MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever
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Hi Marinus,
I've been trying to give the MyRoute app a chance for over six months because I'd really like to use it. I'm not talking about the route planner, that works perfectly. And of course I've also studied the various tips and manuals. However, I have not found anywhere that you should not start your route directly at the starting point, but somewhere at a fictitious point nearby; what to do if the sound or the entire navigation is cancelled without a message, the app suddenly starts drawing straight lines like fireworks across the display or stops working completely. I think a sat nav app should be easy to operate and use while driving. I don't see where a lack of understanding or incorrect operation could be responsible for the all-round negative impression. I already understand the operation and functionality. I also don't want to rule out the possibility that the interaction with Android Auto may be a major source of errors, but you should be able to assume that a commercial application will work perfectly within its intended area of use.@Thomas-Piechocki, the problem with the starting point at your doorstep, is that you already passed it when starting the route on your driveway. putting it like 25mtrs into the direction of your route is usually more than enough to prevent this. However I made it a habit to put the starting point somewhere outside my village or city. The app leads you there from your doorstep anyway. You call that fictitious, but most waypoints are fictitious, aren't they? I have never seen the app drawing straight lines between waypoints. I would really like to see a screenshot of that.
I think a sat nav app should be easy to operate and use while driving.
I think the MRA app is.
you should be able to assume that a commercial application will work perfectly
Even my expensive Garmins did not work perfectly.
I don't see where a lack of understanding or incorrect operation could be responsible for the all-round negative impression.
I do. Your remark of putting a starting point on your driveway is proof of that. Had you been on the forum with questions in your first month, it would probably have saved you 5 months of anger and disappointment
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I have to say I agree with Thomas. I love MRA route planner, it's the most powerful I have ever tried and works quite well, but I tried the navigation app once and I think I'll never use it again.
You can say that to solve the first waypoint problem you can just move it to another place, but that's the problem! You always have to remember this or that workaround. You even have to tell the app that if you are calculating a route while you have no internet connection then yes, you want to calculate the route with no internet connection. It seems this app always require a lot of extra manual work just to do what other apps do by themselves.
It doesn't matter that there are videos or tutorials explaining how the app work, because the problem is that you need all these videos and tutorials while other apps just work. -
I have to say I agree with Thomas. I love MRA route planner, it's the most powerful I have ever tried and works quite well, but I tried the navigation app once and I think I'll never use it again.
You can say that to solve the first waypoint problem you can just move it to another place, but that's the problem! You always have to remember this or that workaround. You even have to tell the app that if you are calculating a route while you have no internet connection then yes, you want to calculate the route with no internet connection. It seems this app always require a lot of extra manual work just to do what other apps do by themselves.
It doesn't matter that there are videos or tutorials explaining how the app work, because the problem is that you need all these videos and tutorials while other apps just work.@cvlmtg I've been doing a lot of testing over that past year with Myroute app for Android and Android Auto with a view to replacing my Garmin devices. The latest iteration of the navigation app is much better than earlier iterations. The app works best on the Phone as you remove the issues with AA on the vehicle and connection issues. (the AA on my Africa twin is wired.) For Garmin navigation devices on a planned route its always better to have your starting point some way on the direction of travel so that the Nav system has to pass through it. I also use OSMand and this app is the same as Garmin and MRA in this respect. All three will obviously work well from where you are for a point to point route. There is still a bit of work to do but I'd have no hesitation using MRA on a tour now. The route planning app is great for bespoke routes while on tour. I used it extensively last summer to plan daily routes on tour and send them to my Garmin XT via drive. Much easier than carrying a device capable of running Basecamp.! Testing looks a bit silly though.
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@cvlmtg I've been doing a lot of testing over that past year with Myroute app for Android and Android Auto with a view to replacing my Garmin devices. The latest iteration of the navigation app is much better than earlier iterations. The app works best on the Phone as you remove the issues with AA on the vehicle and connection issues. (the AA on my Africa twin is wired.) For Garmin navigation devices on a planned route its always better to have your starting point some way on the direction of travel so that the Nav system has to pass through it. I also use OSMand and this app is the same as Garmin and MRA in this respect. All three will obviously work well from where you are for a point to point route. There is still a bit of work to do but I'd have no hesitation using MRA on a tour now. The route planning app is great for bespoke routes while on tour. I used it extensively last summer to plan daily routes on tour and send them to my Garmin XT via drive. Much easier than carrying a device capable of running Basecamp.! Testing looks a bit silly though.
