Reading out the name of the waypoint and associated notes

[Herman Veldhuizen]

@Lenny-O Because of the fact that via points cannot be skipped, i use shaping points for all points. Therefore the setting for all points needs to be on.

[Mzokk]

Well, I like the fact that my Via points can only be skipped manually when I decide to skip them. I was just looking at a route I recently used which was 250miles ~ 400km it had 5 via points that I did not want to miss, and 34 shaping points. If there was a switch to automatically skip via points I'd want it to default to OFF so that I didn't, miss the Via points I actually wanted to see.

I think we all have our prefered ways of doing things. I would like the app to be capable of displaying custom POI's without running a route, and that certain POI's would have a proximity warning because I use POI loader with my garmin devices and like the flexibility of going for a ride and just routing to some of the POI's that pop up as nearby (For example I have a database of neolithic Dolmen.) I think that in the planner, track handling and POI handling/information could be improved and I could finally abandon Basecamp. But perhaps these requirements are niche to me and most folk would not want such features??

[M. Schrijver]

For me it is fine that Via points cannot be skipped automatic. I don't like that feature but i'm not obligated to use Viapoint when planning.
@con-hennekens You say, when the name field of a waypoint meet some terms, it is not being announced. I can tell you there is something wrong with those terms or how those terms are implemented.
When i make a route. All my default (blue) waypoints have their default name given by the MRA Planner. 98% of them are being announced in de navigation. It can be an address but also just a waypoint number.

[Lenny O]

Well.... yes, we all do things differently and that's just fine with me!
MRA crew is working very hard to offer features and keep Tom Tom users, Garmin users and MRA users happy, and that's all great as well.
But to keep different people happy and let them have a CHOICE of using their preferred way without jumping thru hoops is also a great approach.
Of course, there are limitations form various areas outside the MRA and some within the MRA world. That's expected too.
What I started this thread for is to maybe encourage MRA to offer that simple choice.
I plan the route the way I want it, place the waypoints according to MY plan, I put the names and the Notes that make sense to ME... So, MRA please let me be me in this particular respect and let ME choose what I want announced.
I listen to the music a lot and every announcement cuts it out, so I DO want to hear the upcoming attraction or a fearure that I degsignated as important, not EVERYTHING or NOTHING when we talk about SHAPING POINTS.
Thank you all for your great thoughts and effort to answer and dig into my suggestion! It's great that we have such an active forum and such a smart croud!
I promote MRA in my Club and have I think 15 members get the Gold level membership at this point. I give classes on MRA for my Club members and guests.
So I am asked A LOT of questions, especially from members who really digging in, learning and using it every day. And I love it!

[Nick Carthew]

I’m not persuaded by either argument, my concern is another setting to choose from which adds yet another level of complexity. The manual for the app is going to end up as thick as War and Peace!

[Brian McG]

@Lenny-O maybe try this
instead of adding Notes to a waypoint that has an address with number in it that you don’t want to hear
delete the address & add your Note text to the waypoint name field
just put a full stop or some other single character in the Notes field, this point will then definitely be read out even if your text has a number in it

more often than not other points you create will have automatically have number in the name, like the post/area code, & these will not be read out because they contain a number
adding a number to the name of point will silence the announcement, if there is nothing in the notes field

This is the method I use so I can selectively get the points I want to be read out & also not hear the ones I don’t care about

[Herman Veldhuizen]

@Nick-Carthew Auto-skipping and Reading out waypoints are related because users use shaping point to work around the fact that via points cannot be auto-skipped.
I think that the current behaviour is the most difficult to document (At least I haven't seen any docu explaining that waypoints are skipped depending on where the next point is and how many times the app tries to sent you back). Many times we see posts here about the app not skipping as expected. And apparently there is something missing in the Sdk to know when the route is rejoined. Therefore my suggestion to not change anything until the auto-skipping is solved. Then I think the app is better and easier to document.

