I'm traveling on a given route next Monday and need to stop at a 
certain store (any Costco).  I'd like to find the store that's closest 
to the route.  I know of programs and web sites that will tell me about 
the store closest to a POINT, but I'd like the store that is closest to 
the ROUTE.

Anyone know of a program or a web site that can do that?

Thanks in advance. 

In article <5001bd83$0$1415$c3e8da3$12bcf670@news.astraweb.com>,
 Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:

> I'm traveling on a given route next Monday and need to stop at a 
> certain store (any Costco).  I'd like to find the store that's closest 
> to the route.  I know of programs and web sites that will tell me about 
> the store closest to a POINT, but I'd like the store that is closest to 
> the ROUTE.
> 
> Anyone know of a program or a web site that can do that?
> 
> Thanks in advance. 

You mean besides Google Maps??

-- 
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
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JR

In message <5001bd83$0$1415$c3e8da3$12bcf670@news.astraweb.com>
  Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:
> I'm traveling on a given route next Monday and need to stop at a
> certain store (any Costco).  I'd like to find the store that's closest
> to the route.  I know of programs and web sites that will tell me about
> the store closest to a POINT, but I'd like the store that is closest to
> the ROUTE.

> Anyone know of a program or a web site that can do that?

Google Maps and Mapquest can both do this. i think the Mapquest app for
iOS can also do this, but I am not sure.



--
Generalizations are always inaccurate.

On 2012-07-14 20:04:54 +0000, Lewis said:

> In message <5001bd83$0$1415$c3e8da3$12bcf670@news.astraweb.com>
>   Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:
>> I'm traveling on a given route next Monday and need to stop at a
>> certain store (any Costco).  I'd like to find the store that's closest
>> to the route.  I know of programs and web sites that will tell me about
>> the store closest to a POINT, but I'd like the store that is closest to
>> the ROUTE.
> 
>> Anyone know of a program or a web site that can do that?
> 
> Google Maps and Mapquest can both do this. i think the Mapquest app for
> iOS can also do this, but I am not sure.

Thanks to both JR and Lewis for giving me a place to look.  I'll try it 
out ASAP!

On 14/07/2012 20:09, Jolly Roger wrote:

> You mean besides Google Maps??

Sadly, Google Maps' idea of where businesses/buildings are is frequently 
way out, at least here in Ireland. (For that matter, the maps on a lot 
of comapnies' own websites are also wrong, because they just type the 
address into Google Maps, and don't bother to check that the marker it 
returns is actually anywhere near the right place.)

-- 
Xbox: GallusNumpty  Steam: scottishwildcat

In article <jtut2n$h12$1@speranza.aioe.org>,
 Calum <com.gmail@nospam.scottishwildcat> wrote:

> On 14/07/2012 20:09, Jolly Roger wrote:
> 
> > You mean besides Google Maps??
> 
> Sadly, Google Maps' idea of where businesses/buildings are is frequently 
> way out, at least here in Ireland. (For that matter, the maps on a lot 
> of comapnies' own websites are also wrong, because they just type the 
> address into Google Maps, and don't bother to check that the marker it 
> returns is actually anywhere near the right place.)

You're in IRELAND. What do you expect? : )

-- 
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR

On Sun, 15 Jul 2012 18:02:18 +0100, Calum wrote:

> On 14/07/2012 20:09, Jolly Roger wrote:
> 
>> You mean besides Google Maps??
> 
> Sadly, Google Maps' idea of where businesses/buildings are is frequently
> way out, at least here in Ireland. (For that matter, the maps on a lot
> of comapnies' own websites are also wrong, because they just type the
> address into Google Maps, and don't bother to check that the marker it
> returns is actually anywhere near the right place.)

This can be very annoying indeed.  An example I came across several years 
ago was looking up the opening and closing times of local supermarkets, 
particularly over holiday periods.

A couple of places insisted on lobbing me onto Google maps, and worse 
still at a resolution that didn't tell me that there were actually two of 
their outlets in the same shopping complex.

All I wanted to know was their opening times, not how to get there. I 
ended up creating a web page or two to reduce the hassle.

Other folks obviously have the same problem, for those web pages see 
quite a bit of traffic :-)

-- 
Paul Sture

Calum <com.gmail@nospam.scottishwildcat> wrote:

> On 14/07/2012 20:09, Jolly Roger wrote:
> 
> > You mean besides Google Maps??
> 
> Sadly, Google Maps' idea of where businesses/buildings are is frequently
> way out, at least here in Ireland.

