Roadnav Plots Position Correctly then Picks Wrong Road
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#53 Roadnav Plots Position Correctly then Picks Wrong Road
Roadnav is getting positional data from my Magellan eXplorist 210 via gpsd. Roadnav will then plot my position correctly on the moving map. However, Roadnav will proceed to decide I'm on a different road than I actually am and will recalculate the route to get be back onto the road it wants me on (which is the road I'm physically on). This cycle repeats every 10-30 seconds, rendering Roadnav useless for navigation.
Steps to repeat:
1) Connect GPS unit to computer and power on
2) Wait for GPS unit to calculate a fix
3) Launch Roadnav
4) Ask Roadnav to calculate a route from the current GPS position to a street addres
5) After Roadnav returns a route, start moving on the road Roadnav wanted me on
6) Drive along current leg of route
7) Roadnav will plot the GPS position icon directly on the road it has asked me to travel and update the position as I move
8) Roadnav will then randomly decide I'm on a road near the one I'm actually on
9) The GPS position is still drawn ON THE CORRECT ROAD
10) Roadnav will announce that it is recalculating and then read the new directions (which would return me to the road I'm already on)
11) This cycle repeats every 10-30 seconds
Configuration Data:
Roadnav v. 0.17
gpsdX v.1.5 (gpsd -V returns "gpsd 2.33 - EMUL enabled")
MacOS 10.4.9
Apple MacBook Pro 15" (Rev. 1.0)
Magellan eXplorist 210 (Firmware 3.2.53)
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I upped the priority because this keeps me from being able to use Roadnav. Sorry for the extra commit, I should have done this in the initial filing.
Ty
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I couldn't reproduce the problem here.
Does this happen if you don't ask Roadnav to calculate a route?
Also, if you could reproduce the problem with the debug log enabled, then send me the log, that would help diagnose the problem. You'll need to download one of the experimental builds from the download page, then activate debugging in the General tab of Preferences. Roadnav will then generate a file called roadnav-debug.log that will contain debugging info. If you could then reproduce the problem and send me the log, along with a brief description of what roads were displayed and what roads you expected to be display, that would help.
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I clicked on the downloads tab at the top of this page. I didn't see anything other than full release versions of Roadnav. Please provide me with a link to the experimental version you'd like me to use and I'll get the log for you.
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http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/downloads.php
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Today, I took a short drive with Routenav active to see if it would reproduce the problem in a location other than the one the bug was initially triggered by. In today's testing, the bug only occurred once. Because I was driving, I could not see where it had placed me, but it said "Recalculating" MANY times before telling me how to get back to the road I was actually on. I'm not sure if this is the same problem or not, but Roadnav was constantly telling me to "Go straight onto" or "Go slightly left|right onto" the road I was already on where there was nothing on either side of me but a river and some houses.
The debug.log attached to this is from today's test. Sourceforge is not allowing me to upload the file. I have put it on my website at http://siriusphoto.com/forum_posts/roadnav-debug.log I will try to get someone to drive me the nearly 1 (each way) out to the place where I had the severe problem earlier this week. I should have that for you within the week.
I am very angry at you for not warning me that testing the .18 alpha would result in the loss of all my maps. Destruction of user data is a cardinal sin in design. This was a unacceptable oversight on your part. Because of this, I wasted a significant amount of time and gas trying to get you data showing the problem only to discover that because you hadn't mentioned I needed to download new maps before I left home, I had driven almost 2 hours out of my way for nothing.
Example of typical error
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This is a screenshot of the kind of problem I'm experiencing. This was before I downloaded the development version, so I can't provide a debug log for it. As you can see, I am sitting in a parking lot to the south of a main E-W road. I asked Roadnav to plot a course from my GPS position to an address. Roadnav determined that I was on the opposite side of the E-W road and gave me incorrect directions (it says turn right, which is the opposite of what it needs me to do). This is the kind of thing I experience while driving. My location will be plotted correctly, but it will conclude that I am on a road far from my current position. It will often place me on road .25 to .5 miles from my actual (and plotted) position.
File Added: position_error.png
Screenshot showing weird error
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This is an example of what happens while driving. I was traveling along Home Road towards the East. The my destination address was 5144 Home Rd. The location I am plotted at is in the driveway of 5144 Home Rd. When I turned onto Home Road, approximately .6 miles west of this screenshot, Roadnav immediately said "At Destination". As I crossed Scioto Pkwy, Roadnav announced that it was recalculating, decided I was on Deer Valley Crossing, and tried to give me directions back to Home Rd and far, FAR west of where 5144 Home Rd actually is.
This event would have been in the debug log mentioned in an earlier comment.
File Added: destination_error.png
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Should be resolved in development build.
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I have the build from 4/14 in which it's not fixed, so I'll grab the build from 4/22 and go test it today.
Screenshot showing road name error
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The error has been reduced, but not eliminated in the 04/22/07 build. In previous builds, Roadnav would often pick roads no where near the actual road being traveled. Now, Roadnav generally only becomes confused by crossroads or on/off ramps. When driving along a major road, US33 in this case, Roadnav's representation of the road seems to be a 1-dimensional line straight down the median. Since US33 is 4 lanes with a huge median, if you're diving in the right hand lane, your plotted position is visibly to the side of the line of the road. When you come to an overpass, your position will momentarily be directly on top of the cross road. Roadnav will then change the road it's claiming to be on to the crossroad. A moment later, it'll decide you're actually on the road you're traveling. If this only lasts 1 position update, Roadnav will continue on as though nothing happened. If the error lasts for more than one update, Roadnav will recalculate, spit out some directions, interrupt itself, recalculate, then tell you to go straight on the road you're already on.
Roadnav also seems to become confused by on/off ramps. Taking the above example of US33, since being in the righthand land puts you a slight bit away from the representation of the road, it ends up plotting you part way between the offramp and the main road. As the ramp converges down towards the main road, at some point, you'll become closer to the onramp than the main road. Roadnav will then place you on the onramp, recalculate, and tell you to go straight or slightly right onto the main road. Every time you pass through an interchange!
I have not looked at your code. However, it seems to me like Roadnav is picking the road closest to your plotted position and deciding you're on that road. The crossroad error, and possibly the on/off ramp error, could be eliminated by not only looking for the closest road, but comparing the heading from the GPS data to the course of the road. That would eliminate the crossroad error because you'd be traveling at 90deg to the cross road.
The file http://siriusphoto.com/forum_posts/marysville-dublin-roadnav-debug.log contains the debug log from this trip.
The file attached to this (crossroad_error-1.png) shows what the display looks like as you cross a crossroad.
File Added: crossroad_error-1.png
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On the way to the testing area, Roadnav also made two HUGE errors in road determination. Both roads were several miles from my actual location. The debug log for this can be found at http://siriusphoto.com/forum_posts/blarney-roadnav-debug.log
A screenshot from this period is attached as road_name_error-1.png
File Added: road_name_error-1.png
Roadnav making crazy road choice
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Perhaps 30 seconds after the last error I showed, it changed which road it thought I was on, but still picked the wrong one. Same debug log as last time, just uppping a screenshot of the error.
File Added: road_name_error-2.png
Another road decision error