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ALK CoPilot Truck User Manual

Alk copilot truck: user guide
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  • Page 2: Copilot ® Truck | Laptop 3 Quick Start

    While driving, either ask a passenger to operate CoPilot or pull over to the side of the road when operating CoPilot on your laptop. 1. Check the package contents Your CoPilot Truck | Laptop 3 package includes the following: Install/Data Disc Printed Quick Start Guide...
  • Page 3 2. (Optional) Uninstall previous version of CoPilot To uninstall the CoPilot software: (1) Exit out of any programs that are running. (2) On your desktop, double-click on My Computer. (3) Double-click on Control Panel. (4) Double-click on Add/Remove Programs. (5) Scroll down the list of applications until you see the CoPilot application. Click on it to highlight it, then click Add/Remove.
  • Page 4 (3) Activate the Software: See Activate the Software below. (4) When the installation is complete, double-click the CoPilot Truck | Laptop 3 icon that was placed on your desktop to start CoPilot. If your GPS receiver is attached, you will be asked to enter a nearby city (see Steps 5 and 6).
  • Page 5 License ID. You’ll need this information to manually activate CoPilot as follows: a) If your laptop is connected to the internet you can click the link to ALK’s activation web page. i) On the ALK activation page, enter your Product Key, License ID, and e-mail address, then click Submit.
  • Page 6 5. In-vehicle hardware setup WARNING: Never leave your GPS receiver in a closed vehicle that exceeds 140 o F. It could be damaged by the heat. Illustrated instructions for setting up a USB receiver are shown below. The GPS unit should be placed far forward on your vehicle’s dashboard to maximize the satellite reception area.
  • Page 7 6. Enter a nearby city When you first launch CoPilot with the GPS receiver attached, you will be prompted to enter your nearest city to help speed up initial satellite acquisition. Enter your city, state, and hit ENTER on your keyboard. CoPilot will confirm your nearest city.
  • Page 8 7. Enter a destination NOTE: There is no need to enter a starting point. CoPilot uses GPS positioning to determine your location automatically. In the Guidance screen, click Destination to enter an address. Then click Address to enter a city name and state or a ZIP code, and a street address. Enter a city name and state abbreviation separated by a comma and space, then hit the Enter key on your keyboard (e.g.
  • Page 9 Help Files that can be accessed from within the application (in Planning Mode, Help menu > Help Contents and Search). Technical support is available to registered users 9:00am-5:00pm Mon.-Fri. EST. Phone: (800) 377-MILE Fax: (609) 252-8166 E-mail: cpsupport@alk.com Web: www.alk.com/support - 9 -...

  • Page 10: Table Of Contents

    Truck | Laptop 3 Quick Start ..... . . 2 What’s New in CoPilot Truck | Laptop 3? ..... . 12 Requirements .
  • Page 11 Points of Interest ......40 Favorites ........40 Contacts .

  • Page 12: What's New In Copilot Truck | Laptop 3

    What’s New in CoPilot Truck | Laptop 3? CoPilot Truck | Laptop 3 is ALK Technologies’ latest version of our CoPilot provides GPS in-vehicle navigation and route guidance from your laptop PC. New features and enhancements we think you’ll like include: -- PC*MILER Map Data: Latest map data with truck data attributes and restrictions.

  • Page 13: Requirements

    For best results, an external microphone is recommended (plug in before starting CoPilot). -- Minimum 800 x 600 resolution. -- If you are using a third-party GPS receiver rather than ALK's CoPilot receiver, it must be NMEA 0183 v.2.0 protocol. Package Contents...

  • Page 14: How Reliable Is Copilot

    Interest Data Corrections ALK continually updates the CoPilot map database as we strive to provide you with the highest quality product. If you encounter missing or inaccurate map data, please email, fax or mail those corrections to us so that we can include it in our updates.

  • Page 15: About Gps Technology

    Keep your eyes on the road and hands on the wheel! Do not attempt to look at the screen if you are the driver. ALK damage or injury resulting from the use of this product.

  • Page 16: Safety Warning

    The driver must remain alert at all times to actual road conditions and obey all posted signs and traffic regulations. ALK Technologies and its suppliers specifically disclaim any express or implied warranty of fitness of this product for automated navigation or for aiding in the operation of other than a privately owned vehicle.

  • Page 17: Installation

    NOTE: If you are updating from an older version of CoPilot the older version first (see Uninstalling, p. 20). This is not required. CoPilot Truck | Laptop 3 can be installed while another version of CoPilot remains on your computer.

