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Choosing Between In-Dash GPS Navigation or Portable GPS Navigation Devices
Last Updated on Monday, 31 January 2011 02:55 Written by pti Monday, 24 January 2011 02:34
At the end of the day it all boils down to personal choice. However, these are the things we found out while using / testing various GPS navigation devices.
| Category | In-Dash | Portable (Stand Alone) |
| Acquisition Cost | High
Maybe free for new cars |
Low |
| Map Upgrade Cost | High | Low |
| Map upgrade complexity | Complex | Simple in most cases |
| Portability | 1 Car only
Static |
Transportable
Multiple Cars (coding cars) Used for walking |
| Device Security | Difficult to steal | Easy to steal |
| Mounting | Clean / In-Dash | Messy, wiring is all over the place |
| View | Difficult, too low, really depends on vehicle it’s installed on. | Configurable / Movable |
Choosing a brand for GPS Navigation
Garmin is still the best brand out there, simply because there is an open source community for maps, if you can’t afford commercial ones or simply do not want to pay for it.
It has proven to be tough even in warmer climates like the Philippines. There are cheap models you can get from Amazon, ebay or Walmart. Just get the balikbayan relatives or friends to ship it to you. Better yet, get them from the local malls.
Paperless Trail Inc., a Philippines based system integrator/application developer specializing in digital mapping, GIS applications and document imaging, has developed detailed and GPS-accurate maps of the Philippines that include all the major roads, landmarks, and many other points of interest (POI) that will help to guide you when you commute or drive through Manila, Davao, Pampanga, or any other part of the country you find yourself in.
Paperless Trail Garmin Compatible Philippine GPS maps features 10,000 points of interest and free map upgrades for 12 months.
Perspective GIS and Perspective Mobile are products of Paperless Trail Inc.
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Writing Proper Philippine Addresses
Last Updated on Monday, 31 January 2011 02:55 Written by pti Thursday, 20 January 2011 06:01
Introduction
Since we could not find any online documentation for writing proper address information in the Philippines, we decided to create one.
In coming up with this protocol, we had to consider a number of issues, like not having specific house numbers; inconsistent conventions; poorly sourced conventional wisdom ; living in the provinces and generally not knowing your own barangay or postal code and let us not forget to add “not having visible street signs”.
So for lack any government guidance here it is.
Protocol
<Addressee>
<Unit No> < Building Name> or <Lot No / Block No>
<House No> <Street Name>
<Village/Subdivision> or <Postal Code Name> or <Purok Name>
<Barangay Name> < Postal Code> <City/Municipality Name>
<Province>, <Country>
The protocol starts in reverse order with the largest parcel which is the country, followed by smaller parcels city, municipality and so on, In effect drilling down to a specific location.
Some Examples
| Building Based Address
Juan Dela Cruz |
Village Based Address
Juan Dela Cruz |
| Provincial Address
Juan Dela Cruz |
Village Based Address (Lot Block)
Juan Dela Cruz |
The Odd Balls
<Purok>
No one quite knows whether this is a political block or a geographical block? But it seems in the provinces purok is a way to find a person’s location.
<Postal Code Name>
The Philippine postal office attaches description(s) or name(s) to a postal code.
The conventions are confusing, it is not a barangay. It does seem to be a village name (e.g. Merville, Greenhills) or a popular locality name (e.g. Binondo, Malate) when in metro manila, and it takes the municipality name when outside of Metro Manila.
This might be because of population size considerations however it causes location finding issues when used for large municipalities such as Davao City which carries a single postal code of 8000. It may be that the postal office is extremely slow to react (similar to their mail services) to population changes, hence Davao with a population of more than a million is still a single postal code.
<Lot No / Block No>
This is the most annoying of all, we cannot route to a location with this information! It is impossible to do with Navigation Software. If we understand this correctly, this identifier is meant to be used by property developers to sell lots.
Process Ownership
If anyone from the Philippine Government reads this kindly send us an email and tell us who is supposed to be responsible for assigning addresses and postal codes?
We might even help you do this pro-bono.
Perspective GIS and Perspective Mobile are products of Paperless Trail Inc.
Paperless Trail Inc (PTI) is a Philippine based system integrator and applications developer specializing in fields such as digital mapping, GIS/GPS applications, document management and document imaging.
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