It's not as though you are likely to get anything better, though. For a
particular business, you might find something done by hand, but that
isn't going to generalize. I'm assuming that the problem you are
referring to is the same one that I'm familliar with.

General mapping apps almost never actually have individual addresses in
their location databases. Instead, they have ranges, as in this street
goes from address x here to address y there. They then interpolate
between those ranges. That tends to work well enough for small city
blocks. But in a rural area, where the addresses might be quite
irregularly spaced along a long road, you can be off significantly.

As I said, a particular business might do something by hand. But you
aren't likely to find a general app that has that data for any business.

-- 
Richard Maine                    | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgment.
domain: summertriangle           |  -- Mark Twain

On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 18:42:10 UTC, Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:

> I'm traveling on a given route next Monday and need to stop at a 
> certain store (any Costco).  I'd like to find the store that's closest 
> to the route.  I know of programs and web sites that will tell me about 
> the store closest to a POINT, but I'd like the store that is closest to 
> the ROUTE.
> 
> Anyone know of a program or a web site that can do that?
> 
> Thanks in advance. 
 
The TomTom GPS does this.

-- 
John Varela

In message <jtut2n$h12$1@speranza.aioe.org> 
  Calum <com.gmail@nospam.scottishwildcat> wrote:
> On 14/07/2012 20:09, Jolly Roger wrote:

>> You mean besides Google Maps??

> Sadly, Google Maps' idea of where businesses/buildings are is frequently 
> way out, at least here in Ireland. (For that matter, the maps on a lot 
> of comapnies' own websites are also wrong, because they just type the 
> address into Google Maps, and don't bother to check that the marker it 
> returns is actually anywhere near the right place.)

We've had an IKEA here in Denver for about a year now, and none fo the
GPS driving applications have any idea where it is.The Google driven app
on the iphone can't find it, but the google maps website can. Waze,
Maps, Mapquest, and [REDACTED] all have it placed a minimum of 3 miles
from its actual location.

-- 
You and me Sunday driving Not arriving

So I tried Google Maps (iphone) and Mapquest, and can't figure out how 
to do it.  So let's take a hypothetical:

I'm traveling from 1 Main Street, Providence, RI to 1 Main Street, 
White Plains, NY.  On the way I want to stop at whatever Costco is 
least out of my way.

How do I set this up in either program?

On 08-04-2012 13:04, Gary wrote:
> So I tried Google Maps (iphone) and Mapquest, and can't figure out how
> to do it.  So let's take a hypothetical:
>
> I'm traveling from 1 Main Street, Providence, RI to 1 Main Street, White
> Plains, NY.  On the way I want to stop at whatever Costco is least out
> of my way.
>
> How do I set this up in either program?

Here is what I did in Google Maps on an iMac:

Get directions from Providence, RI to White Plains, NY

Note what cities the route goes through and how many miles/minutes

Click "add destination"

Move White Plains, NY to the new box C.

Type Costco in the middle box and hit return.

Note that it picks a CostCo near Boston (wrong direction).

Click "do you mean another costco?"

Gives me eight choices, but they're all Boston.

New London is a city on the original route, so change "costco"
to be "Costco, New Lopndon, CT"

Routes me to "Branfon Honda"  (Huh?!)

So I changed "New London" to "Norwalk" and a marker pretty much on the 
original route (one mile more than before.)

Just for fun, I again clicked "do you mean another costco?" and got nine 
suggestions, of which three were right on the original route.

Now you said iPhone, which might be different.  If that's what you 
really want, try asking in misc.phone.mobile.iphone

-- 
Wes Groleau

    “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation
     of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.”
                            — Thomas Jefferson

In article <501d5611$0$1179$c3e8da3$eb767761@news.astraweb.com>,
 Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:

> So I tried Google Maps (iphone) and Mapquest, and can't figure out how 
> to do it.  So let's take a hypothetical:
> 
> I'm traveling from 1 Main Street, Providence, RI to 1 Main Street, 
> White Plains, NY.  On the way I want to stop at whatever Costco is 
> least out of my way.
> 
> How do I set this up in either program?

You take out the Thomas Brothers book for the area you're in, look up 
the address for the CostCo based the area, and look it up by hand.  Have 
we really gotten so lame ass lazy that we can read a friken map these 
days?

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

In article <vilain-B726FA.16590004082012@news.individual.net>,
 Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:

> In article <501d5611$0$1179$c3e8da3$eb767761@news.astraweb.com>,
>  Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:
> 
> > So I tried Google Maps (iphone) and Mapquest, and can't figure out how 
> > to do it.  So let's take a hypothetical:
> > 
> > I'm traveling from 1 Main Street, Providence, RI to 1 Main Street, 
> > White Plains, NY.  On the way I want to stop at whatever Costco is 
> > least out of my way.
> > 
> > How do I set this up in either program?
> 
> You take out the Thomas Brothers book for the area you're in, look up 
> the address for the CostCo based the area, and look it up by hand.  Have 
> we really gotten so lame ass lazy that we can read a friken map these 
> days?

