machine learning to beef up Ford's expertise in self-driving machine learning and computer vision technology.

Ford has also has a new exclusive licensing agreement with Nirenberg Neuroscience, a machine vision company that has developed a machine vision platform for performing navigation, object recognition, facial recognition and other functions. Ford can use this technology to bring humanlike intelligence to their autonomous cars.

Finally, an investment in Civil Maps will benefit Ford in the area of 3D high resolution mapping.

Read Ford's press release here.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Ford Sync 3 and drones could save your life someday

Most think of Ford Sync 3 as a way to control your tunes or call the office using voice recognition. Who could imagine that Ford Sync 3 might actually save your life someday? That's the goal behind the DJI Developer Challenge in partnership with Ford.

Drone company DJI has partnered with Ford and others, for the DJI Developer Challenge. With Ford's involvement, the goal will be for 3rd party developers to create a method of controlling drones through Ford Sync 3 for unmanned search and rescue missions. This is all part of Ford's Smart Mobility initiative.

Great stuff right there.

ABI Research needs to do better research

ABI Research has a posted a report summary today discussing the battle between proprietary and open-sourced "software defined cockpits."  In the summary they make this curious statement: "Yet, though car OEMs like Audi, BMW, Kia, and Toyota Motor, currently use Google’s Android Auto technology for search, map, and other functions, ABI Research predicts Android N will likely not appear in cars before 2020."

Toyota? Not a chance. It is widely (and accurately) reported that Toyota is not implementing Android Auto or Apple CarPlay in any vehicle, stubbornly staying with their own (in my opinion, horrible) infotainment solution.

ABI Research needs to firm up its research a bit.

Ford goes big on autonomous cars w/ Smart Mobility presentation

Ford is going all-in on self-driving, autonomous car technology. Ford feels that within the decade autonomous cars will have as big of an impact on society as their assembly line did years before. Ford conducted a very detailed press event providing details of their Ford Smart Mobility initiative. Ford announced their intent to have a high-volume, fully autonomous SAE Level 4-capable vehicle in commercial operation in 2021 in a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service.

You can watch the entire 27 minute video from Ford's presentation.  Click here for source and discussion.

Strategy Analystics Report: Consumers’ Satisfaction with In-Car Speech and Touchscreens Takes a Step Back

Research and analytics firm Strategy Analytics has a new report out on the state of consumer satisfaction with in-car speech recognition systems and touchscreen user interfaces. The actual report is available for download behind a registration portal. However, they've disclosed enough information in their report title to tell us that consumer satisfaction is not on the rise! Perhaps that reality explains some of the acquisition activity in the automotive industry of late. Automakers needs to start thinking like software technology companies. If their existing culture prevents that from happening organically, it's probably time to buy someone that can bring that mindset to the company.
 

Sygic's take on what's next in in-car connectivity and infotainment

Sygic has a decent "2 minute read" expressing their view of what's next in the world of in-car connectivity, infotainment and navigation. While it has a bit of a sales pitch at the end, it does provide a good, quick review of the near-term in this industry.
 
Source and discussion here.

Ford makes a big LiDAR investment

Ford is going all-in on autonomous technology with a reported $75M investment in LiDAR technology company Velodyne. This investment is in partnership with Chinese company Baidu. LiDAR is laser radar and is used in self-driving car technology to "see" the physical environment around the car and relay the data to onboard computers for analysis and reaction.

The investments from Ford and Baidu will help Velodyne bring the price of the LiDAR technology down closer to mass production levels. It is reported that Ford will use the LiDAR technology on a self-driving fleet of Uber-like on-demand self-driving vehicles within five years.
 
Source and discussion here.

Audi leads the way in vehicle-to-infrastructure communication

Audi has announced a new service within their advanced technology feature set that they are branding Audi connect Prime. This advanced feature set belongs to a technology referred to as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) service in which the automobile talks to physical devices that are part of our infrastructure and shares information that is usable by either the vehicle or the infrastructure.
This is pretty cool technology, though because of the vast amount of infrastructure that needs to be upgraded to support this kind of communication, it probably is not going to have widespread adoption in the near future.
 
Audi's initial implementation will involve the vehicle communicating to stop lights. The stop lights will communicate there status of either red or green as well as communicate when they will be changing.
 