@Mzokk I've been using mapy.cz for the past few years and despite it's few flaws (because nobody is perfect obviously) it gets the basics right in my opinion. Even if the starting point is some meters behind me, I can start my trip with no worries, even if I didn't cross the first waypoint. I don't need to switch a button off to calculate a route while offline, nor to switch it back on to update my maps when I have wifi. I'm using it on a cheap rugged android phone and it works smoothly. I can even navigate 5 or 6 hours straight just on the phone battery.
The only reason I'm still here is because, as I said, the route planner is great, but I currently prefer to spend some extra time to redo the route on mapy and navigate with their app
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Please do not concentrate on the problem with the first waypoint. I have solved this for myself by simply skipping it immediately after the start. This is just as less optimal as placing it nearby, but I could live with it. What I can't live with is the fact that I started 11 journeys with MRA and couldn't finish one (!) without errors. The problem/crash/mute could not even be solved quickly in a car park by restarting. Most of the time I had to switch to Google Maps or Ami Go, which have never had a total failure or such a massive restriction in operation as MRA. And yes, if you're travelling at 270 km/h on the motorway and suddenly the voice prompts disappear and you're speeding past the exit because you're looking more at the road than at the display, that's a problem for me. Just yesterday I started again with MRA, and right from the start there was no sound. As a test, all the other sat navs had sound. I still drove on without sound because my passenger kept an eye on the display. Then, two hours and three waypoints later, the voice message suddenly came back. And regarding incorrect operation: I am already able to check whether it is activated or deactivated in the settings. So far, MRA hasn't lasted longer than five or six hours without becoming inoperable or causing massive errors.
And it's nice that many people are satisfied with MRA, unfortunately I'm not. -
I have to say I agree with Thomas. I love MRA route planner, it's the most powerful I have ever tried and works quite well, but I tried the navigation app once and I think I'll never use it again.
You can say that to solve the first waypoint problem you can just move it to another place, but that's the problem! You always have to remember this or that workaround. You even have to tell the app that if you are calculating a route while you have no internet connection then yes, you want to calculate the route with no internet connection. It seems this app always require a lot of extra manual work just to do what other apps do by themselves.
It doesn't matter that there are videos or tutorials explaining how the app work, because the problem is that you need all these videos and tutorials while other apps just work.@cvlmtg its not that strange at all. If you start walking you take the first step. If you don't you fall flat in your face. Keep it simple. It's not a work around just common practice
Honda Goldwing GL1500,
Honda Silverwing GL 650
DMD2 T865X 8 inch Android tablet using MRA next for navigation
Garmin XT (almost in the cupboard)
Samsung S20FE mounted on a Quadlock and using Android Auto in my car -
In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.
In my experience, it works very well if you build your routes 'correctly', but I didn't get to that stage without some learning pain on the way.
I wholeheartedly agree with @cvlmtg on the video/help/manual point though, a new user should be able to do basic routes without getting 'caught out'. If nothing else it can lose a potential customer very early in the learning process.
I'm sure Thomas could get it working nicely, but he'll have to spend time refining what steps he takes, and read around the subject. That's not ideal for a lot of users. Techies like me enjoy fiddling and investigating, but a normal(!) route maker just wants to get on with it.
Right now, I think that MRA are still in the refinement stage (battery issues, features etc), and in the next year or so, there needs to be a greater emphasis on usability for new users. That might even mean removing features and options, so we're left with the sensible defaults.
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@cvlmtg its not that strange at all. If you start walking you take the first step. If you don't you fall flat in your face. Keep it simple. It's not a work around just common practice
@Marinus-van-Deudekom said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
@cvlmtg its not that strange at all. If you start walking you take the first step. If you don't you fall flat in your face. Keep it simple. It's not a work around just common practice
I don't think I understood what you were saying, but as for the workarounds... if 99% of navigation apps work even if your starting point is 10 meters behind you and 1 app doesn't, moving the starting point somewhere else to help this app is not common practice, it's a workaround
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In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.