[M. Schrijver]

@Brian-McG said:

more often than not other points you create will have automatically have number in the name, like the post/area code, & these will not be read out because they contain a number
adding a number to the name of point will silence the announcement, if there is nothing in the notes field.

This where something goes wrong. At least for me.
For "Waypoint Notifications" you can choose between: Off, Via and All.
I have "All" selected because i want to hear the Notes and on purpose selected names connected to a Shaping point because i don't use Viapoints.
But in my case with this setting i hear 98% of what is mentioned in the name field of a waypoint.
Like: "You reached waypoint 9" or "You reached Voorstraat 9 8021 BB Zwolle" or whatever MRA routeplanner by itself put in that namefield.

[Lenny O]

@Nick-Carthew Nick, this particular one is super small and easy.
And if we worry about the size of the manual, then all development has to stop... no?
To be honest, I don't think we have a single user who read the whole manual.
It most likely is a reference for people to "learn as they go" or have issues kind of thing.

And as you already read all of the above comments, you must see all the various acrobatics and extra work that people have to perform in order to achieve a simple, logical, needed convenience of hearing only the important and relevant information as they navigate... and resolving this is very easy from the programming standpoint, making the App so much more useful.

But hey, what do I know

[Con Hennekens]

@M.-Schrijver, yes they are announced, if you have that enabled, but what I meant is that the name of a waypoint is not being spoken if it contains numerical characters (indicating an address) AND the note field is empty. They do get announced indeed, but only with: "Route point xx has been reached" (or similar wording).

[Peter Zehentreiter]

@Con-Hennekens said:

Route point xx has been reached" (or similar wording).

Since I manually move each waypoint on every route to align it exactly with the line, the waypoint's address is accompanied by numbers during this maneuver.

I can confirm what Con said... the only message given is “Waypoint xx reached.”

[Lenny O]

@Con-Hennekens said:

They do get announced indeed, but only with: "Route point xx has been reached" (or similar wording).

Hi, Con!
Not arguing, just please help me out here. What is the significance of this announcement in general?
I would expect a user to know approximately where they are, and if one needs to know the next waypoint - it is right there, in the upper right corner of the screen.

I, personally, would much prefer the meaningful info that I set up to hear, instead of unwanted info forced upon me that constantly interruptions my conversation with the group or music I am listening to.
Thanks, buddy!

[Con Hennekens]

@Lenny-O said:

I, personally, would much prefer the meaningful info that I set up to hear

Exactly that is what you get of you alter the name or fill the notes field

Also I find it reassuring to hear that I reached a waypoint every now and then. If it gets annoying, you probably use too many waypoints? If you do not want to hear the announcements, you can disable it for shaping points, but you will need to turn route points with extra info into VIA points to hear them on the road. So there is plenty to choose from.

[Guzzist]

@Lenny-O said:
So, in combination the great, needed and very usefull feature is not used by many because of not being "user-friendly" (as we call it in the IT world).

In the settings, you can select, if a newly entered waypoint should have the full postal address or not. If not, you can leave it blanc, than it will not be audible...

[Lenny O]

@Guzzist Thank you! What setting is that, please?

[Peter Zehentreiter]

@Lenny-O I think he's referring to the editor settings in the toolkit on the website.

There's an option there......Ask for the route point name.

If you enable this option, when you place the waypoint, you can choose whether to keep the default name, assign a name of your choice, or delete everything right away.

[Lenny O]

@Peter-Zehentreiter With that option if you just highlite the address and Delete it, it goes into a stupor...
Seems like you have to actually hit the space bar at least once for it to take the empty address / name.

[Leike Lodiers]

This post is deleted!

[Peter Zehentreiter]

@Lenny-O Just highlight the text provided, enter any number, and then click “Accept.”

That way, when you're navigating, you should only hear the prompt... “Waypoint xx reached.”

[Peter Zehentreiter]

This post is deleted!