  • Page 18: Software Activation

    Windows Start button, Settings, Control Panel, Date/Time. To start CoPilot, double-click on the CoPilot Truck - Laptop 3 icon that was created on your laptop when you installed the program. To quit at any time, select Exit from the File menu in Planning Mode, or Exit in the Guidance Mode navigation control panel.
  • Page 19 Key and License ID. You’ll need this information to manually activate CoPilot as follows: a) If your laptop is connected to the internet you can click the link to ALK’s activation web page. i) On the ALK activation page, enter your Product Key, License ID, and e-mail address, then click Submit.

  • Page 20: License Update

    Deactivation and License Update: If you’re planning to uninstall CoPilot from one computer and install the same version on another computer, you need to deactivate the software on the first computer before installing it again. To do this, open CoPilot and choose Update License from the File menu. Then click Deactivate in the License Manager.

  • Page 21: Hardware Setup

    Hardware Setup WARNING: Never leave your GPS receiver in a closed vehicle that exceeds 140 o F. Excessive heat may damage it. See page 22 for a diagram detailing how to set up a USB receiver. (Although these instructions are specific to CoPilot receivers, connecting third-party receivers should be very similar.) The GPS unit should be placed far forward on the dashboard of your vehicle to maximize the satellite reception area.

  • Page 22: Usb Connection

    USB Connection If you are using a USB connection you will have one wire which attaches the GPS receiver to the laptop through its USB port. Plug the receiver into the laptop after Windows is finished booting up. Windows XP Users: When you first connect your USB receiver, you might see a Windows message indicating that the drivers have not passed Windows Logo testing (or a similar warning).

  • Page 23: Copilot Truck Overview

    CoPilot Truck Overview CoPilot can be used for in-vehicle navigation (Guidance Mode), trip planning (Planning Mode), and Live communication/real-time tracking (Live Mode from within Planning Mode). If you launch the CoPilot application without first attaching your GPS receiver, a screen will appear (shown below) that lets you choose either Planning or Guidance Mode.

  • Page 24: Moving Between Modes

    Moving Between Modes To move from Guidance Mode to Planning Mode at any time, click the Planning button in the control panel on the right side of the screen. Guidance Mode (Passenger screen) To move from Planning Mode to Guidance Mode at any time, click the Guidance button on the left side of the screen.

  • Page 25: Guidance Mode

    Guidance Mode Passenger vs. Driver Safety Screen In Guidance Mode, CoPilot provides two different display formats for maps and on-screen directions that change as you drive. You can switch between the Passenger screen and the Driver Safety screen by clicking the Driver/Passenger button at the top of the Navigation Control Panel (see p.

  • Page 26: Start Driving

    Start Driving! If your GPS receiver is attached you're ready to start driving! The CoPilot navigation system will guide you to the destination(s) you enter and recalculate your route should you miss a turn. Because CoPilot needs to know where you're going in order to give you navigation advice, you must enter a destination.

  • Page 27: Using The Navigation Control Panel

    Guidance Mode (Passenger Screen) Next Turn Your Current Location Customizable Display Lines (see p. 38) Compass Next Stop Information (Estimated Time of Arrival, Distance to go, and Name/Address) Using the Navigation Control Panel BUTTON Driver/Passenger Destination Itinerary Detour Save Current Live Options Planning...

  • Page 28: Map Display

    Map Display On the right side of the map, the Zoom buttons let you zoom your map view in (closer) or out (farther away). The Map Mode buttons let you zoom the map display to frame either the area between your current location and your next turn (Next Turn button), your current location (Where Am I? button), or the route to your next stop (Going To button).

  • Page 29: Entering A Destination

    Entering a Destination When you launch CoPilot for the first time with the GPS receiver attached, you will be prompted to enter a destination. Select any one of the destination options, and enter your destination. When entering an Address, enter a postal code or the city name and state abbreviation separated by a comma and space, then hit Enter.
  • Page 30 Selecting Address opens a window in which you can enter a city name and state abbreviation or a postal code, and (optionally) a street address. The first time you select the Home or Work buttons you will be prompted with an address entry window in which you can enter your home or work address.
  • Page 31 Start > Settings > Control Panel and double-click Add/Remove Programs. Select CoPilot Truck from the list and click on Change/Remove > Modify. Select the POI set you want and deselect the other one.

  • Page 32: Trip Confirmation

    Trip Confirmation NOTE: If you are making a quick stop, there is no need to exit the application. Simply close the lid on your laptop and the operating system will enter Suspend mode. When you return to your vehicle, simply open the lid and press any button and the operating system will resume.

