RoadTrip v1.26 -------------- Author: Paul Bowlay E-Mail: otser@yahoo.com W.W.W.: http://go.to/otser Legal And Distribution Info --------------------------- Please refer to the document named "Legal.txt" in this archive. By using this program, you signify that you have read and agree to all the terms and regulations set out in that document. Introduction ------------ "RoadTrip" is a vehicle navigation system. Basically, this means you use it to guide your vehicle from Point A to B without getting lost. RoadTrip is special because you don't need a GPS unit to use it, and it works in every country in the world! To use it, just pre-programme your trip into it and then hop in your car and go -- RoadTrip will start guiding you with real human speech on where to drive, which roads to turn into, and so on. No more holding maps and trying to read them at red traffic lights... just sit back and listen to each driving instruction as though you had a real person reading them out next to you! :) Installation ------------ NOTE: If you are upgrading from a previous release of "RoadTrip" then it's best if you backup all your saved trips and then un-install the program from your Psion. This is because the installation procedure for this version is very different to previous versions. (1) Create a directory called "RoadTrip" inside the "App" directory of any disk of your Psion 3c. The program does not write to this disk when running, so you can safely install it to a Flash SSD if desired. Put the file called "Tutorial.trp" inside this folder, as well as any backup trip files that you've created from previous versions of the program. (2) Create a sub-directory inside the "RoadTrip" directory called "Appfiles". Put the file called "Backdrop.pic" inside this folder (or you can leave it out if desired, to save 19 K of space). (3) Now you have to decide if you want to install the speech files. They consume a whopping 224 K of your 3c's RAM, so you can safely omit them from the installation if desired. You can still use the program without them, but you'll have to look at your 3c's screen to navigate instead of listening. If you do want to use them, put them all inside the "Appfiles" directory (like you did with "Backdrop.pic"). (4) Put the "RoadTrip.opa" file inside the "App" directory of the disk you chose. (5) Install the program icon by pressing Psion-I at the System Screen. You'll notice that the program icon (a petrol pump) has a name of "Tutorial" under it, and not "RoadTrip" as you might expect. This is because RoadTrip now supports the Psion's feature of creating/deleting files for programs, and the "Tutorial" file is the only one created so far. (Actually, you may see a whole bunch of files under the icon if you installed previous trips from Step 1). Using The Program: An Interactive Tutorial ------------------------------------------ The program is very easy to use. It works on the basis that a trip is made up of "links". Links are small instructions (usually four words) that tell you how to drive next to get somewhere. An example link might be "drive left next lights". This means you would continue driving until the next set of traffic lights, and then turn left at them. An entire trip is made up of a series of links in sequence. To create a trip, you need to get the most recent and thorough street map you can find. In this tutorial, we're going to use the JPEG image found in this folder called "Map.jpg". Open it with any image viewer and refer to it while reading this tutorial. If you haven't already installed RoadTrip, it's best if you do so and follow the instructions as you go; however, this is not essential. Note also that the links we create in this tutorial already exist as a trip file in the "Trips" folder (called, naturally enough, "Tutorial.trp"). First, start RoadTrip. Or, if it's already running, press Psion-K to kill any existing links (if you've been playing around). We use the kill command whenever we want to plan a new trip from scratch. Next, press Psion-E to edit our links. You'll get a message saying that no links exist yet and would we like to start creating some. Of course we would, so press Y for Yes. What you see now is the "Link Composure Box". At the top is the text "Adding Link 1 of 1" -- which means we're creating our first link for the trip. In the box you'll see the word "Drive" and three options beneath it: "-None-", "-None-" and "bridge". Underneath those is the word "Custom" -- I'll explain that in a moment. Look at the map image now. We're going to assume that we're creating a trip from Canungra Place (ref C-15) to Warriewood Square Shopping Centre (ref K-12). Since we're leaving Canungra Place, you'll see that we need to turn left upon leaving that street, so our first link would be to turn left at the next t-junction (which will take us onto Koorangi Road). So how do we tell RoadTrip this? Well, at the first multiple-choice option (directly next to "Drive"), press the letter L and the word "left" will appear. Then, arrow down to the next option and press N; the word "next" appears. Arrow down once more and press T; the word "t-junction" appears. Now if you read the whole composure box, you'll see that it reads "Drive left next t-junction" -- which is precisely what we want. :) FOR THIS TUTORIAL, DO NOT PUT ANY TEXT IN THE "CUSTOM" LINE! Anything in the Custom line will override the above options, which is exactly what it's meant to do. You only enter text in the "Custom" line if you can't compose a link from the three option boxes. Also, any text in the "Custom" line does NOT get spoken during navigation, because there's no way the speech files can accommodate what you might type there. Okay, moving right along... Press Enter now to lock in our first link. The word "Added" will briefly flash at the lower-right of the screen to confirm that it's been added. Now the Link Composure Box says "Adding Link 2 of 2" at the top. Arrow up to the "Drive" line so we can start composing our next link. Looking at the map again, we see that after we've turned left at the first t-junction, we need to drive continuously until we get to Lumeah Avenue (ref D-16). At this point, we need to turn left again, so link 2 in this case is the same as link 1: "Drive left next t-junction". This is still in the Link Composure Box from before, so just press Enter to lock it in. Now we're ready to add link 3. What we're going to do now is drive continuously until we arrive at Powderworks Road (ref D-12). As long as we don't take any turn-offs and just drive by following the road, we can simply make the next link a very simple "Drive right next t-junction". Compose this link by changing the "left" line to "right" by pressing R on that line. Lock in the link by pressing Enter. The next link has us driving all the way down Powderworks Road until we reach the traffic lights at K-15 (the red dot). Compose this link by arrowing to the "Drive" line and pressing L, then arrowing down to the "t-junction" text and pressing L twice, for "lights" (it'll skip "lane" first). Lock this link with Enter -- we're almost