Angus Kidman06 January 2008, 10:24 PM
Magellan's new Maestro GPS systems include built-in Google searching -- which sounds great, until you switch your brain on for a few seconds. Here's five reasons to steer clear.
"Wanna do a story on this?" APC's indefatigable Web editor Dan Warne asks me in an email. "I reckon this is something people have definitely been waiting for . . . Google search built into your car."
'This' is Maestro's Elite 5340+GPRS GPS unit, unveiled at CES 2008, which boasts that it's the first GPS to include real-time Google Local Search, enabling you to use your GPS to tell you what events and shops are located near that freeway exit which you can't find. "Users simply type in what it is they are looking for and Google displays relevant results around the user's current location or a user-specified location," gushes the press release.
Of course I want to do a story on it -- but mostly to point out what a massively stupid idea it is. And lest you think I'm just a bad-tempered old curmudgeon, here's five reasons why.
(1) It's an accident waiting to happen. If mobile phones have taught us one thing, it's that most drivers are selfish pricks far more interested in the minutiae of their day-to-day lives than any considerations of safety or sensible behaviour. In places like Australia where it's illegal to talk on your mobile without a hands-free kit, people just go ahead and do it anyway. In parts of the US where it's not illegal, suggesting that perhaps it should be is viewed as some sort of fundamental assault on civil rights. In short: bugger concentrating on the traffic, I've got a call to make.
Chatting away on the phone seems dangerous enough, but the potential for an accident when someone decides to type 'hamburgers' into their GPS while driving is much, much higher, especially given the awkwardness of using on-screen keyboards. And it doesn't matter how many safety warnings get put on the packaging or how much Magellan emphasises the way you can send data to the device in advance of a trip; people are still going to do the wrong thing.
(2) It uses GPRS. Mmm, feel that data speed. OK, this product is destined for the US in the first instance, and GPRS is the only thing approaching nationwide coverage, but for Aussies, a Next G model would make more sense. Though lord knows what kind of price tag would be attached in that case.
(3) It promotes Google Local Search. Continuing the gushing, John Hanke, director of Google Maps & Earth, makes this observation in the announcement: "Magellan devices are powerful, interactive tools for navigation and discovery that serve as a cutting-edge platform for Google's robust local search capabilities." According to the release, typing 'Star Wars' into the device will provide a list of relevant, Han Solo-ready retailers near where you are located.
'Robust' is an odd word to use about a service which Google tries quite hard to keep invisible. If you visit local.google.com.au, you'll get a 404. Visit local.google.com and you get Google Maps. And if you type 'Star Wars' into the Australian Google Maps site, the first suggested result is a bookstore in Auckland. Work to be done, methinks.
(4) Retailers won't be able to sell it properly. "The successful vendors in this area will combine the compelling, dynamic services the connectivity potentially brings, in a device that is easy to use, has an attractive design, is affordable (both the device and subscription cost) and is well-explained to the customer at the point of sale," Canalys analyst Chris Jones proclaims in a rare moment of clarity in the release announcement.
Let's focus on that final point. My experiences of electronics retailing in Australia suggest that getting a GPS "well explained" could be quite a challenging task. It's more likely that I'm going to be unsubtly directed to whatever product has the best commission, or is offering a free trip to Fiji for the store that sells the most units. No doubt in this context the Google brand name will be a powerful attractant, but that doesn't mean that people will be buying the right unit.
(5) It's not out until March. Which presumably means much, much later (if at all) in Australia. Humbug.