  • Page 33: Editing Stops

    Editing Stops To edit your existing stops, click Destination in the navigation control panel, then click Edit to bring up the Edit Your Stops window shown above. From this window you can do any of the following: -- Manually change the order of your stops. Highlight a stop, then click the Move Up or Move Down button.

  • Page 34: Detour

    Detour In Guidance Mode, clicking the Detour button will cause CoPilot to generate an alternate route around the next few miles of your trip. This is useful when you need to get around traffic jams, roadwork, or other unexpected traffic slow-downs but don’t know whether or not you’ll save any time by turning off your current route.

  • Page 35: Selective Routing

    Using the Itinerary for Selective Routing CoPilot enables you to be selective about the roads you take on your trip. From the Passenger screen you can customize your Itinerary so that entire segments of a trip can be avoided if you don’t want to travel along the roads CoPilot has you taking. (Note that you can also use waypoints to guide a route along roads of your choosing, see p.

  • Page 36: Options

    Options Click the Options button in Guidance Mode to open a window that enables you to view your GPS status and change the settings that control map orientation, voice options, and routing and guidance preferences. NOTE: Map and routing options that are set in Guidance Mode carry over to Planning Mode and the reverse is also true.
  • Page 37 POI Alerts As you drive, CoPilot can alert you with a voice prompt and a message window on your screen each time you approach a Point of Interest. To turn this feature on, click the POI Alerts button, then in the Select POIs to be reported scroll list check all categories of POIs you want to know about.
  • Page 38 Map Options Guidance Click the Map button for map display options. Heading Up tracks your position on the map moving upward as you drive, whereas North Up maintains north at the top of the screen. With Drag Map selected, you can use the mouse to drag the map in any direction to a desired location.

  • Page 39: Routing Preferences

    Check International Borders Open to have routes cross international borders to provide better routing. If this option is not checked, no borders will be crossed. Check Override Restrictions to activate Light Vehicle routing. CoPilot Truck always avoids truck-prohibited roads, but checking this option allows truck-restricted roads to be considered for a route.

  • Page 40: Voice Commands

    Commands NOTE: Background noise may affect CoPilot’s ability to recognize spoken commands. You can use an external microphone with noise-cancellation technology to optimize your experience with CoPilot’s listening device. COMMAND Go to sleep/Wake up Driver Passenger Destination Itinerary Detour/Cancel Detour CoPilot not only speaks to you to inform you of upcoming turns, but also responds to a number of commands you speak out loud.
  • Page 41 POI Ahead Save current location Live Mute Options Planning Zoom in/Zoom out More detail/Less detail Pan up/down/left/right Next turn Where am I Going to How far Speed Heading Thank you CoPilot tells you what the next POI along your route is. Opens a window that lets you save your current location as either a Favorite or Custom Place.

  • Page 42: A Sample Trip

    A Sample Trip Suppose you’re delivering a load to the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. You know the address of your destination, but you're unfamiliar with the area. Never mind, CoPilot will guide you every step of the way! First, you enter your destination.
  • Page 43 1. Driving on Witherspoon Street into Princeton, NJ 3. CoPilot creates a new route from your current position 2. Turning off CoPilot’s route onto Wiggins Street - 43 -...

  • Page 44: Planning Mode

    Planning Mode After launching CoPilot you can access Planning Mode by clicking the Planning Mode button from the welcome screen or the Planning button in the Passenger guidance screen. In Planning Mode you can run trips on your desktop to print and take with you or save for a later time, search for points of interest, calculate fuel costs, add favorite places, add custom places, and much more.

  • Page 45: Cities And Addresses

    Cities and Addresses To enter a trip, begin by typing the name of the place where your trip will start or type a ZIP code in the City, State or ZIP Code box, then press the <Enter> key (e.g. princeton, nj). Do not include periods in the state abbreviation.

  • Page 46: Points Of Interest

    Points of Interest When you select the Points of Interest tab, it will open with the cursor in the POIs that start with box. The only field that is required to perform a POI search is the City/State box; all other fields are optional. Once you have entered your City/State, you can do one or more of the following to narrow down your search: select a POI Category, select an of Type option, or enter the first few letters of the Place name.

  • Page 47: Itinerary Buttons

    Itinerary Buttons Regardless of the tab you select, the same commands will remain in the bottom of the Trip Planner window. To the right of the Itinerary you will see five buttons. Using the Up/Down arrows you can alter the order of the stops on your Itinerary. Using the Zoom button you can zoom to the selected stop on a map.