He's talking about a trip of about 200 miles.  Which "area" is he 
supposed to look up?

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***

In article <barmar-0FFE60.20115604082012@news.eternal-september.org>,
 Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> In article <vilain-B726FA.16590004082012@news.individual.net>,
>  Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> 
> > In article <501d5611$0$1179$c3e8da3$eb767761@news.astraweb.com>,
> >  Gary <gary_w1@hotline.com> wrote:
> > 
> > > So I tried Google Maps (iphone) and Mapquest, and can't figure out how 
> > > to do it.  So let's take a hypothetical:
> > > 
> > > I'm traveling from 1 Main Street, Providence, RI to 1 Main Street, 
> > > White Plains, NY.  On the way I want to stop at whatever Costco is 
> > > least out of my way.
> > > 
> > > How do I set this up in either program?
> > 
> > You take out the Thomas Brothers book for the area you're in, look up 
> > the address for the CostCo based the area, and look it up by hand.  Have 
> > we really gotten so lame ass lazy that we can read a friken map these 
> > days?
> 
> He's talking about a trip of about 200 miles.  Which "area" is he 
> supposed to look up?

Suppose I'm in a town <X>.  In iOS Maps, I enter Costco <X> and if there 
is one, it will show it.  Or the nearest to <X>.  Leastways, it does 
that for my area.  Two pins show up and I'm right between them.  

What he wants is the application to tell him 'which one should I go 
to?'.  The answer to that is 'That depends(tm)."

On the traffic between were he is and both those locations.  An accident 
on the 101N near the Redwood City store would put 30-45 minutes travel 
time to get there.

On the types of items he's looking for.  The two CostCos near me are in 
different parts of the SF/Bay area and carry different type of stuff.  
Some stuff sells out of the Mountain View store in a day of it's 
appearance but will sit for quite a while in Redwood City.  And vice 
versa.

This is only a 50 mile difference between the two stores.  The missing 
part I haven't seen on any app is taking location <Where am I> and 
showing best route.  It would require real-time updating of traffic at 
the very least.  Not there yet, as far as I know.  With a Google Maps 
app coming as part of iOS 6, according to Lifehacker, the real-time 
traffic and location stuff will be automatically fed back to them as 
various phones send back individual speed and location data to the 
Google mother ship.  The cops and insurance companies will love mining 
that.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

On 8/4/12   PDT 7:42 PM, Michael Vilain wrote:

> This is only a 50 mile difference between the two stores.  The missing
> part I haven't seen on any app is taking location <Where am I> and
> showing best route.  It would require real-time updating of traffic at
> the very least.  Not there yet, as far as I know.  With a Google Maps
> app coming as part of iOS 6, according to Lifehacker, the real-time
> traffic and location stuff will be automatically fed back to them as
> various phones send back individual speed and location data to the
> Google mother ship.  The cops and insurance companies will love mining
> that.

Huh? My iPhone has been doing that for at least a couple of iterations; 
my Google maps on my laptop does that; my built in automobile GPS does 
that.

And I thought Apple was doing their own maps stuff in iOS6.... Google 
maps are what we have now on iDevices.

On 08-04-2012 22:42, Michael Vilain wrote:
> What he wants is the application to tell him 'which one should I go
> to?'.  The answer to that is 'That depends(tm)."

What he asked for is how to identify the one least out of the way on a 
hypothetical route.  I presume he knows there isn't one at either end of 
the route, so he's trying to save gas by looking for one along a route 
he intends to take.

Neither Mapquest nor maps.google will answer the question directly.

However, the method I recently posted in this thread does make it fairly 
easy to find several that are close to the route and compare total 
distance to see which one is "least out of the way."  Works on both 
services and also offers a visual so you can avoid trying choices that 
are obviously further out than others.

I suspect the same method will work on Apple's soon-coming app.
Maybe it will even answer the question directly, though I doubt that.

-- 
Wes Groleau

   “In the field of language teaching, Method A is the logical
    contradiction of Method B: if the assumptions from which
    A claims to be derived are correct, then B cannot work,
    and vice versa.  Yet one colleague is getting excellent
    results with A and another is getting comparable results
    with B.  How is this possible?”
                                       — Earl W. Stevick

In article <jvmccs$pcf$1@dont-email.me>, Wes Groleau  <none.of@your.biz> wrote:
>the route, so he's trying to save gas by looking for one along a route 
>he intends to take.
>
>Neither Mapquest nor maps.google will answer the question directly.