On the surface, this may seem somewhat limited in usefulness but think about the implications of a vehicle approaching a stop light and the stop light informing the vehicle that the vehicle will not make it to the stop light in a green condition. Upon gaining that knowledge, a semi-autonomous vehicle could begin to slow down to avoid abrupt deceleration and rather than maintaining the speed limit could begin to coast to a stop which has gas mileage benefits.
 
Source and discussion here.

Monday, August 15, 2016

The Sorry State of Automaker's Smartphone Apps

Modern day automobiles are massively complex, highly technical machines. By comparison, a smartphone app seems like child's play. Unfortunately, if there is one thing that automakers can't seem to get right it is the user experience associated with the increasingly important in-car infotainment systems. Automaker's mobile apps play a large role in this dissatisfaction.

Consumer Reports Brand-by-Brand Guide to Car Infotainment Systems illustrates the problem. Only a single solution, the FIAT implementation of the Chrysler UConnect system, receives above a 63% user satisfaction rating.

This pervasive dissatisfaction has given Google and Apple an opening into the car's dashboard. Both companies are masters at creating a great user experience. Most automakers, except Toyota, have reluctantly given Google and Apple a place in the car dashboard. Toyota is one of the few automakers going it alone and having nothing to do with Google's Android Auto or Apple's CarPlay. Toyota instead, will place it's bets behind an implementation of Ford's AppLink technology. Interestingly, Ford itself has decided to augment their AppLink offering in their own cars with both CarPlay and Android Auto in their Sync 3 system.

Just how bad is the current situation?  Car Tech Blog has created this round-up of the current state of automaker's Android apps. This roundup represents the current average consumer rating of each app as of August 15, 2016, as reported by Google in the Play Store.

Think about the scores you expect from most apps that you download and use on a regular basis.  What do you look for? Perhaps a 4.0 score or above? There are only two apps out of 49 apps scoring better than 4.0.  Half of the apps score below a 3.0, usually a score bad enough to earn an uninstall by most users.

This data illustrates why Google and Apple are pushing hard for a place in-dash. With so much dissatisfaction, how can Google and Apple go wrong?

Hyundai rebrands Android smartphone apps

Hyundai has rebranded their Android smartphone apps by combining two apps into one. Previously Hyundai had the BlueLink app and a separate Car Care app. The newly rebranded app is called "myHyundai with BlueLink" and combines the features of the previously separate BlueLink and Car Care apps. There is no evidence of a similar change for iOS at this time.

Discussion and app link here.

Apple Maps beefs up transit coverage in Texas

Apple has reportedly built out additional public transit coverage in Texas after adding new coverage in Dallas-Ft Worth and San Antonio.

Source MacRumors.

Honda brings CarPlay and Android Auto to more vehicles

Honda has announced that CarPlay and Android Auto is pushing deeper into their vehicle line-up. Both CarPlay and Android Auto will be available as a standard option on the new 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback, but only on the EX trim level and above.

Source and discussion here.

Zubie launches WIFI telematics solution for businesses

The leading connected-car platform and telematics provider Zubie, has launched a new solution for tracking business fleets and providing analytics solutions. The new solution is WIFI based in-vehicle and is powered by Verizon's 4G LTE network.

Click here for source and discussion.

Cadillac concept car teases curved OLED displays

Cadillac posted a teaser video on YouTube (watch it here) ahead of their August 18th concept car launch event. The teaser video shows their approach to the in-car display technology for the telematics and infotainment system. Cadillac appears to be going with an array of multiple curved OLED displays. We'll see if updates to Cadillac's CUE infotainment system come to the concept car as well.

Discuss this news here.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

3200 Miles with CoPilot RV: It's the Best of Bad Choices for RV Navigation

We just returned from a 3200 mile, 12-day RV vacation starting in and returning to Iowa and hitting the states of Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Kansas. Here's our route:


Six years ago this week, we were on a nearly 4100 mile trip to the east and southeast US. On that trip, in 2010, I road tested ALK's CoPilot app for the first time. A thorough look at my experience with that app became one of my first substantial blog posts. As my now 6 year old blog post outlined, there was good, bad and ugly in my experience with CoPilot. For me, the bad and the ugly outweighed the good and I stopped using the app for many years.

