Thanks for letting us know, Ed. I have forwarded your comments to the Nearby Explorer Beta email list.
Mark -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Ed Worrell Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2016 11:44 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Results of Testing Nearby Explorer in a Vehicle, as Compared to Seeing Eye GPS Hey Mark, I can confirm that I have the same results in my testing of the apps side by side. The NerBy app has a definite issue with telling accurate distances. The Seeing Eye GPS is always on target. Thanks, Ed > On Aug 24, 2016, at 12:05 PM, Kramlinger, Keith G., M.D. > <kramlinger.ke...@mayo.edu> wrote: > > Hi Chip, > > Given the drag on battery when using GPS, how much do you think having maps > onboard, as compared to using GoogleMaps or AppleMaps, actually saves? > > Thanks, Keith > > -----Original Message----- > From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On > Behalf Of Chip Orange > Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2016 12:56 PM > To: viphone@googlegroups.com > Subject: RE: Results of Testing Nearby Explorer in a Vehicle, as > Compared to Seeing Eye GPS > > Thank you Mark for your analysis and testing results. > > I wanted to offer one correction however: GPS apps in no way have to take > into consideration their distance from the satellites. The underlying GPS > hardware obviously does, but it simply reports the lat and lon to the app, > which then does what it does, but has no interaction with distance from any > satellites (I have written a GPS app). It is also offered an opinion from > the GPS hardware as to the likelyhood of the reported position being in > error, and an estimate of how large the error might be, but no distance is > involved except that the app can then take the estimated error probability, > and report it to the user as an error distance (but this is something known > to be rather inaccurate). > > All GPS apps designed to be used while in motion need to take into > consideration the current speed and direction of the motion, along with their > own estimation of how long it will take them to calculate and report a map > position (as a car moving at speed can cover quite a distance since the last > reported position from the GPS hardware), and it sounds very much like Nearby > GPS is not doing this. Given that use of GPS hardware can drain the battery > significantly, most apps also don't constantly query the hardware as to the > current position, so more than ever the app needs to compensate for time > passed since the last report (along with direction and speed). > > I recall this was also a reported problem for Seeing Eye GPS many years ago > (long before it was available on smart phones), and so it looks like it's a > problem they've conquored, and so likely will be one APH can conquor. > > Thanks again for the very useful testing, > > Chip > > > -----Original Message----- > From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On > Behalf Of M. Taylor > Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 7:21 PM > To: viphone@googlegroups.com > 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 caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > --- > 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 viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > 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 caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > --- > 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 viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > 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 caraqu...@caraquinn.com > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ > --- > 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 viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. > 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. 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