Sun Feb 21 09:12:28 PST 1999

I have a GPS III Plus now.  Here are my wishes/bugs/questions.
No particular order.

Incorporate by reference the GPS III Pilot wishlist, except for features
unique to the Pilot.

DIFFERENCES

12) Searchable City database.  It's in there, but cannot be searched.
    It's quite searchable in the Plus, but this brings up another item.
    Having found the city, one can Show Map, which brings up a City Map.
    This map has no pointer, which means it cannot be panned, and you
    cannot point at nearby items of interest (waypoints, airports, navaids,
    exits).  To do this, you make a waypoint of the city, find it in the
    waypoint list, and show map there.  Why so hard?

1)  Pan around Alaska at the 200mi scale.  The aspect ratio changes
    between the upper and lower borders of the area.  This change happens
    as the unit moves between adjacent maps, and the more northerly maps
    have a different horizontal scale but the display doesn't accomodate.
    Same thing around Greenland.  I think I'll call this the Greenland
    effect.

    All G3s do this.  I wonder if other mappers do.

2)  In the Nearest User Waypoints list, some six-character waypoints are
    spelled with the widest letters in the font, leaving only room to
    display five characters.  REPORTED.  Fixed in G3+.  Not in 2.05 Pilot.
    Garmin says 2.06?

QUESTIONS

1)  See above regarding the City Map.

2)  Cannot upload MapSource maps using Virtual PC on PowerBook G3.
    Cause unclear.  A simple (3-wire) serial cable did not solve
    all the problems.

    Eventually got it to work.  It's just finnicky.  57600 worked once.
    Auto speed selection doesn't work.  Fixed speed mail fail once or
    twice before it works.

3)  The Nearest Exits feature.  First of all, it only works when you're
    on (and how that's defined is unknown) an Interstate.  Secondly, it
    produces the list of nearest exits in ascending numerical order,
    even if that order is in the direction opposite that which you're
    going!  Not very useful, that.

WISHES

1)  Search for street or intersection, by county (or MapSource segment).
    Street Addresses and routing are the domain of the StreetPilot.

2)  Other nearest things, such as MapSource items, like Points of Interest,
    Navaids, etc.

OBSERVATIONS

1)  The moving map and the Big Numbers seem to update at two hertz, using
    dead reckoning for the second fix, rather than just displaying the
    one fix/second the unit is rated at.  Actually, the map updates as fast
    as it can, evidenced by getting the pointer displayed (to make the map
    stay put) and watching the position smoothly glide off-screen.

2)  Why does simulator mode complain about No RTCM Input when it doesn't
    use the data if you give it some?  DOP is always, always 2.0 in
    simulator mode, even when you can prove it otherwise geometrically.

3)  This evening (4/5/99) I saw the map get confused.  I ultimately
    determined that the map did not agree with the rest of the unit
    regarding orientation (portrait/landscape).