Hi Mark. Those are some very interesting observations and so completely different from what I heard on Mike's demo. I'd be really interested in knowing why the difference is so huge. I haven't purchased the app but if I had and experienced such terrible accuracy, I'd be asking for a refund. Hopefully, your notes will help them in finding the issues shown in your situation. Thanks for sharing the notes.
Best regards, Rick Alfaro -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of M. Taylor Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 7:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Results of Testing Nearby Explorer in a Vehicle, as Compared to Seeing Eye GPS Hello All, I sent the following to A.P.H. in response to a test request: Mark Post: Hello Rob, et al, Okay, I ran a couple of tests with Nearby Explorer, in a vehicle: Note 1: I have enough vision to be able to see the physical intersections as I approach them, in a vehicle, and as they pass. Note 2: The average speed of the car I was riding in did not exceed 50 miles per hour and averaged between 35 to 45 miles per hour. Note 3: I ran test with (1) only the approach set to be automatically announced and (2) only the street name set to be automatically announced. In either case, the results were the same. Note 4: There was absolutely no cloud cover in my location today. It was a beautifully sunny day. Also, as I live near the beach, there are/were no structures blocking my view of the sky. Note 5: While I ran Nearby Explorer on my 128GB iPhone 6 Plus, I simultaneously ran Seeing Eye GPS XT on my 64GB iPhone 5 S, for real-time comparison. Note 6: I ran both apps with the screen turned off. Note 7: Seeing Eye consistently reported greater GPS accuracy than did Nearby Explorer. Note 8: Please be aware that I am only concerned with and, therefore tested for intersection announcements while free walking. This is to say, rarely, if ever, do I use any GPS routing so cannot comment as to the accuracy of that feature. To me, the most valuable aspect of a GPS solution is the ability to simply launch the app and have cross-street/intersections automatically be announced. Note 9: Okay, having said all of this, even on an older device, Seeing Eye GPS was remarkably more accurate than Nearby Explorer in the area of free-walking, auto-intersection announcements. Comments: Now that I've got all of that out of the way, I can tell you that Nearby Explorer appears to be off by as little as 50 yards to as much as 200 yards at virtually every intersection. This is to say, as we approached the cross-walk, slowing down in the approach for a red light, Seeing Eye would perfectly announce the intersection. Nearby Explorer, however, if it announced the cross street at all, would consistently report it as being as little as 50 yards ahead; more often than not, however, it would report the intersection as being 250 or so yards ahead. I was really surprised to see intersections being announced only after we had passed through them by as little as 100 feet or more. At speed, Nearby Explorer consistently failed to announce intersections, altogether. It almost seemed as though the app was/is not properly calibrated for being used at sea level. This is the only thing I can fathom as to why its performance was so poor. I'm not certain about the algorithm but I do know that GPS apps must take into account their distance from the satellite in order to compensate for the time delay, and subsequent calculations. It may also be a problem that its radius is simply set too far ahead. Seeing Eye and, if memory serves, Mobile Geo would allow for distances as close as 15 feet and approach auto-announcements as close as 50 feet. I really do find that the extreme distances that Nearby Explorer offer are of virtually no used to me as either a pedestrian or rider. To say that something is 300 yards ahead, has no real meaning to me but to say that something is 20 feet ahead is something I can definitely relate to. Thank you for considering my comments. Mark -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
