In-car GPS Systems: Suggestions, Q&A

[Mr T.]

Show me the way

By Paul Rubens





Satellite navigation may soon consign paper maps to the great waste bin of history. The sooner the better, many will say. Maps are bulky, difficult to fold, and somehow destinations always seem to be right on the edge.

The good news for the cartophobic is that satellite navigation systems are becoming cheaper and better than ever. These neat little devices - which display maps or directions on a small screen and announce when to make a turn - used to be £1,000 optional extras on luxury cars.

But new portable systems cost as little as £370 - and have the advantage that they are not built into the vehicle, so they can be taken on holiday and used in rental cars.

According to Laurent De Hauwere, of digital map-maker Tele Atlas, the dramatic fall in prices has led to an explosion in satellite navigation (Satnav) sales, with the market for handheld units growing at about 300% a year.

About a quarter of buyers get the devices to take on holiday, he says, while about 20% are "comfort seekers" - people who don't like getting lost or trying to navigate for themselves wherever they go.

Spoken aloud

The lure is obvious. Driving in unfamiliar places is stressful and can lead to stinking rows between driver and map reader, especially, it seems, when the couple happen to be husband and wife.

My wife is an abysmal navigator and can't read a map to save her life


Satnav enthusiast Mike Barrett

How much more relaxing to enter an address - or, in Britain, which has the most precise system of any country in Europe, just a postcode - and let the Satnav plan the route. Concise directions are spoken aloud, so there's no need to even take one's eyes off the road.

Drivers can even select the language, voice and preferred accent it uses to speak direction.

Overshoot a turning by mistake? A Satnav won't lose its cool, but simply plan a new route in seconds and give updated instructions, with infinite understanding and patience.

"My wife is an abysmal navigator, and can't read a map to save her life," says Mike Barrett, a long-time Satnav enthusiast, and co-owner of Pocket GPS World, a website for Satnav users.

"I used to have 'interesting' discussions with her driving on holiday when she was navigating and I needed to know when to make a turn or what lane to get in, but now I just need the full address of the hotel we are heading for to get there."

Camera detectors



But it's not just arguments that Satnavs neatly sidestep.

They can also help motorists bypass speeding tickets. That's because it's possible to download the locations of thousands of speed cameras all over Britain, and store them in a Satnav.

Ideal for exploring

The unit simply emits a warning beep when it approaches a camera. Unlike camera detectors, which are illegal in some European countries and may soon be in Britain, Satnav warnings are not. And they also provide warnings for some types of cameras that detectors can't spot.

It turns out there are plenty of unexpected ways that Satnavs can be useful. For example, Mike Barrett also uses his to help on shopping trips.

"On a visit to the United States this year my boys wanted to buy a Sony PSP [a video games machine]. So I looked up all the computer shops in the area and stored them in my unit. We then just followed the directions from one store to the next, until finally at the seventh store they found what they were looking for."

Leonard Ormonde, another Satnav disciple, says he uses the moving map on his unit as an extra pair of eyes.

"When I'm driving at night in a country lane, I look at the display to see which way the road is going to turn next. It helps me anticipate the curves," he says.

These little boxes of techno-wizardry can also help discover things that otherwise might be missed, from cash machines and wireless hotspots to street markets and Ceroc dance venues. The details are downloaded from any computer and transferred to a Satnav machine.

Drawbacks

But before heading abroad, it's worth remembering that in the world of digital maps, not all countries are created equal. More than 99% of all roads are included on maps of Britain, while only 40% of Portugal's are.

Best not to forget the old ways

The reason is that making digital maps is a huge and time consuming job, involving satellite photography, paper maps and even driving around in special vans.

Tele Atlas's vans have driven over seven million kilometres mapping out roads in Europe, but the company is less than half way through mapping Portugal. As for eastern Europe, it has barely even started.