I presume the question is now moot for the OP since his trip was
scheduled for mid-July. However, can iPhones read GPX files? If
so, perhaps a list of Costco stores from POI Factory would have
done the trick:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/9419

Load the POIs on a GPS receiver and easily see which ones are
closest to the intended route.


Patty

Thanks for the further clarification.  Wes, especially, explained it 
with the detail necessary to understand what he was suggesting.

I'm sure you see that this is an excellent approximation to what I 
asked.  It will work, and I appreciate all the answers.  But it seems 
to me that if there were, say, 10 Costco stores along the various 
routes, then there is no exact solution available to the question: 
which is the shortest (or fastest) route of the 10 routes between:

1- 1 Main St, Providence, RI
2- CostCo store #i
3- 1 Main St, White Plains, NY

That would be a nice feature (in its more general form … I'm not 
focussing on CostCo, except as an example) to any route-finding program.

On 08-05-2012 15:53, Patty Winter wrote:
> I presume the question is now moot for the OP since his trip was
> scheduled for mid-July. However, can iPhones read GPX files? If

Since the post I answered was fourth of August, I presume he is still 
interested.  There are iPhone apps that can read GPX files.  I am not 
aware of any that also do routing.

-- 
Wes Groleau

    ¡Qué quiero realmente hacer es comer un perrito caliente!
       私が実際にしたいと思う何をホットドッグを食べることである!
    http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/WWW?itemid=463

On 08-05-2012 20:19, Gary wrote:
> Thanks for the further clarification.  Wes, especially, explained it
> with the detail necessary to understand what he was suggesting.
>
> I'm sure you see that this is an excellent approximation to what I
> asked.  It will work, and I appreciate all the answers.  But it seems to
> me that if there were, say, 10 Costco stores along the various routes,
> then there is no exact solution available to the question: which is the
> shortest (or fastest) route of the 10 routes between:
>
> 1- 1 Main St, Providence, RI
> 2- CostCo store #i
> 3- 1 Main St, White Plains, NY
>
> That would be a nice feature (in its more general form … I'm not
> focussing on CostCo, except as an example) to any route-finding program.

Yes, it would be.  But at least what I did does show you on the map 
where they are.  So you can see that two or three of them are very close 
to the route, so you can ignore the others.  Click on one of the close 
ones and see how much difference it makes in the total miles (or time, 
depending on your priorities).

-- 
Wes Groleau

   He that complies against his will is of the same opinion still.
                   — Samuel Butler, 1612-1680

In article <jvn3mk$s4v$1@dont-email.me>, Wes Groleau  <none.of@your.biz> wrote:
>On 08-05-2012 15:53, Patty Winter wrote:
>> I presume the question is now moot for the OP since his trip was
>> scheduled for mid-July. However, can iPhones read GPX files? If
>
>Since the post I answered was fourth of August, I presume he is still 
>interested.  

Oh, okay. Maybe he has another trip coming up. His first posting was
on July 14th and he said he was traveling "next Monday," which would
have been th3 16th.


>There are iPhone apps that can read GPX files.  I am not 
>aware of any that also do routing.

But if they can display the Costco locations on a map, it should
be easy for the user to view his/her route and see which Costco
is closest to it.


Patty

On 2012-08-06 00:41:40 +0000, Wes Groleau said:

> On 08-05-2012 20:19, Gary wrote:
>> Thanks for the further clarification.  Wes, especially, explained it
>> with the detail necessary to understand what he was suggesting.
>> 
>> I'm sure you see that this is an excellent approximation to what I
>> asked.  It will work, and I appreciate all the answers.  But it seems to
>> me that if there were, say, 10 Costco stores along the various routes,
>> then there is no exact solution available to the question: which is the
>> shortest (or fastest) route of the 10 routes between:
>> 
>> 1- 1 Main St, Providence, RI
>> 2- CostCo store #i
>> 3- 1 Main St, White Plains, NY
>> 
>> That would be a nice feature (in its more general form … I'm not
>> focussing on CostCo, except as an example) to any route-finding program.
> 
> Yes, it would be.  But at least what I did does show you on the map 
> where they are.  So you can see that two or three of them are very 
> close to the route, so you can ignore the others.  Click on one of the 
> close ones and see how much difference it makes in the total miles (or 
> time, depending on your priorities).

You are absolutely right on!