SatNav Design and Usability

Allan_whoops · Frequent Visitor Joined: Feb 18, 2006 Posts: 369

My biggest gripe is conflicting instructions and ones which are obviously incorrect - too many exits from roundabouts etc. A gem with Tom Tom Navigator 6 is heading anti-clockwise on M25 towards either the A21 or M26 when it produces conflicting and wrong information.

Having said that, not needing to consult a road atlas makes long journies across Europe very easy and much safer if you are the only person in the car.

genghisackroyd · Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 9:44 am Post subject:

jeffbt · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 2

I had a windsceen mount for my pda based tomtom but I could not use it in my car as I am fairly short, 5"4' and I couldn't see over it! I now use a brodit vent mount which is much more solid as well.
Regarding the voice prompts sometimes when approaching complicated junctions a glance at the map is much more informative.

jkljkl6

Hope about an avoid "type X" POIs? so you could avoid low bridges or other such things like work locations when you're supposed to be off sick (only joking). Or equally travel via "type X" POIs so you could pass by tourist attractions on your way to somewhere if you're in no rush. I'm sure there's others there that would help safety.
Some other PNDs may have this but I'm on a Tomtom Go 500 so I've been wishing for this functionality since I got it. That and being able to enter loads of diferent locations and leave it up to the device to work out the best route around them all.

The Rudd · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:29 am Post subject:

My Garmin Nuvi 360 T is in the same position as what the pilot 310 was fitted, on the drivers side of the windscreen just above the dashboard and by the 'A' pillar. Much easier to see and not distracting. Halfords who fitted it said that this was the best position.

george57l · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 7:06 pm Post subject:

One software option that would make a huge difference is a font size option - especially for the data in the bottom panel of my TTGO500. Those of us who use reading glasses need to be able to increase font size substantially to be able to read speed, time to destination, distance etc.

I also find it takes too much effort to avoid somewhere (when I hear road ahead is blocked) - and the roadblock function is just too dumb. (If there is a roadblock - guess what? The roads in the vicinity will also be too busy in many cases.) This happened on Friday - travelling up A31 towards Guildford (and beyond) I knew it was blocked with a couple of miles tailback from A31 and on to A3 - but the roadblock function just tries to find the shortest route round what it 'assumes' is a 'single point' blockage in 1 mile or whatever. So what I needed was to avoid Guildford with a radius of say 5 miles and then let it find a new route to my destination. I say all this because these are exactly the circumstances in which I suspect many of us become most dangerous - trying to "fix" the route while driving.

George

george57l · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 7:18 pm Post subject:

Re my last post - I guess I didn't read (or think about it) it properly before submitting - I didn't quite say what meant to. I know there is an 'avoid part of route' function - but unless I'm missing something it is not possible to simply say by how much you want to avoid it (eg radius 5 miles) When the RDS announcements tell you there is a 1, or 5, or 10 mile tailback for example, this would be very useful, without having to specify every part of the previously calculated route that may be impacted - and this is of course where human intuition or experience (how much of the surrounding area will actually be gridlocked or very slowed down?) comes to the fore.

Hey-ho

George

oldfogy · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:09 pm Post subject:

Darren · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:37 pm Post subject:

www.brodit.com They have a range of cradles to suit PDA's. One option with these cradles is to have an amplified speaker as part of the cradle.
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oldfogy · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:00 pm Post subject:

Thanks Darren.

But I don't think that's for me. (not at the moment any-way)
Virtually the only place to install one of those types would be on my air vent covers, and as I like my heat, then I don't think cooking it would do it any good. Plus I don't really think the weight of a TT One would do the grill any good, but thanks any way.

Nice site etc, shame you can't access any prices without registering.
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