There are other drawbacks too. Just as mobile phones mean no one can be bothered to remember phone numbers anymore, so Satnav could mean we eventually surrender our sense of direction to these boxes of gadgetry. In other words, if you throw away your A-Z and come to rely too much on satellite navigation, you'll be well and truly lost without it.

[Mr T.]

www.smartnav.com

[Nick Kay]

Mitac Mio 168, 1Gb card, TomTom Navigator s/w

The Mio has an "in (on?) built" GPS antennae and you can download CheckPOInt and the camera locations for it

Total cost < £280

TomTom v5 just released - I think it negates the need to downlaod CheckPOInt and the camera stuff

Other good reasons for going for a PDA/GPS - runs deco and blender s/w, games, etc...

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Nick Kay

TomTom v5 just released - I think it negates the need to downlaod CheckPOInt and the camera stuff

Well TT5 can play a sound at X distance from a Point-Of-Interest but CheckPOInt looked at your speed and distance and gave warnings at range.
I just upgraded to TT5 and miss the old system which is promised once the API for tt5 is out.
You still need to download the camera database.

It was once I had all the toys I realised that I don't actually speed significantly - must be getting old.

[Mr T.]

Drivers to take orders from Fawlty
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor
(Filed: 30/06/2005)

Basil Fawlty, a man who once famously thrashed a car to within an inch of its life with a branch, is not the most obvious choice for a soothing and calming navigator.


But soon the voice of Torquay's most notorious hotelier could be barking directions to millions of confused motorists.

The electronics company Tom Tom announced yesterday that it had signed up actor and comedian John Cleese to provide one of the voices for its in-car satellite navigation boxes.

For a one-off fee of around £7, the former Python will instruct drivers to turn right, left or leave a roundabout at the third exit.

Like most satellite navigation systems, the Tom Tom range comes with a choice of in-built voices.

More are available for downloading for a fee. They include Cockney wide boy Mickey and German psychiatrist Dr Felix. John Cleese is the first celebrity to lend his voice to the service.

[speedfreak1982]

HP3715 - TomTom3 - GPS Receiver. Ideal only paid £350 and I use it as my colour all in one remote at home, as well as controlling all my digital music setting up playlists on my IPAQ to play music from my computer onto my digital music player - also works with video and photos (NEVO 2.0). Absolutely spot on. Philips equivalent remote alone costs £400 and is less flexible.

[johntemp]

I'm very tempted by the new TomTom Navigator 5 bluetooth and an iPaq 2410 but they only ship with GB maps.

Anyone know if it is easily upgraded or better still is there a european version?

[speedfreak1982]

Originally Posted by johntemp

Anyone know if it is easily upgraded or better still is there a european version?

My theory on this would be don't restrict urself on the PDA unless ur deadset that only that one has the features you want. Go on ebay find the best price you can, or indeed you may find it cheaper to get the TomTom stuff seperate from your PDA. Don't be put off by only getting TomTom3 you will get this extremely cheap now 5 has come out. As soon as you have the product ID even if its been registered before you can reassign it to urself then pay the 59 euros to upgrade to 5 with all European Maps see below:

The following maps are included in the TomTom NAVIGATOR 5 upgrade:

Great Britain
Germany, Poland and Czech Republic
Austria and Switzerland
Italy
Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
France
Spain, Portugal and Andorra

Goto www.TomTom.com and select the upgrade option to see these details. Personally I got the whole lot PDA, Bluetooth GPS, TomTom 3 for £350. I even went to the guys house and essentially took over his TomTom logon on the net to takeover the product ID but it wasn't necessary.

HTH

Ant

[Adrian Kelland]

Now there are uses for GPS, and uses for GPS. I just saw these reported on in a boating paper.

http://forgetmenotpanties.contagiousmedia.org/

[Bogwoppit]

I have to go out and take a biscuit for the woman that lives in my car and tells me which way to go each day:-). Apparently shes much more patient than Mummy:-)