Forum: General Topics

Hmmm, its not too difficult to pretty much do this in the current version, although I guess it depends on your definition of Quick & Easy!!

Assuming that you've got TMJ running when you're in the car just create a New Waypoint at the Current Location when you stop and park (on the 8520 the Enter key *should* already be mapped as a shortcut for creating a new waypoint, or if not you can add the shortcut via the Settings/Define Shortcut Keys menu).

When returning to the car select the waypoint from the Waypoints List (screen [2]) to get a green pointer arrow on other screens to point to the car's location. (And if you're in a well-covered-OpenStreetMap-area use the Waypoint context menu to generate a full route to Navigate to the location).

Another possibility... If you forget to create the waypoint when parking the car, use the Graphs screen [9] to find roughly the point where you parked (either via the time or where the speed suddenly drops much lower, assuming you walked after leaving the car), then use the context menu to Show the Selected Point on the Map...

(I guess I could add a dedicated shortcut to create/modify a waypoint called 'Car Location', etc, though this would only save a couple of key presses... Any thoughts?)

Cheers,
Stephen

Well, it works, despite not meeting my definition of "quick & easy". What I would like to see here would be another page which, when opened, would give you 2 basic options: "Mark your car current position" and "Return to car".

There is an application - by Neosistec - called CarFinder, that does precisely that. Does not work on my 8520, though.

Regards,

A Crane

" Of course, one drawback to this feature is that is doesn't work very well in underground parking lots where the satellite signal is much too weak "

Yeah, not a lot can be done about this with GPS - at least it should get you back to the right car park, though you'll still have to remember which floor you parked on!!

To be honest I'm a bit reluctant to add a completely dedicated car-finder function - the trouble is that TMJ is quite complex as it is, and I suspect that just adding more and more specific functions won't actually make it any simpler to use!

I'd rather have a more 'generic' system - I've been thinking about my 'shortcut' suggestion above, which I'll probably add into the next version. You'll be able to map a key shortcut to overwrite a special 'Last Location' waypoint, so each time the shortcut is used the waypoint will be updated with the current location. This waypoint can then be used in the normal way for navigating back to, so it can either be used to store your car location, or any other generic temporary location. Would this be of use do you think?

Cheers,
Stephen

Stephen, anything you can do to simplify this particular activity would be welcome. I tried it in a shopping center, but still haven't got the hang of it. If I start tracking, the intersecting track lines get to be a mess. Possible the best alternative up to now seems to be the No. 4 key window (forget what it's called).

Regards

I would be quite suprised if your GPS works accurately enough in a shopping centre to get you back to closer than 200m or so of your car(assuming the shopping centre carpark is not open-air). I find mine is very inaccurate inside, with large random 'spikes' appearing in the track as the GPS struggles to get an accurate fix.

Anyway, surely you don't need GPS to find your car in a shopping centre car-park...!!?? :o)

Regards,

Chris.