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It
is dark and raining and you are in a street you are not familiar
with, one hand on the steering wheel, the other fumbling with a
bulky street directory. There's nobody around to ask the way, cars
behind sound their horns as the lights turn green and you still
don't know if you should be turning left or right. This scene is
every driver's nightmare - and happens regularly.
Its
not only your own nerves that are frazzled by situations like these.
Anyone who is not concentrating on the traffic is endangering themselves
as well as others.
Now
VDO, Garmin, Navman & Travroute offer the answer. Imagine spoken
instructions to guide you to destinations.
Satellite
positional data, CD-ROM maps, vehicle speed and changes of direction
are all computed and presented as spoken directions. You can even
choose between a male or female voice or a number of languages.
If you wish to set the system to suit your personal preferences,
the "settings" option enables you to select your route
planning criteria, set the speed dependant volume of the spoken
directions, adjust the screen background colour and more.
Drivers
can ask the unit to show main roads and freeways wherever possible
or secondary roads as a preference and a choice of the shortest
or the fastest route. The shortest route is not the fastest? Yes,
travel on some roads takes longer, due to traffic lights or other
congestion. Most motorists select the 'fastest' route.
After
a short time driving with one of these units, it becomes second
nature - a fantastic co pilot.
Everyone
asks "what happens if you go on a different road to it's directions?"
Some people try it to see, or drivers may find there is a reason
for going onto a different street; like when a tourist attraction
can be seen nearby.
Well, the answer is, it handles changes very well indeed. At first
change from the planned direction the driver may receive a prompt
"at the earliest opportunity, make a U-turn."
If
you choose to continue on, it soon adapts to the alternate route,
soon offering new directions. It is almost impossible to "trick"
a Navigation unit.
Destinations are entered by the simplest means - as an address from
the database list, the "last ten destinations" memory,
or addresses you store in the "destination store" memory
bank.
Even
when you don't know the street name, calling up the destination
map and guiding cross-hairs over the target location names the street
and stores it as the destination.
These
units can display a map of a distant location in the map area, like
Noosa, whilst you are thousands of kilometres away at (say) Portsea
in Victoria.
When
typing in a new address, the unit assists by only offering letters
which it knows are possible and by completing obvious sequences
of letters itself.
For example, 'Double Bay' appears on screen immediately after typing
'Dou' only - there are no other possibilities in the map region.
Press
'guidance' and in seconds, your route is planned and all you do
is follow the spoken instructions.
Once
you tell the unit the addresses, you don't have to programme again
- it can take you from Victoria to Queensland with side trips on
the way. The side trips feature is called 'via points' - a boon
for business people.
The
geographic data used in these navigation systems is the Whereis
(tm) navigation database, developed and supplied by Pacific Access,
Australia's only vehicle navigation database producer.
Every
detail is displayed, from one way lanes, to service road entry points.
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