Reading out the name of the waypoint and associated notes

[Con Hennekens]

A VIA point should be just there as an obligatory routepoint (thus to prevent it from auto skipping), and for no other reasons.

[Lenny O]

I think it should be quite easy to implement the distinction between the points having Notes and the ones that do not for read-outs. (I am a retired IT programmer).
Another super annoying thing when it reads out ALL shaping points is that it first reads out the location of the waypoint, and I mean FULL ADDRESS, including the Country and the postal code..... before it actually reads the Notes.
To prevent that you'd have to rename or blank out the address of EVERY shaping point, which is crazy
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).

[Con Hennekens]

@Lenny-O, It's not an address field, it's a name field. The name field is not being spoken when [it contains numeric characters] AND [the note field is empty]. So when a note is added, the name AND note is being spoken, with or without any numeric characters. So, what I always do, is give the waypoint a sensible name. Often that is enough, and if you want to add more then use the note field.

[Herman Veldhuizen]

@lenny-o there are more wishes. i myself dont want to see some (shaping) points while navigating, nor am I interested in the ETA info.

[Herman Veldhuizen]

@con-hennekens the app doesnt have to behave the same as other apps. i agree with @m.-schrijver here that auto skipping via points is a useful feature.
just like the waypoint notification, there could be a setting for the auto skipping: None, Shape or All. Maybe best to introduce when also "route aware" navigation is supported by Here such that we are not sent back anymore. For me that would be the biggest improvement in the app for years.

[Lenny O]

@Herman-Veldhuizen I think you can avoid seeing them if you turn off "Use all waypoints" not sure of wording , do not have the phone with me at the mpoment). It is the last option in Navigate / Functional screen.
Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

[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.
But hey, what do I know