Completely dissatisfied with the current choices available for RV navigation, I immediately spent $50 to purchase CoPilot RV the first day it was released this spring. I was willing to give the app another chance 6 years after my last CoPilot experience. On this trip, for all 3200 miles, I ran CoPilot RV on a Samsung Tab S2 8.0 tablet as well as Google Maps on a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 smartphone.  CoPilot was rock solid from a performance and stability perspective. In 3200 miles (48 hours of driving), the app never locked up, froze or crashed once.

Disclosure and About Me: I'm a bit of technology evangelist, both personally and professionally. I have a strong interest in navigation but have not worked professionally in the field. I am a volunteer beta tester for 3 navigation companies and am also a volunteer Google MapMaker Regional Lead. Over the last decade I have owned and used the following solutions: Garmin SP III, Garmin SP 2710, Garmin SP 2730, Garmin i5, Garmin c330, Garmin 760, Garmin 885T, Dash Navigation, TeleNav for Sprint, TomTom 740 Live, CoPilot Live v8, Navigon for Android, Navigon for iPad, Google Navigation, Waze, Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT, Garmin 3590LMT, TomTom for Android, Rand McNally 7725,  Rand McNally 7735, Garmin viago, Rand McNally RVND, CoPilot RV for Android.

CoPilot navigation apps have a long history across many different mobile platforms. ALK should be commended for believing in the smartphone navigation space and sticking with it through many years. In general, CoPilot apps are extremely feature-rich, accomplishing nearly every feature you'd find on a traditional dedicated navigation unit. The abundant features make CoPilot RV an attractive alternative for RV navigation. Notable features include:
  • Ability to pre-plan, save and recall routes. Multiple routes can be saved.
  • Routes can contain many stops and stops can be manually managed or automatically optimized.
  • User-installed points-of-interest (POI) databases are supported so content from sites like POI Factory can be installed.
  • User-entered RV dimensions and weight are used in route calculations.
Summary
I'll cut to the chase first and then provide more detail for those interested. The title of this blog post is "It's the best of bad choices for RV navigation." That summarizes my feelings about CoPilot RV. CoPilot has drastically improved in the key feature of route/ETA calculation since my experience in 2010. However, like was the case in 2010, CoPilot RV's map quality remains a significant downfall. Unlike after my 2010 trip with CoPilot, I will continue to use CoPilot RV but will be watching and hoping for other solutions due to the map quality issue. A RV navigation app carries an additional burden of having RV-specific attributes such as weight, height, size and propane restrictions. I'm unclear how ALK suggests customers should have confidence in the accuracy of these very important RV-specific attributes given the persistence map quality issues over the years.

The Details
This blog will not be an exhaustive look at CoPilot's features. My 2010 blog post provides this and actually, the look and feel of the app has remained similar to the 2010 app. Normally that would be a red flag but, despite CoPilot not abiding by any Google material design guidelines in any way, I find it visually pleasing and relatively easy to use. CoPilot does register as an intent handler within Android so clicking addresses within Contacts, Calendar, etc., can be handled by CoPilot automatically.

CoPilot's route/ETA calculation has been fixed from my 2010 experience and is now very good. However, users MUST buy the optional $9.95 annual traffic package in order to experience the improvement.  On this trip we traveled 6 - 11 hours per day on our drive days. I found the ETA that CoPilot calculated to be realistic for the total trip time (i.e., inclusive of gas stops). Comparatively, Google Maps' ETA calculation seemed to be more accurate for actual drive time, but would then add time for each gas stop.

My recommendation is simple, do not use CoPilot RV without buying the optional traffic subscription. I'll explain.

Without the optional traffic package, CoPilot has poor "knowledge" of road speeds. CoPilot appears to classify roads in groups of similar road types and then assigns a generic speed to each road type. The user, in a setting that has not changed since 2010, can input custom road speeds for each of the generic road categories, and also select the user's preference for driving on each road type. As you can read in my 2010 blog post, the result, even when using default settings, is disastrous route calculations and ETA times.

Here is an example of a route/ETA calculation in the current CoPilot RV app using the default app settings and not using the optional traffic package. From personal experience, a time of 8:43 is absurd for this route, as CoPilot itself will confirm once you actually activate the traffic package.

