I got this answer from Maporama. I had not read it till now, as I assumed
that it would only be a further expression of intransigence. Now they seem
to be willing to change their site. I will check from time to time,
Han
Van: Julien TESSIER
Verzonden: maandag, 20010806 10:23
Aan: Han Maenen
Onderwerp: RE: site tested for defaults
Dear user,
I understand your comments and opinion. I am sorry for the inconvenience you
tell me about. I am surprised you get informations in the anglo-saxon
system, even after the "cleanup" of your computer. Metric system should be
the unit default. However, you can understand we have some troubles to
manage our 26 languages and two measure unit systems. I only want to ensure
you that our purpose is not to impose an "anglosaxon" system. I am sure you
can recognise that not many websites offer a multilingual service. In
another hand, I understand very well your reaction.
I will quote your comments in my weekly report to my direction, and I hope
this problem will be resolved as soon as possible. Thanks for your
understanding and your patience.
Best regards, No�l Lebeaupin, webmaster.
This was my message to them:
Dear Sir,
I tested the website again. Before doing so I erased all Maporama data from
my Cookies and Temporary Internet files, in order to get a clean reloading
of Maporama. I also checked the Windows-defaults on my computer. It is set
to 24 hour time, date format YYYYMMDD and the metric system. I came up with
totally different results than you did.
I loaded the site; from the homepage I went straight to the Dutch language
pages; then I loaded Den Helder-Maastricht. Afterwards I tested all other
languages (except English) with the route Paris-Bordeaux. The defaults IN
ALL LANGUAGES are in yards and miles and I also tried some languages on a
number of public computers, always with the same results. I repeat that
these defaults fall foul with me and my only option is to unsubscribe.
No non-English speaking person should have to 'personalize' the measuring
units in his or her own language and I won't do it. Evidently for you
'international' = 'Anglo-Saxon'.
A number of languages, like Russian and Hindi, came up with English language
itineraries, of course in 'international' yards and miles. The maps were of
course provided with a scale in 'international' miles. And many of these
scales are incorrect in any measure. Just compare the scales on the maps of
France and the Netherlands in miles, (the overall default) and kilometers.
If you had just changed the maps and itineraries of the USA and the United
Kingdom to non-metric and metric you would done enough.
There is no valid reason for including Imperial and US Customary trash in
the other languages. Outside Britain and the USA nobody has any use for it.
No-one who travels in metric countries will see information in this garbage
on road signs, meaning that it is impossible to relate to yards and miles
there. Most of those you kowtow to will probably never travel to metric
countries. They simply want to us to abandon the metric system and for this
reason they search the Net for metric websites in order to corrupt them.
Strange, you won't 'impose metric on them', but you meekly allow them to
impose Imperial/US Customary units on you and with your assistance on other
Europeans!
BTW, there is no such thing as a British system of units. It is not a system
at all, it is just a pile of medieval units, connected to each other by the
most crazy relationships.
Plaats van vertrek
DEN HELDER (17)
Plaats van aankomst
MAASTRICHT (62)
Reisinformatieblad
Then came all the nonmetric trash once again between Den Helder and
Maastricht BY DEFAULT.
eenvoudige of gedetailleerde versie gedetailleerde versie
Km o Mijlen Km en Mijlen
Transportmiddel: Met de auto De snelste route
Totale afstand: 185 miles
Duur van het traject: 03 h 00
Gemiddelde snelheid: 61 miles/h
DEN HELDER (17) MAASTRICHT (62)
Het weer:
14�C/24�C, Zon Het weer:
17�C/26�C, Zon
Plaatselijke tijd: dinsdag 31 juli 2001 19:12 GMT+01:00
yard and mile garbage snipped
And here as another example, is the entire Finnish (Suomi) language
itinerary from Paris to Bordeaux BY DEFAULT.