In my experience, it works very well if you build your routes 'correctly', but I didn't get to that stage without some learning pain on the way.
I wholeheartedly agree with @cvlmtg on the video/help/manual point though, a new user should be able to do basic routes without getting 'caught out'. If nothing else it can lose a potential customer very early in the learning process.
I'm sure Thomas could get it working nicely, but he'll have to spend time refining what steps he takes, and read around the subject. That's not ideal for a lot of users. Techies like me enjoy fiddling and investigating, but a normal(!) route maker just wants to get on with it.
Right now, I think that MRA are still in the refinement stage (battery issues, features etc), and in the next year or so, there needs to be a greater emphasis on usability for new users. That might even mean removing features and options, so we're left with the sensible defaults.
@richtea999 said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.
True, and being a developer myself (though in a different field) I know the struggles of such a small team as MRA to build a complex product as a navigation app. But changing the core of such a program is not easy, and won't be any easier if you just add more and more features in a hurry without a proper design. I'm being a bit harsh now lacking some english skills to express myself properly, but that's my impression about the app now.
If you e.g. have issues with online / offline operations, you should fix them properly, not just add a switch that the user should decide if and when activate. I've never seen any other app that needs a switch to calculate a route offline, and have never seen any other app asking me to confirm that I want to calculate a route offline when I'm trying to calculate a route offline...
I'm not saying the navigation app is not capable, just that it's too much effort to make it do even the basic things. Computers were invented to make life easier, this app is making it more complicated, because every decision is left to the user through some switch and every task requires a lot of extra manual work.
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In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.
In my experience, it works very well if you build your routes 'correctly', but I didn't get to that stage without some learning pain on the way.
I wholeheartedly agree with @cvlmtg on the video/help/manual point though, a new user should be able to do basic routes without getting 'caught out'. If nothing else it can lose a potential customer very early in the learning process.
I'm sure Thomas could get it working nicely, but he'll have to spend time refining what steps he takes, and read around the subject. That's not ideal for a lot of users. Techies like me enjoy fiddling and investigating, but a normal(!) route maker just wants to get on with it.
Right now, I think that MRA are still in the refinement stage (battery issues, features etc), and in the next year or so, there needs to be a greater emphasis on usability for new users. That might even mean removing features and options, so we're left with the sensible defaults.
I'm sorry that I have to totally disagree. I just can't get MRA to work sensibly by just making an effort or investing some time. I spent hours on it and worked through all the manuals several times. I don't want to watch long-winded videos where I have to scroll back and forth all the time, sorry I'm just not a YT guy. But MyRoute offers a whole range of written information on their website, all of which I have worked through. I have no difficulty in recording the problems of creating routes and transferring them as a route or track. This is exclusively about the MyRoute app, which in combination with AA is not able to complete a longer trip without failure! This can hardly be due to an incomprehensible operation. I don't change any setting, and yet the voice prompt is gone, the synchronization breaks down permanently or refuses to be used.
The problems are so comprehensive and complex that probably no one can help me who has not experienced it themselves and on top of that has insights into the development. When I buy and pay for an application, I expect not to have to serve as a guinea pig. If you're not ready, you can't advertise your product so full-bodied and optimistic. I am not interested in the fact that Garmin also has problems. No other mobile navigation app I use causes such a mass of errors as MyRoute app, of a fundamental nature. I'm not even going into complicated operation or accuracy of navigation here, it's about basic functioning! -
@cvlmtg said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
You can say that to solve the first waypoint problem you can just move it to another place, but that's the problem! You always have to remember this or that workaround.
No you don't
. Despite the fact that placing a waypoint on the location you will be taking off from has no value (since you don't need navigation to it if you are already there...), there is a function in the app that is called "start from nearest waypoint". This "nearest waypoint" is the nearest one ahead in your route. So if you already passed your home location, it will start from WP2, even if that one is further away. Problem solved I am not sure however, if this function is already working like that in the public release, but if not, it will come out of beta soon. -
@richtea999 said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
In gentle defence of MRA, the app has been around for a whole 1.5 years. Garmin was founded in 1989, that's 35 years ago. It takes time to refine a product.