CoPilot Support will say "well, just change the default speed to something more realistic." Nope. The problem with that is CoPilot road categories don't distinguish between rural and urban roads when setting custom user speeds. So, if the user sets a divided highway custom speed to 50 mph for example, CoPilot applies that speed to a divided highway whether it runs through rural farm land or is an urban divided highway in the middle of a dense urban area.  If the user corrects the ETA in this rural route example by raising the custom speed, it may bring down the 8:43 ETA to something more realistic but the result will also drastically underestimate the ETA in an urban environment where the custom speed cannot be maintained on urban streets badged as a highway. Luckily, CoPilot has "fixed" this problem if you purchase the optional traffic package.


Here is the exact same route with the optional traffic package activated. An ETA of 6:42 is a very realistic calculation for this route. This optional feature saves CoPilot RV from being removed from my Android tablet, never to be used again, like occurred in 2010.


So what is going on here? The optional CoPilot traffic package actually includes two features. The first feature is branded ActiveTraffic, which is real-time traffic content. The second feature is ActiveRoutes, which is essentially historical traffic content. ALK describes it as follows: "ActiveRoutes calculates your route using actual road speeds at the specific time of day and day of week you're traveling."

This means that the generic road category and road category speeds are not used when ActiveRoutes is active. Instead, the route and route ETA is calculated using a massive (3rd party) database of knowledge about actual road speeds and how those speeds vary by time of day. This is how other modern smartphone navigation apps like Google Maps calculate routes and the ETA. This feature is vital to making CoPilot RV usable.

2D View
I believe that most people prefer to use navigation apps in 3D mode (the default view in Google Maps). However, I really enjoy CoPilot RV's 2D view using the "zoom to next turn" feature. Theoretically, this feature allows for a nice overview of long stretches of your trip while zooming into the details as you approach a turn. While the next turn remains far away, the 2D view is north up but switches to "direction up" as you get within a dozen or so miles of a turn. I find that the 2D view provides a great overview of your overall route and gives you an at-a-glance sense of your trip's progress.  Here is an example of the 2D view with a next turn far in the distance.


"Splits Off" Annoyance
I used the word "theoretically" in the paragraph above because in practice, this 2D view is interrupted by a flaw in CoPilot RV. I refer to the problem as the "splits off fixation." CoPilot constantly provides a meaningless instruction to "Stay on Road1 while Road2 splits off." And every time it provides this meaningless instruction, it defines a point on the map that CoPilot considers a "next turn." As a result, CoPilot RV's 2D display is always zooming closer and closer to these meaningless "splits off" points. I'd estimate that over the course of this 3200 mile trip that CoPilot provided a "splits off" instruction at least 100 times that I'd categorize as completely unnecessary.

Even worse, I have CoPilot set to provide three audible upcoming turn prompts as the next turn is approached. CoPilot uses these three prompt distances to announce these "splits off" warnings too. So 100 unnecessary uses of the "splits off" alert turns into 300 audible prompts.

The "splits off" alert has good intentions. It is a nice feature in the specific circumstance where a road legitimately "forks" and the driver could go multiple ways. However, CoPilot RV provides this "splits off" instruction on things like standard freeway exit ramps even when the ramp isn't one of the freeway drive lanes. It also repeatedly does it when two highways intersect, even when that intersection would require a right or left turn using a dedicated lane. Here is an example. Notice the intersecting Highway 1695.  It has absolutely nothing to do with my route. At Highway 1695, I-70 is elevated and Highway 1695 passes below. Highway 1695 is accessible via standard freeway entrance and exit ramps.  Despite this, CoPilot RV insists on warning me "Stay on Interstate 70 as Highway 1695 splits off." It's a ridiculous instruction and it occurs over and over again in the app.


Here's another example. It's the same scenario, this time with Highway 40.  I could have screen captured dozens and dozens of these situations.


So, we have this annoying "splits off" situation but yet there are situations where CoPilot is silent when there should be instructions provided. As I approached this small Kansas town on Highway 56, notice where the yellow arrow is. This arrow represents the "next turn" as far as CoPilot is concerned. It is 1.6 miles away from my current location.  The problem here is obvious. There should be a left turn instruction where Highway 56 meets "Old 56" on the map. This is a stop sign, not a curve in the street. CoPilot is silent in this important scenario yet chirps unnecessary "splits off" warnings where it isn't needed.


Here is another example of CoPilot not providing instructions when instructions are warrantied. This is another example where the trip required a stop and a right turn in order to stay on the highway but CoPilot provided no instructions at all.


