New Developments In GPS Automotive Guidance
I talked with Sam Tlecani, the owner and chief driver of Pyramids Limo, a Denver Limousine Denver Air Transportation, and Denver Car Service. A year ago Sam purchased a Garmin automotive device. The Garmin unit that Sam purchased attaches to his windshield with a special suction device. Before each fare, Sam determines, which limousine he will be using for the job, he transfers the Garmin GPS to the appropriate limousine, and he is good to go.
Sam talked with me and described some of the features his Garmin model has. Before he heads to the next destination, Sam enters the address into the Garmin GPS device. Immediately, an animated projection of the street he is on appears on the screen. A continual readout of the distance to his next turn is displayed to the right of the screen, along with an arrow showing which direction he will need to go in. At every turn Sam receives a voice prompt. As he approaches the turn the voice says, “turn left in 200 feet,” or turn right in 200 feet,” etc. If he should make a wrong turn, or if at the last minute he decides he deliberately wants to take a different turn, the Garmin automatically recalculates the route from the new street, and continues to give him instructions. When Sam arrives at the destination, the voice prompt tells him he has arrived. Sam’s Garmin allows him to download new maps, and keeps him informed about traffic conditions. The display screen can provide a 2D or 3D view of the route.
Development moves quickly in the GPS field, and even as Sam and his fellow users are enjoying the current GSP automotive guidance features, companies such as Garmin are developing a host of new features.
1) The newest models now offer lane guidance as well as street guidance.
2) Newer Garmin models automatically route the driver around congested areas.
3) Garmin and other PBS devices allow the user to purchase and download custom files. One custom file, for example, provides 6,000,000 points of interest, including food and drink, lodging, fuel stops, attractions, entertainment, shopping, transit, bank/ATM, emergency services, post offices, camp grounds, RV parks, movie theaters and more. Custom files offer anything from routing to all the nations airports to distance projections on most of the nations major golf courses.
5) Most PBS devices can only provide compass readings if the vehicle is traveling 2 miles an hour or more. With the electronic compass option, the owner can get instant compass readings even when standing still.
6) Additional features include an altimeter, warning alerts for speed and red light cameras, and the ability to interface with blue tooth and receive
GPS companies continue to develop new features at a rate that challenges the imagination. For a limousine driver, it is almost more challenging to keep up with his GPS device changes, than to keep up with the road conditions.