  • Page 48: Running The Trip

    Running the Trip To see a complete map of your trip, as well as detailed, turn-by-turn driving directions, click Run. To generate a round trip, click the Round Trip check box before clicking Run. A round trip includes all intermediate stops on the way to your destination, but routes directly from your destination back to your starting place.
  • Page 49 Check International Borders Open to have routes cross international borders to provide better routing. If this option is not checked, no borders will be crossed. Check Override Restrictions to activate Light Vehicle routing. CoPilot Truck always avoids truck-prohibited roads, but checking this option allows truck-restricted roads to be considered for a route.

  • Page 50: Printing Your Map Or Driving Directions

    Printing Your Map or Driving Directions After you Run a trip, the Trip Summary window will pop up over a split screen displaying the map of your trip, and detailed driving directions. Although the Trip Summary cannot be printed, both the map and the directions can. Click OK to hide the Summary window. To alter the size of either the map window or the directions window, drag the gray bar in the center in the appropriate direction.

  • Page 51: Beyond The Basics

    Beyond the Basics If you’re familiar with the basic features of CoPilot, you’re probably ready to try some of the advanced features. Some of these features are briefly described on the following pages. For more information about advanced features, see the Legend on page 58 of this manual, or see Trip Planning: Beyond the Basics in the Help Files (under Planning Mode in the Contents tab).

  • Page 52: Adding Custom Places

    Adding Custom Places CoPilot gives you the ability to add new places with your own custom names to the map database. After adding your custom place to the map database, you'll be able to enter it as a start place, end place, or waypoint for any trip you run. To add a new place, click on the Add Custom Places button on the tool bar or select Add Custom Places from the sub-menu of Mouse Modes in the Map menu.

  • Page 53: Avoiding And Favoring Roads

    Avoiding and Favoring Roads CoPilot gives you the ability to avoid or favor specific road segments. This feature is handy when you want to avoid a traffic jam or road construction, and can also be used to guide a trip along a route you know you want to take. To avoid or favor a road, first click either the Avoid or Favor button on the tool bar, then click on a road segment on the map.

  • Page 54: Importing Custom Places

    Status window to edit any addresses that were not accepted during the importing process, then click Add to import the final list of addresses. For more detailed instructions, refer to the CoPilot Truck Help files on your desktop (Help Contents and Search in the Help menu).

  • Page 55: Editing Custom Places

    Editing Custom Places After custom places have been added to the database, they can be edited at any time. Select Manage Custom Places from the Tools menu, then highlight the custom place you wish to edit, click Edit, and make your changes. Click Apply when finished. NOTE: By default, addresses entered as Custom Places are assigned to the Custom POI category.

  • Page 56: Customizing Driving Directions

    Customizing Your Driving Directions Display CoPilot gives you precise, turn-by-turn driving directions, plus time and distance calculations for every trip you run between a start place and a destination. Print these directions, and/or customize them by editing the font CoPilot uses and by controlling the number of “nearby places”...
  • Page 57 To control the number and type of landmarks reported, select Landmark Reporting from the Trip menu to open the Landmark Reporting dialog box. NOTE: You can use these options in Planning Mode, but not in Guidance Mode. Use the slide bar under Find landmarks within this distance of your route to control the size of the area around your route in which landmarks should be reported.

  • Page 58: Legend: Planning Mode Buttons

    Legend Planning Mode Tool Bar Buttons: Open/Save Trip: Allows you to save a trip you have outlined in Planning Mode, or access a previously saved trip. Edit/New Trip: Prompts the Trip Planner window where you can enter addresses, search for points of interest, and recall favorites.
  • Page 59 Label Cities and Places: Allows you to label or unlabel cities within your map. Add Custom Places: Allows you to label specific places on the map and save them in your Points of Interest database (map detail level must be at least 7.) Buttons in the Trip Planner Window: Zoom to Stop: Zooms your map view to the stop that is...

  • Page 60: Copilot Live Communications

    Live running in your vehicle. You must have a wireless Internet connection. CoPilot Live Web The CoPilot Live web page is the easiest way to utilize CoPilot Truck's live communications capabilities when you're not on the road. It is also the easiest way for others to communicate with you when you are on the road and focused on driving.

