Orange barrels appearing overnight, lanes closed unexpectedly, flag persons and
traffic stopped ahead that you didn’t expect – too bad a road atlas
or a mapping service can’t get you around all that!
|
|
Navigation systems can reroute your trip, whether it’s across the country
or on your commute to work. And now they’re available to anyone, regardless
of what vehicle model you may want to buy or you now have.
Thanks to the Global Positioning System (GPS), these electronic road atlases pinpoint
your location on even obscure roads across the country. They can establish a route
for you to follow back home or to a location hundreds of miles away. And they can
talk you through your travels, showing you where fuel, food, lodging, points of
interest, civic buildings, airports and even automated teller machines (ATMs) are
located along the way.
Recognizing that most Subaru owners do not have built-in navigation systems in their
vehicles, the Drive staff wanted to see what aftermarket navigation systems
could do, so we ordered Garmin StreetPilot c320 units with FM traffic receivers.
None of us had any experience with the systems prior to receiving them. Now we’ve
spent some time using them to take us to a variety of places, and here’s our
report.
The basics of GPS were explained in the “Geocaching” article in the
Winter 2006 issue of Drive. (Look up the article at
www.drivesubaru.com.) Essentially, satellites circling the earth
transmit coded signals that can be read by receivers. Technological advances have
made GPS accuracy possible to within a few feet.
Still other technology provides traffic information – in real time. Changes
in traffic flow on streets in major metropolitan areas are monitored, and information
concerning them can be received by small FM-band receivers that show those changes
on the navigation maps.
The capabilities of the navigation systems are limited only by the detail of the
mapping software built into them, and usually the amount of information they provide
is in proportion to their price. That applies to their functionality as well.
Our systems could show us where we were at any given time. We also could enter an
address, and it would calculate the route to take, provide an estimated arrival
time and direct us every step of the way. Options for routing included such choices
as major or “scenic” routes, shortest time or shortest distance and
whether to allow ferries to be included. We also had the option of a voice telling
us when to turn.
The address need not be entered by street and city, either. Instead, we could point
to the final destination, and the route to it then was calculated.
Once under way, if we deviated off course, the system would recalculate the route
and tell us how to return to it or design an entirely new route option. The navigation
system was undaunted by the number of times it had to recalculate, and it wouldn’t
take more than a few seconds to offer its suggestions.
The scale of the map showing on the system’s screen could be varied from as
close as a city block to miles of roads to the whole country. The closer the scale,
the more information about the immediate surroundings was available. Points of interest
and street names drop off when you zoom out past a certain point. When following
a mapped route, the scale automatically becomes closer when approaching a turn.
 |
Courtesy of Garmin International |
Also, points of interest were available from the menu. (Always have your passenger
operate this function!) We were able to look up restaurants by types of food, gas
stations, ATMs, tourist attractions and hotels. If we knew a destination’s
name and/or address, we could find it.
Another part of the system that we found helpful was the trip computer. It presented
more information than you’ll probably ever need.
Not all GPS units will have these particular features, but they may have something
similar.
Some units have a
choice of view – flat or three-dimensional displays. Reaction to the 3-D displays
is usually the most enthusiastic for their appearance and for their ability to show
what lies ahead. It helps the driver actually navigate the route. Units also allow
a range of scales to be set – closer for more detail or farther away for an
overall view.
Another part of the view is the intensity of the display. It automatically changes
with sunset and sunrise – from a white background in daylight to a black background
in the dark.
Mapping choices often include the fastest route and shortest
route, which are not necessarily the same. They also might allow selection of road
types – U-turns, highways, carpool lanes, toll roads, unpaved roads, ferries
over water and roads with heavy traffic.
Which
do you prefer – the road map to rotate around you on the display or you to
turn in the direction of travel with north always up? Many of these GPS units allow
you to decide.
Written and oral
turn-by-turn instructions direct the driver to a selected destination, with warnings
of upcoming turns spaced to give the driver time to prepare. A voice or warning
tone provides directions, and the display provides printed directions (“next
street” or the name of the street, depending on the unit and driver’s
preference).
Should you wander
off the route for whatever reason, the GPS unit’s software recalculates your
route to help you reach your destination.
The menu
can be accessed to find food, lodging, fuel, attractions, shopping, parking, entertainment,
recreation, public buildings in the community, hospitals, transportation stations
and other addresses programmed into the software. After a stop, it has the ability
to return to the original location. If you have an address, the task is quick and
easy. The software also can find an attraction by its name.
Our units included
a screen that showed current direction of travel, vehicle speed, distance to the
final destination, distance traveled, average speed, average speed while moving,
maximum speed, total time elapsed, total moving time and total time stopped. All
this can be reset at any time.
Hooking up a TMC to the GPS unit provides
valuable information concerning construction and traffic problems. A yellow diamond
on the display indicates that there’s a problem ahead, and icons on the map
as well as markings on the map’s roads show exactly where the problem is.
The system has the ability to offer an alternate route. TMC is available in many
cities.
Drivers and passengers from vehicles in which the systems were installed had interesting
reactions.
 |
“Traveling a road that I’d been on many times, I noticed the map showing
a lake near the road. I looked to the side, and there it was – visible through
the trees because it was winter. I’d never seen it before!”
|
|
|
“What a great technology for older people who need reassurance in finding
places when they travel!”
|
|
|
“I’m amazed by it. How can it tell how fast my car is going? And it
knows when I missed a ramp on my route within just a few seconds.”
|
|
|
“We used it to find a back road in the middle of nowhere so we could watch
a rally event. With no markers to go by and a map of the stage being run, we found
an excellent area from which to watch the cars.”
|
|
|
“On my first road trip with the nav system, I entered the address of our hotel
and promptly forgot my road atlas. I never travel without an atlas in the car. The
destination was in a difficult location to find, and the system delivered us right
to the door. Anyone interested in a used atlas?”
|
|
|
“I wish I would have had something like this years ago. When I was on the
road for my job, I’d call up my husband and tell him I’m lost and have
no clue where I am. He had street-map software on his computer, and he’d talk
me through to roads that I knew. With this navigation system, all I’d have
to do is set it to take me home.”
|
|
|
“The traffic receiver is incredible. Now I don’t have to trust solely
what I hear on the radio from the traffic reporters. I can see what’s happening
ahead, plus I’m given another route to follow.”
|
|
|
“Having the navigation system in the car is the first time our son has taken
any interest in where we’re going. Instead of asking, ‘How long ’til
we get there?’ he watches the trips unfold on screen as well as through the
windows of the car.”
|
|
|
“Watch abbreviations when entering addresses. If the unit you’re using
abbreviates ‘North’ as ‘N,’ ‘No Park Drive’
won’t be found in the database. Concerning street names – at times,
the popular name for a street or road is not the same name used by the mapping software.
‘Route 130’ may be ‘Crescent Boulevard’ (or is that ‘Blvd’?)
in the mapping software.”
|
|
|
“I thought I knew the shortest route to work. The unit suggested an alternative
that is actually shorter, so now I follow the new route.”
|
|
|
“The GPS unit is small enough that I take it along when I travel and use it
in my rental cars. Sorry, Hertz! No more NeverLost®!”
|
Our observation is that navigation systems add to the comfort, convenience and safety
of driving, whether commuting, traveling long distances or just trying to get around
town the easiest possible way. They’re also educational and fun to use, and
they incorporate some of our favorite things – driving, advanced technology
and knowing where we are.
|