done! :) Looking at the map, we see that we have to drive right at the next street, onto Jacksons Road. Compose this link by making it read "Drive right next street". (You should be able to figure out how at this stage by yourself, but if you're not sure: change the "left" line to "right" by pressing R on it, then change the "lights" line to "street" by pressing S twice on it [skipping "sign" in the process]). Lock in this link with Enter. We're almost at the shopping centre. To get into it, we have to turn left into the first driveway (ref K-13). Thus, make this final link read "Drive left into driveway". To do so, change the "right" line to "left" by pressing L, then next change the "next" line to "into" by pressing I, and lastly change the "street" line to "driveway" by pressing D. Lock the link in by pressing Enter. Our trip is now programmed, but the Link Composure Box is still up. Close it by pressing Esc. Let's look at our links now by going into the Link Edit Mode -- press Psion-E. It's sitting at link 6 because that's the last link we entered. If we want to add more, we can do so by pressing Space now. Try it -- hit Space and then Esc to cancel it. Now experiment with moving around the links by pressing the arrow keys. The Home and End keys work too, ie. Psion + Left Arrow will go to the first link, and Psion + Right Arrow goes to the last link. If you use the PgUp and PgDn keys (ie. Psion + Up Arrow, etc) you will move around by 5 links at a time. The two other keys in the Link Edit Mode are obvious: Delete and Edit. They let you delete or edit the current link shown. If you need to insert a link, go to the link BEFORE the insertion point and press Space to add it. For example, to insert a new link 3, go to link 2 and press Space. This insertion will continue until you press Esc to stop adding links, just like when we started creating our trip. Press Esc to exit the Link Edit Mode. There are two other options for moving around links: Finding (Psion-F) and Going (Psion-G). "Goto" is very straightforward so I won't explain it. When you want to find a link, you press Psion-F and type in some text that matches the link. You can also specify which link to start the search from (enter "1" to search all links, obviously). You've now completed basic training for creating a trip with RoadTrip. Now all you have to read about is the actual navigation controls and the ETA Calculator. Using RoadTrip To Navigate You ------------------------------ When you've created a trip or loaded one from disk, you are ready to start navigation. Press Psion-N and you are presented with an options box. First, you specify the starting link for the navigation. This is handy in case you need to resume and interrupted journey. Next, you must say whether you want to hear speech and beeps to accompany the navigation. (NOTE: If you didn't install the speech files, you won't get an option to hear speech). When you've chosen your options the navigation will start. The screen will clear and show the first link in a large font. This makes it easy to read while you're driving, if need be. The current link number is shown at the top of the screen in a smaller font size. At the bottom of the screen are the control keys that you use. Press Esc to abort the navigation. If you have speech enabled, press Space to have the link spoken to you again (and you can press Space during speech to mute it). When you've driven according to the link's instruction, press Enter to bring up the next one. Again, if speech is enabled you'll hear the instruction spoken to you. Also, if beeps are enabled you'll hear a tone that confirms your move to the next link. This aids greatly when driving because you'll know that the next link is shown and you're not on the same one (which can confuse you if two or more links happen to have the same text). If you move forward a link by mistake, you can press Delete to go back one link. Again, another tone (in a different pitch) is heard to confirm the move back. That's all there is to it! Just continue driving and pressing Enter after each link is done, and you'll be at your destination without getting lost! :) Using The ETA Calculator ------------------------ The ETA Calculator is used to inform you of the Estimated Time of Arrival to your destination. Please note that the calculator is for rough estimates ONLY and does not account for any stopping during a journey -- it does it calculations based on a constant driving speed. Press Psion-C to open the ETA Calculator and tell it three items of information: The total trip distance (in kilometres or miles, it doesn't matter for such calculations), the distance elapsed so far, and your average vehicle speed (in km/h or mp/h, it doesn't matter). Press Enter when all three items are specified and you'll see a new box. The first line shows the current time and date, and the second line shows the ETA time and date. Again, the ETA result is based on never stopping while driving and always driving at a constant speed, so be aware of this and do NOT base any schedules or meetings on the results shown! In practice the ETA Calculator is best used on long highway journeys, rather than inner-city or other start-stop trips. Notes About Links ----------------- The way you compose your links is entirely up to you. Just make sure that they make sense when read as normal English. There are many variations on how to describe road conditions, so use what makes the most sense to you. For example, "Drive left next street" and "Drive left next t-junction" might both be fine to describe the road ahead, so use whichever makes it easier on your driving skills. The number links (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc) were put there to describe which road lane to drive in. For example, imagine you entered onto a busy highway with four lanes and had to exit left a little futher along it. Your links in such a scenario could be "Drive onto highway" followed immediately by "Drive 1st lane" and "Drive onto exit". Final Words ----------- You now know how to fully use RoadTrip for vehicle navigation. When used with a good map it can be an indispensible tool, saving you the need to have someone with you to navigate, or to save you juggling with a street map at every traffic light. :) RoadTrip really shines when it comes to night navigation -- it beats a torch and map hands down! I truly hope you enjoy it! Creating/Deleting/Navigating From The System Screen --------------------------------------------------- This release of RoadTrip now supports the Psion's feature of creating and deleting files from the System Screen. Thus, to create a new trip file you can just press Psion-N at the System Screen. To navigate a previously saved file, just select its name and press Enter. To delete a trip, select its name and press Psion-D. Acknowledgment -------------- Many thanks to Dirk Straka for telling me about a bug when using Flash SSD's with RoadTrip. Without Dirk's help, you wouldn't be using RoadTrip on your SSD! :) ======================================================================