True, and being a developer myself (though in a different field) I know the struggles of such a small team as MRA to build a complex product as a navigation app. But changing the core of such a program is not easy, and won't be any easier if you just add more and more features in a hurry without a proper design. I'm being a bit harsh now lacking some english skills to express myself properly, but that's my impression about the app now.
If you e.g. have issues with online / offline operations, you should fix them properly, not just add a switch that the user should decide if and when activate. I've never seen any other app that needs a switch to calculate a route offline, and have never seen any other app asking me to confirm that I want to calculate a route offline when I'm trying to calculate a route offline...
I'm not saying the navigation app is not capable, just that it's too much effort to make it do even the basic things. Computers were invented to make life easier, this app is making it more complicated, because every decision is left to the user through some switch and every task requires a lot of extra manual work.
@cvlmtg said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
If you e.g. have issues with online / offline operations, you should fix them properly, not just add a switch that the user should decide if and when activate.
In the settings of the app, you explicitly configure online or offline use. I think it is a courtesy that you are warned and given a choice if you want to break the explicitly configured options. If that all is too much of an effort, it is better to stick to a simpler app indeed.
I am just an enthusiastic MRA user, and hope you will be one too!
Most motorcycle problems are caused by the nut that connects the handlebar to the saddle.
Streetpilot 2610/Zumo 660/Zumo 395/ CAT S52 + MRA app -
I've been using MyRoute App Gold for six months now and I have to say that I'm totally disappointed. Under Android Auto (v13.2.644464), the app regularly crashes after several hours, often starts without sound, which then suddenly reappears a few waypoints later or is lost again during the rest of the journey. Or the synchronization with the GPS signal is lost and then only the current position is displayed, but without location-based information such as speed limits. Of course, the planned navigation then also stops. What's particularly bad is that you can't get to a working app again by restarting the app or the smartphone (Motorola edge 20 pro/Android 13), you can only switch to Ami Go or Google Maps, which of course work without any problems. If I start a route with my home as waypoint 1 and drive off, I am always (!) taken back to my house in a circle and I could continue the whole thing until the tank is empty or I skip waypoint 1. That can't be true! All in all, MyRoute app is the worst navigation experience I've had so far, even though it sounds so powerful and convincing in theory. In the meantime, I have little hope that it will make the necessary progress in the coming months to ever be used safely on the road.
Hi Thomas,
I can‘t say anything about Android Auto, as I normally use Apple stuff.
I am using navigation since more then 20 years now and started with a Garmin eMap using point to point direct routing and a need to place waypoints exyctly on the right position right after a chosen crossing of turn. To keep it short: Non routable maps!
Over the years I invested hell of lot of time and money in the sometimes wonderfull world of Garmin up to the BMV Navigator VI. None of the „boxers“ I have süd ever been perfect of even without at least remarkable failures. The worst on was finally the BMW Navigator VI, which is a Garmin product: Failing touch displays, totally weird routinesitzung in some cases and heavily proprietary setup with Garmin APP‘s and tools. As you see, I trend hell of a lot different solutions and my final choice was: MRA Routing APP together with with MRA Route planer. I did quite a lot of testing with it: On iOS on Android and came to my final conclusion, that for me the 2 best working solutions are using an Apple iPhone, or an Android riggen tablet. I personals found the time to test it with AA or ACP, but atrien of mein did some testing and reported that there a a few things, which wie all now from the normal APP, are missing the the AA/ACP screens. Je also reported relevant responsivness and speed issues, so it was clerque for me it stick to plan Android or iOS devices.
I‘ve started with small rouges around the corner where I a could drive even without any navigation as I was very skeptical about the APP. Some times I have raun 3 navsats/APP‘s in parallel with the same rouges and finally came to the end,that I can fully trust the MRA Next navigation APP and removed any other navigation tool.