Kulkuohje
tiivis tai yksityiskohtainen ml. risteykset
Km o Mailit Km ja mailit
Kulkuv�line: Auto Nopein
Kokonaiset�isyys: 361 miles
Matkan kesto: 05 h 31
Keskinopeus: 65 miles/h
PARIS (75) BORDEAUX (33)
S��tiedot:
17�C/22�C, Pilvist� S��tiedot:
18�C/22�C, Pilvist�
Paikallinen aika: 4. elokuuta 2001 8:03 GMT+01:00
Matkan vaiheet
1 L�ht�paikkasi Paris
2 Mene Quai Du March� Neuf ( 202 yards ) 202 yards 00h00
3 K��nny oikealle, Mene Rue Du PetitPont ( 173 yards ) 376 yards 00h00
4 Mene Rue SaintJacques ( 1012 yards ) 1388 yards 00h01
5 K��nny vasemmalle, Mene Rue GayLussac ( 390 yards ) 1 mile 00h02
6 K��nny vasemmalle, Mene Rue Claude Bernard ( 227 yards ) 1 mile 00h02
7 K��nny oikealle, Mene Rue Berthollet ( 323 yards ) 1 mile 00h03
8 Mene Rue De La Glaci�re ( 989 yards ) 1 mile 00h04
9 Mene Passage Victor Marchand ( 226 yards ) 2 miles 00h04
10 K��nny vasemmalle, Mene Rue De La Sant� ( 294 yards ) 2 miles 00h05
11 Mene Avenue Reille ( 262 yards ) 2 miles 00h05
12 K��nny vasemmalle, Mene Rue Gazan ( 426 yards ) 2 miles 00h06
13 Mene Rue De La Cit� Universitaire ( 190 yards ) 2 miles 00h06
14 K��nny vasemmalle, Mene Boulevard Jourdan ( 216 yards ) 2 miles
00h06
15 K��nny oikealle, Mene Avenue Pierre De Coubertin ( 253 yards ) 2
miles 00h07
16 K��nny oikealle, Mene Porte De Gentilly ( 288 yards ) 3 miles 00h07
17 Mene A6E05E15,autoroute Du Soleil ( 5 miles ) Suunta LYON WISSOUS in
8 miles 00h13
18 Mene A10E5,l'Aquitaine ( 200 miles ) Suunta
MASSY/LONGJUMEAU/ANTONYZ.A. 209 miles 03h12
19 Mene E05A630 ( 148 miles ) Suunta ANGOUL�ME/VIVONNE/LUSIGNAN 357
miles 05h22
20 Mene N210 ( 1 mile ) Suunta PARIS/LIBOURNE/LORMONT/BASSENS BORDEAUX
in 359 miles 05h25
21 Mene Rue Lucien Faure ( 388 yards ) Suunta CENTRES
HOSPITALIERS/BOULEVARDS/ CIT� ADMINISTRATIVE/STADE MUNICIPAL 359 miles
05h25
22 K��nny oikealle, Mene Cours Louis Fargue ( 547 yards ) 359 miles
05h26
23 Mene Cours SaintLouis ( 1139 yards ) 360 miles 05h28
24 Mene Cours Portal ( 368 yards ) 360 miles 05h28
25 Mene Cours De Verdun ( 894 yards ) 361 miles 05h29
26 Mene Cours Georges Clemenceau ( 503 yards ) 361 miles 05h30
27 K��nny vasemmalle, Mene Rue VitalCarles ( 522 yards ) 361 miles
05h31
28 K��nny oikealle, Mene Rue Des Trois Conils ( 68 yards ) 361 miles
05h31
29 Mene Rue De L'H�tel De Ville ( 77 yards ) 361 miles 05h31
30 Mene Rue Des Fr�res Bonie ( 271 yards ) 361 miles 05h31
31 Tulopaikkasi Bordeaux
I am unsubscribing now. You should ask the EU to provide for those poor
Anglo-Saxons on its entire territory large road and speed limit signs in
American units and small metric ones for the natives. 30 mph in built up
areas, in small print 48 km/h; 70 mph on motorways, 112 km/h in small print,
etc. The same defaults on our roads as on the Maporama site!
Yours sincerely,
H. Maenen [EMAIL PROTECTED]
