Many problems with Scenic during a long tour.
I'm after a 3000+ km tour. During this tour, I discovered several shortcomings and errors of the software that make it very difficult to use. In fact, sometimes it did things that belong to the nightmare category. For now, I would highlight the following problems:
1. Scenic randomly (?) inserted turning points into the imported gpx, which would have required me to make unnecessary, time-consuming detours - if I had just blindly listened to the instructions.
2. In many cases, the software drew something at simple intersections that even a modern painter would have envied.
3. At border crossings, it ALWAYS drew chaotic ones. In general, route planning between two points can be tragically bad. You have to be constantly on the alert, so that if it shows a right or left turn, it doesn't make a huge detour due to some bad planning.
4. Once it simply dropped tracking. It was as if I had deleted the route. I obviously didn't, because you can't do that while using CarPlay in driving. This accidental deletion is annoying because of the next point.
5. If I delete tracking in the middle of a trip and restart it, it's really annoying that I have to delete the turning points and stops (one by one) that are already behind me. I haven't found a simpler way to do this. I don't understand at all how it's possible that when I load a plan, the software doesn't realize that I'm in the middle of a 400 km tour in the plan, and why it wants to turn me back to the starting point. I've used many navigation software, but I've never seen such a conceptual error. Or - I emphasize - I have the error and I haven't figured out how to solve this problem.
6. The software draws the distance to the next stop OR the destination, etc., over a fairly large area on the screen. But ONLY one or ONLY the other - depending on the setting. And yet both information would fit on the screen. Meanwhile, if a route is active, I cannot change settings, especially not if I use CarPlay. I simply cannot access the "settings" function. Which is incomprehensible.
7. Even though the software version is 4.24, only a part of the shortcuts/icons are displayed on the CarPlay screen. Which also makes it difficult to use the software.
I am attaching a few pictures. Since I have the entire tour, these planning / calculation errors can be reproduced at any time.
The Scenic has several very serious advantages compared to its competitors, but it has very serious disadvantages - which make its usability on a longer tour questionable / inconvenient, and even dangerous.
My bike is a 2023 GoldWing, which does not have usable factory navigation. The last map is from 2021 (released in 2023!) and there will be no updates for it- for sure. So I'm dependent on all sorts of other CarPlay compatible software. I'm sad that although I'm willing to pay for these to support the developer, I don't see a really good solution yet. I'm completely at a loss...
Thank You for the answer! Now I know how to avoid the vias/stops behind me. However, there remain points we still need to discuss.
Your wrote:
"Can you check your route? This typically happens when a via point is placed at the wrong side of the road and/or very close to a junction."
Check the picture on what you see the VIA #19 - this VIA is inserted by Scenic. I have no such via on my original plan. I wrote you that Scenic inserts several vias that causes harsh deviations in the route. I have made an example of this "unwanted" VIA insertion, where Scenic can mess up a very simple case.
The inserted picture shows a Y intersection of two main roads, where Scenic (not me) apparently places a VIA (#7) in the wrong place, so it plans the route to go through a narrow side street. This is very typical behavior. My tour was 8 days long, I planned a separate route for each day. And each day had a few such deviant cases, which scared me at first, but then I was able to easily handle the situation by deleting the VIAs inserted by Scenic. I just had to be on the lookout at every turn, so that it wouldn't instruct me to turn due to a poorly placed VIA. This is a very inconvenient situation, Guido! But the good news is that since I know this behavior now, after the gpx import I can check what Scenic has filled in the original plan. True, this means extra work, but for now I accept this situation. 🙂
By the way, I also checked the deviances at the border crossings. I don't think Scenic is at fault here. I plan the routes in Garmin Basecamp, and export the gpx file from there. I compared how a border crossing looks on Garmin and Google maps and I saw that Garmin does not show the reality, but a simpler line. Therefore, the STOP placed on the border on the Garmin map causes problems for Scenic, and therefore draws strange things. This problem can be overcome by placing the border crossing STOP well in front of the border line, where, for example, the road does not split for those exiting/entering. Or - there is usually time to fiddle with the navigation at the border - the STOP must be deleted when arriving there. I must note, however, that the Honda Goldwing's onboard navigation, Rever and InRoute, are not confused by Garmin's poorly drawn border crossing route, and they handle the problem smoothly.
I have tested how Scenic behaves when connected to CarPlay in two of my cars. The picture shows the display of a VW Passat. Important icons are missing, just like in the Goldwing. It seems to me that there may be some CarPlay limitation here that you cannot solve. If so, then it would be worth allowing the user to customize the location and quantity of icons/shortcuts. In the case of a car, it is not such a big problem if, for example, I have to insert a gas station or electric charging station, because I can give the control of the Scenic back to the phone, but in the case of a motorcycle, this is not a viable option. I also consider this a serious problem that needs to be solved urgently.
I look forward to your answers to the questions raised.