My final testen was this year making a 8.500 km trip from my home in colonel to the North Cap and return. An guess what: Even with some urgently needed replannings directly done in the APP I had no issue at all: No crashes, no connection losses, now weird re-routings or missed waypoints or so. It was a really great experience.As you see this is exactly the opposit experience.
An guess what I understand some of your points pretty good, behause when I started with MRA (the planer only in the beginning) I was more then just close to removed MRA and stay with the meanwhile fells shitty Basecamp. What helped me a lot, was @Jörgen who offenes a free MRA route planer training pretty near to me. In this tranig I started to understand the basic (and at that point i time for me stupid) basis how MRA works. Finishing this training and starting my first tests, I got morean more familiar with the concepts and I planned and organized my very best tours I ever had or planned in my motorcycling career.
As I was initially so frustrated about the MRA planner I tried Kurivger, Calimoto, the new Garmin concepts and some other smaller solutions, bit none of them could satisfy me in the way MRA route planner and later the APP satisfies me today.I totally understand that you are done with MRA but lebt me encourage you to give it another try with some help from this community or - even better - from a MRA trainer.
I don‘t knowledge where you are located, but I am happy offer you my help and my experience. If you want to, you can reach out to me and I will setup a call or videosession to hav a look at your problems or even just to show you how I am using the MRA world of routes and navigation so satisfying and seamless.
Greetings from Cologne
Thomas -
Hi Tom!
Thank you very much for thinking about my problem. It's not that I'm unhappy with the route transfer or the details of the navigation performance, I'm nowhere near that level. The pure MyRoute app generally doesn't work for me in conjunction with Android Auto. Basically not! Either the speech is lacking right away, or it fails later, or the app simply stops working when a road is completely closed and it tries in vain to take you back to the closed road during the diversions, which of course has to be ignored. Suddenly, only the local position is displayed, everything else is gone. If you could now continue driving by restarting, it would just about be possible to hold on, but then nothing works at all. After restarting, I always return to an unusable app, even if I want to enter a new route! It's impossible, I have to switch to a different app every time. Sometimes, however, the navigation simply stops working while driving or it happens after a refueling stop. If I really need a trainer and the available settings of the app are not sufficient for use, I really have to doubt the marketability of the product. I'm explicitly only talking about the navigation app, the errors also occur when I don't use the route planner at all. I am convinced that the majority of problems arise in connection with Android Auto. However, I need the smartphone display for another app while driving, so using it alone on the phone is not an option, especially since it could not be placed in the favorable field of vision for me. But since all other navigation apps under AA don't have such massive problems, it could somehow be due to MRA. I have Lifetime Gold and hope dies last, but I haven't seen any improvement in the last six months regarding my problems. -
@cvlmtg said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
If you e.g. have issues with online / offline operations, you should fix them properly, not just add a switch that the user should decide if and when activate.
In the settings of the app, you explicitly configure online or offline use. I think it is a courtesy that you are warned and given a choice if you want to break the explicitly configured options. If that all is too much of an effort, it is better to stick to a simpler app indeed.
@Con-Hennekens said in MyRoute-App - worst navigation experience ever:
In the settings of the app, you explicitly configure online or offline use. I think it is a courtesy that you are warned and given a choice if you want to break the explicitly configured options. If that all is too much of an effort, it is better to stick to a simpler app indeed.
not a simpler app, just a smarter one
anyway, I'm not here to bash the MRA team, I was just trying to say what's the main shortcoming of this app. And I'm aware some don't like it and some do, so let's just use whatever float our boats and be happy all together
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Would you be so kind to share the URL from your route? Make sure it is set public
@Hans-van-de-Ven-MR-MRA
z.B.: https://www.myrouteapp.com/de/social/route/10113994?mode=share
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@Hans-van-de-Ven-MR-MRA
z.B.: https://www.myrouteapp.com/de/social/route/10113994?mode=share
@Thomas-Piechocki well there you have it. After al this discussion on this topic you finaly shared the url.
