Alex Kidman05 December 2007, 2:14 AM
GPS systems are thick on the ground -- but why are they so thick? I've been driving too many kilometres this year testing GPS machines and I can tell you exactly what's wrong with them.
I've reviewed a lot of GPS systems over the past twelve months. Possibly too many; I'm apparently muttering "in 500 metres, turn left" in a robotic monotone in my sleep. Still, looking at that many GPS systems in a relatively short space of time has given me plenty of time behind the wheel, and plenty of time to ponder on where GPS gets it right -- and where it far too often gets it wrong.
Strip down the external covering of any GPS, and you'll find that pretty much any of them has the same innards. Almost all of them use a chipset developed by SiRFStar, most likely the SiRFStar III. In Australia, almost all of them use Sensis map data, although a few have started to trickle in with competitor Navteq's map data. Given Nokia's takeover of Navteq, I have my suspicions that the number of Navteq- based devices will drop pretty sharply from now on.
If they're all the same, then why not buy the cheapest? Well, a lot of that has to do with implementation; some GPS systems offer (for example) red light camera information, or speed zones, different styles and levels of points of interest search, as well as newer features such as multimedia playback and Traffic Message Channel (TMC) support. I'll get onto those in a second.
If you were to ask me what I'd personally look for in an "ideal" GPS -- using only those technologies available in systems now -- I'd tell you that my wants are modest.
They've all got much the same map data, but not every GPS system tells you the current speed limit of the area you're driving in. Fewer still recognise school zones, and those that do can be spotty on when school zones are actually in force.
Trip logging should be a very trivial feature to implement, as the GPS already knows where it is and where it's going -- and there's significant tax implications if you can directly prove and log car movement, making them more compelling for your boss to buy for you.
I'm a big and unabashed fan of Navman's Navpix technology, but I'm befuddled as to why I can get a mobile phone with a better camera for basically zero dollars, but can only get Navpix properly on a very small range of relatively expensive Navman GPS systems. Given Mitac now owns Navman as well as Mio, quite why they haven't extended its use baffles me. Equally, I'm also not quite sure why other manufacturers aren't either licensing it, or coming up with their own patent-dodging implementation.
I can also tell you what I don't need, and critically, what I don't want to have. I don't want any kind of AV integration within a GPS system.
I'll will, however, give Bluetooth a free pass here; the use of GPS systems as handsfree mobile receivers is actually very clever for the most part.
No, what I object to are the swathe of GPS systems that now act as digital photo frames, MP3 jukeboxes and tiny digital cinemas.
There's two basic problems right here:
1) They're generally awfully implemented. There are some nice models -- some of the larger Hitachi GPS systems have really nice screens, or example -- but they're hampered by poor standards support, virtually no upgradeability, and far too many of them don't work while GPS is functional. Which brings me nicely to reason number...
2) I really, really don't want you crashing in to me. If you're listening to music and altering the volume on your GPS, your hands aren't on the wheel. If you're looking at those pictures you downloaded from that dodgy "adult" site while driving, then your hands aren't on the wheel at all. Also, ewwwwww... if you're watching "video" while driving, you're far more likely to crash, no matter how hot a driver you imagine you might be.
Yes, I know the idea is that you take the GPS out of the car and then use it as a portable media player elsewhere. To that little idea, I'd like to introduce you to this thing called the iPod. They're very popular -- you may even have heard of them.
But before we get to the nirvana of GPS systems, some more basic problems need addressing. Ask any GPS owner about problems with their GPS, and they'll say the same thing, more or less. "It's great", they proclaim, "except every once in a while it gives me really stupid instructions".
I recently had the bizarre joy (if it can be called that) of having a GPS try to send me back to Sydney from Adelaide via Melbourne, this apparently being the shortest route possible. Now, unless the industrious road builders of Victoria have been building an awfully fast autobahn, and I never noticed, that's just flat out wrong.
Part of the problem here is just software glitching -- even the errant GPS eventually picked up on its mistake -- but part of it also comes down to a level of what is essentially street smarts.
Sensis can keep updating the map data so that it matches the physical road each year, but what's really needed is what TMC promises; a level of local knowledge of likely road conditions.
I was stuck recently on a GPS-assisted trip through Sydney that led me to the intersection of a very busy road. The GPS, looking for the shortest and fastest possible path, wanted me to turn right across three lanes of traffic. This was perfectly legal -- but owing to it being rush hour and being a busy intersection with no lights to give me a logical "pause", I wasted about ten minutes hunting a gap that never came.
In the end, I turned left and took the next right before looping back around and down my original intersecting road, which was what I logically (in traffic terms) should have done in the first place. A longer journey, no doubt, but a faster one too.
It's no better in rural areas – you'll find yourself frequently being routed down down dusty dirt roads (if they can be called roads), or stuck in towns where the GPS fails to recognise street numbers at all.
Now, in theory, TMC is meant to solve some of the traffic-heavy quirks, alerting your GPS to traffic events and re-routing you accordingly. TMC does have plenty of promise, but it does make me wonder -- what happens when everyone has TMC, and you all get routed down the same little back alleyway?
What do you think? Are GPS systems this year's over-hyped technology, or an indispensable driving buddy? Are they idiots, or idiot savants? Will TMC save us all from the grind of the daily commute, or just lead us to bigger traffic jams?