Search Along Route is Broken
A key feature in any RV navigation app is a "search along route function" for finding the next truck stop, dump station or campground. CoPilot RV has a "search along route" feature but, at least in my usage, it's completely broken. It simple does not return any content, despite there unquestionably being content that should be returned. Here is the result of "search along route" for gas stations. The search was started on I-70 east of Topeka headed towards Kansas City (not yet to Lawrence). Gas stations are plentiful along this route. The round icon to the left of the "Map" button spins continuously. This screenshot was taken after letting the screen sit for at least a mile.


POI Inadequacy
CoPilot RV allows you to input your own custom points-of-interest databases from sites like POI Factory. It's a good thing this feature exists because I found the built in POI database to be outdated and paltry. We overnighted in the small town of Dodge City, KS. It also served as a RV gas stop. CoPilot RV says there are three gas stations in Dodge City. Nope.

 

In reality, there are over three times that many including a Love's and a Flying J truck stop.  Google Maps (correctly in my opinion) includes truck stops when searching for gas stations (but not vice versa obviously). CoPilot however, does not. The Love's and Flying J are not found in the gas station POI search in CoPilot but are found when searching the truck stop category. In my opinion, the truck stop category should be a subset of the gas station category. They should not be mutually exclusive.

Signpost Imagery - CoPilot Creative Marketing
ALK advertises signpost imagery as a feature of CoPilot RV. Signpost imagery is a great feature because it helps drivers associate the maneuvers shown on the screen with what they are seeing in real life. Combined with lane guidance, these are meaningful features for RV drivers since quick, last minute lane changes are hard to make in a RV. These features make big city driving easier.

So as not to be accused of making an incorrect interpretation of ALK's marketing, I will post exactly what their website says about this feature. Notice the phrase "Real Signposts." When I read that advertisement I have an expectation, like in Google Maps and solutions built from HERE maps, that I will be shown real signpost content. In over 7200 miles of driving with CoPilot (2010 trip and this trip), CoPilot seldom showed real signpost content.

In my experience, CoPilot's database does not have knowledge of what the real signpost physically has written on it. Instead, I believe that ALK is simply using knowledge of the crossing or connecting street to generate what it thinks the signpost might say. In some cases that really is what the signpost says on it. In those cases, CoPilot happens to get it right, by chance. In many other cases, the signpost does not contain the crossing or connecting street. Instead, it contains city names, attractions, local road names (instead of highway numbers) and other subtleties. In 7200 miles, I've observed no case where CoPilot accurately shows the real signpost content when the real signpost contains something other than the crossing or connecting street.

Here is just one example of a real signpost image from CoPilot in Kansas City. This sign in real life says "Des Moines." On a long trip like this, literally dozens of examples could be provided like this.


I'll end this particular issue by simply calling it creative marketing though my personal feelings about ALK's advertising of this particular feature are stronger than that.

Speed Limits - Why Bother?
CoPilot RV displays speed limits and also has a nice feature that provides speeding warnings at a user-defined threshold above the speed limit. Great feature. However, that assumes that the speed limits are actually accurate. In my experience, that isn't the case.

The speed limits errors are symptomatic of a larger problem which plagued my experience with CoPilot in 2010 and remains an issue on this trip - map quality.

I found speed limit mistakes on large sections of freeways in almost every state that we traveled on this trip. I'm not talking about missing the change in a speed limit by a mile or so. I'm talking about entire freeways having the wrong speed limit when that speed limit has been set for years.  I'm not talking about wrong speed limits in towns on highways (this could be hard to track because individual towns change them) because I've not found CoPilot to even include speed limits on anything other than freeways.

Illinois: I-74 has the wrong speed limit. It changed in January 2014.
Kansas: I-70 has the wrong speed limit. It changed in the summer of 2011.

In addition, I found incorrect freeway speed limits in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Maps
In my 2010 blog post, map quality was my biggest disappointment and complaint with CoPilot. Sadly, while the route/ETA calculation has been fixed with the ActiveRoutes functionality, I find no material change that improves the map situation in CoPilot.