  • Page 61: Live Mode - Overview

    Live Mode - Overview Although the CoPilot Live web page is the best way to communicate with people who are on the road, you can also access CoPilot Truck's communications capabilities in Live Mode from within CoPilot. In Planning Mode click on the Live icon on the sidebar to the left of the map. The upper portion of the new pane that opens is the Vehicle List.

  • Page 62: Live Mode - Automatic Vehicle Location (Avl)

    In this sense CoPilot Live communication is similar to using a telephone — communication only occurs when both parties are on at the same time. ALK does not actively log driver's location information, nor do we use this information for any purpose other than to transfer it between authorized users.

  • Page 63: Live Mode - Send/Receive Messages

    Live Mode - Send/Receive Messages To send a message to the driver, click the Send Message button on the tool bar or right click on the vehilce and select Send Message from the pop-up window. Standard Response Buttons Text to Send Customizable Response Buttons Send Button...
  • Page 64 When the driver responds to your message, the response is displayed in the Message Center: Message and Driver’s Response Advanced Clicking on the Advanced tab of the Send Message window will expand the view. From the Advanced view you can save frequently used message text and button layouts that you can recall for future messages.

  • Page 65: Live Mode - Remote Dispatch

    Live Mode - Remote Dispatch To send a Trip Itinerary Update to the driver, click the New Trip button on the tool bar, create a trip itinerary in the Trip Planner window just as you would in Planning Mode, and click Send.
  • Page 66 When the driver responds to your trip itinerary update, the response is displayed in the Message Center: Send Trip and Driver’s Response - 66 -...

  • Page 67: Driving With Live - Set Up

    The previous sections have detailed how you can communicate with someone else who's on the road from within the CoPilot Truck program. These following sections will briefly describe how to set up Live communications in-vehicle and what it looks like when you're the one on the road.
  • Page 68 4. In the window that opens, enter a Screen Name that will identify you to the person on the other end for messaging and tracking. Then check Use Account Login, and click Go. 5. The first time you do this, a message will pop up that informs you about the CoPilot Live setup process.

  • Page 69: Driving With Live - Receiving Messages

    The text on the button is sent as the response. To change a button, just click on it and start typing. When you are the driver and a message is sent to you, CoPilot Truck displays it on top of all other windows. CoPilot's text-to-speech engine will speak the text of the message out loud when the message is received.

  • Page 70: Driving With Live - Receive Remote Dispatch

    Driving with Live - Receive Remote Dispatch When you are the driver and a Trip Itinerary Update is sent to you, CoPilot displays it on top of all other windows. CoPilot's text-to-speech engine will speak the itinerary update when it is received. The four Standard Response Buttons appear and are described in detail in Driving with Live - Receiving Messages (p.

  • Page 71: Trouble-Shooting

    Trouble-shooting First things to check: Are all cables properly secured? Do all components have adequate power? Does your GPS receiver have a clear view of the sky? (Buildings, mountains and heavy foliage may block your satellite reception.) Why can't I get a satellite fix the first time I use CoPilot? The first time the GPS receiver is used it can take approximately 15 minutes to acquire a signal.
  • Page 72 audio cassette adapter equipped with a cord and jack that you can plug into your laptop's speaker jack, then put the cassette into your car's stereo cassette player. This will channel CoPilot's commands through your car's stereo system if it's set to play audio tapes. NOTE: Please don't drive with headphones on because this is unsafe! When I try to run CoPilot I get a message that says “CoPilot Can't Find the Data Disc”, and the program won't start.
  • Page 73 B. Next, you need to check that CoPilot is looking to this drive to locate the Data Disc. In the example below, your CD-ROM is the D drive. Your drive letter may be different. To do this: Go to your Start button/Programs/Windows Explorer and click on the drive letter which corresponds to your hard drive (usually C).
  • Page 74 port, make sure the connection is snug and that your laptop's battery has enough power. If you've checked the power supply, and it is sufficient, see question 2. For Serial Receivers: Is the GPS unit plugged into the serial or USB port? A.
  • Page 75 B. Double-click on the file Hyperterm.exe to open the program. C. Enter a name (any name) and click OK. D. Next at the bottom where it says Connect using select direct to Com 1 and click OK. E. Next in the Com Port Properties window the settings should read: Bits Per Second = 4800 Data Bits = 8 Parity = None...

  • Page 76: Using The Help Files

    You may fax any questions you have to 609-252-8166, or e-mail them to cpsupport@alk.com. Check out our Internet site http://www.alk.com for technical support documentation and posted answers to common questions. If the Web site does not provide an answer to your question, technical support for registered users is available by calling 800-377-MILE, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

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