The route was more then 600 km long and you’ve put it 5 routepoints. 4 of them were Off route. The chances of finishing a route like that are below zero. You say that you’ve been studying for about 6 Monti’s. I would advise you to start from scratch. Lesson 1 and try to build a proper route. That Will save you a lot of anger. Use all the tips and tricks givin in the lessons and on the forum to have Some fun, because actualy it is fun to make a good route.
Then after getting some squils enjoy MRA to the maxHonda Goldwing GL1500,
Honda Silverwing GL 650
DMD2 T865X 8 inch Android tablet using MRA next for navigation
Garmin XT (almost in the cupboard)
Samsung S20FE mounted on a Quadlock and using Android Auto in my car -
@Thomas-Piechocki well there you have it. After al this discussion on this topic you finaly shared the url.
The route was more then 600 km long and you’ve put it 5 routepoints. 4 of them were Off route. The chances of finishing a route like that are below zero. You say that you’ve been studying for about 6 Monti’s. I would advise you to start from scratch. Lesson 1 and try to build a proper route. That Will save you a lot of anger. Use all the tips and tricks givin in the lessons and on the forum to have Some fun, because actualy it is fun to make a good route.
Then after getting some squils enjoy MRA to the max@Marinus-van-Deudekom I would be interested to know which waypoints are supposed to be off the route. And above all, where in
https://unterstutzung.myrouteapp.com/de/support/solutions/articles/12000096404-anleitung-eine-neue-route-erstellen-
or
https://unterstutzung.myrouteapp.com/de/support/solutions/articles/12000098593-app-routen-trackssays something that I didn't follow and that causes the app to crash. Above all, I would like to know where in these instructions explicit reference is made to on route and off route, which obviously seems to play a decisive role in the functioning of MRA.
To be on the safe side, I had exported this route to Google Maps via MyMaps so that we could at least switch to my wife's smartphone after losing the voice instructions of MRA. However, I would honestly like to know what is so different about assigning waypoints by entering an address or clicking in the map in MRA compared to all the other mobile navigation apps I know that I use to create routes in the same way and with which there are no such problems. -
@Hans-van-de-Ven-MR-MRA
z.B.: https://www.myrouteapp.com/de/social/route/10113994?mode=share
https://www.myrouteapp.com/en/social/route/10274566?mode=share
Same route, but:
- positions 'corrected' to be on the roads by zooming right in to max detail (but only you know if I guessed correctly)
- 30+ waypoints added, again you may need to adjust a few if they don't take the route you had in mind
- 10 minutes stop added for filling up with petrol
- make the petrol stop a 'via' i.e. you cant skip it easily
- give it a colour just so you can see where it is
That's the route refined. 5 mins effort.
The main problem, from your emails may be Android Auto. Have you tried without Android Auto - just plain Android? That might help MRA / the forum pin down where the other problems lie.
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Thank you very much for your effort, but what you corrected (those detours) were precise destinations with street names and house numbers
and possibly dead ends. Nevertheless, the sat nav should have taken me there, which it did.
Nowhere in the instructions does it say that you should set a waypoint every 20 kilometres. If you're planning a long journey with lots of stopovers, that might be fun, but that's not why I chose MRA, it was simply to have the option of splitting the journey into different road profiles.
The journey to the Rhine was only the 9th test to see whether the app works at all. But I also think that the main problem is the interaction with AA. With the app only on the phone, at least I never had this voice output problems. However, this is not really an option. Because I need the vehicle-specific touch display for AA in my field of vision. The phone is not placed in the direct field of vision and also has to display another app while driving and I don't want to plaster the windscreen on my face.
If there was some clear trigger or error message, or if it was always the same things that led to the failure, I would have already sought help. But this diffuse failure certainly requires a lot of effort to find the cause, especially if AA is also involved. I don't want to test anymore how long the app works and when it fails, and then work on error messages. It really bothers me to have to look for a parking space or a suitable spot on the side of the road, restart the app and maybe even the whole smartphone, only to end up on Google Maps or similar alternatives. And to be honest, I can't imagine that a waypoint placed maybe 1 meter from the side of the road could be to blame for this. Maybe AA or MRA will make further progress in the next few months or years, but at the moment it can't offer me what I actually expected. But it was worth a try.
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