CoPilot does update their maps. A completely new freeway interchange was recently added in my home town. I submitted it through CoPilot's MapSure program and it was added in the next quarterly map update. That being said, the problem appears to be what is not reported through MapSure. So, while CoPilot's maps contain this new interchange that I reported, they still have an old freeway configuration in another location in my town (I did not report it) that has been complete for 2.5 years. This is a major US freeway. If major US freeways are outdated by 2 or 3 years, what is the condition of CoPilot's map data on city streets and residential subdivisions?

I have no idea what ALK's internal map update process is. What I do know from experience with the app, is that it isn't good enough. I have raised the map quality issue with ALK in a few ways including their support forum and social media. In all cases, their only response has been to point me to the instructions for submitting map updates to them. On their support forum, they pointed out the link to MapSure then took the unusual step of locking the forum from further comment.

There is much enthusiasm in the GIS industry about user-contributions to maps and crowdsourcing. However, two important distinctions must be made here. First, when it comes to Google MapMaker, Waze and OpenStreetMap, user contributions are used to make really good maps even better. In the case of ALK's maps it is my opinion that they are not starting with "really good maps." Second, customers are paying for this product. Sure, other paid map providers have similar programs. HERE has Map Creator and TomTom has Map Share. However, it is my experience with HERE and TomTom that even without user submission, within a few quarterly updates the internal processes at HERE and TomTom discover and implement many map changes. I readily admit that even with 7200 miles of travel with CoPilot, I have personally experienced a small amount of the ALK map database. However, even with that limited experience, there are enough map errors involving roads that have not changed or have been complete for 2, 3 or more years to question ALK's map update process, especially when directly compared to competitor's maps.

Some examples....On this trip I experienced incorrect freeway exit numbers on I-44 in the middle of St Louis. These were changed in the spring of 2014 and have yet to be updated by ALK. You'll notice in my 2010 blog post that I experienced incorrect freeway exit numbers on that trip as well, on the Florida turnpike.

I encountered problems with the app suggesting maneuvers that are impossible to make in a RV and should not be suggested by any RV navigation app.

Here is an example of CoPilot routing me to a gas station that is located on a major divided highway by routing me instead, in a RV, while using the app's RV mode, onto small residential streets and suggesting that I access the gas station by using a dirt cow path.


I'm not sure if a U-turn was legal at this major intersection in Albuquerque, NM but a RV navigation app, set in RV mode, should never, in any circumstance, suggest this maneuver. Ever.


I also encountered several instances of routing busts. This included:
  • Two instances of the routing not using the separate right hand turn lanes (they were correctly shown in the app) and instead showing a 90-degree right hand turn from the go-forward lanes of the + intersection.
  • One instance of the app suggesting that I travel the wrong way into oncoming traffic of a divided highway, then turn right across my current lane in order to make a right turn.
All three of these errors were located on rural state highways in Oklahoma and Texas. Evidence by the condition of those particular roads, they haven't been changed in many, many years.

There were two instances of this inexplicable maneuver that should be a simple right turn:

 

Conclusion
CoPilot RV is a feature-rich app that easily replaces a dedicated navigation device and matches it feature-for-feature. It's advanced route planning features and ability to build, save and recall multiple routes, each containing multiple stops, is unequaled in the smartphone navigation space and extremely attractive to RV drivers.

The app's route selection is very good, picking routes that I subjectively, would pick myself. The resulting ETA is very good assuming ActiveRoutes is purchased and activated.

The knowledge (and visual confirmation within the app) of RV road restrictions, low clearances and other RV-specific attributes provides peace of mind to the RV driver.

All of those positive qualities are undermined by the user experiencing outdated maps, incorrect speed limits and inexplicable routing anomalies presumably caused by old map data. I remain wholly unconvinced that map updates via CoPilot user submissions is a viable model for maintaining a quality product going forward. As more and more users see the experience of having Google Map Maker edits pushed to Maps within hours, it is my opinion that users will not tolerate road changes not being dealt with by ALK for years. It remains unclear if ALK will get the message and change. A quick read of CoPilot reviews in the iOS and Google app stores will show that map quality is a common CoPilot complaint and has been for a long time. There is no outward evidence based on this user's experience, that ALK has acted on that customer criticism.

An app with CoPilot's feature set, CoPilot's reliability, OpenStreetMaps' timeliness, ActiveTraffic's coverage and ActiveRoutes ETA impact is a winner. Fix your maps ALK. Stop undermining an otherwise great app.