A quantum leap in sat nav technology - will it happen?

[Stanley_Tweedle]

It occurred to me that although we are seeing the sat nav market flooded with ever more models and falling prices, actual quality of navigation software and mapping is not really improving that much.
Mapping companies are reporting record turn over yet maps are still way out of date.
Market leader Tomtom are only tinkering with adding features. Text to speech was perhaps the most useful but this isn't implemented very well for example. Also even the latest version failed to take account of user requests for the auto zoom level to be adjustable; hence navigating at complex junctions is still a stressful experience. Lane information is still very primative. TMC traffic data has also been implemented by many but the basic data is unreliable.
I guess I'm frustrated that not enough of the money being pumped into sat nav by customers is being re-invested in improving the navigation experience and reliability.
Will we see a quantum leap in sat nav quality or are we looking at painfully slow incremental improvements over decades?

[philpugh]

It's very rare that you get true quantum leaps in technology. One could argue that the last quantum leap for sat nav was the sudden availability of inexpensive PDA units, bringing the sat nav applications to the masses. Features in apps come and go - TT6 has far less user features than TT3 had - but that is down to marketing.

SiRF GPS hardware could have been a "quantum small step". Much better sensitivity allowing in-car tracking without external equiment (except for some models with athermic screens).

Mapping will always be a problem. The poor electronic map developers have to try and keep up with every new road / changed road / etc for the whole world (in effect) - not a simple task and they have to rely on information supplied (in the main) by multiple third parties.

It could be that new GPS satellite systems giving better availability (more sats in view and stronger signals also) and differential GPS would be classed as a significant improvement to the service - but then we would all be complaining because we would have to replace our systems in all likelihood :D

Tell you what though - if amnyone has a good idea for the next big leap forward - they will not be letting us know on this forum - they will be out making money with it.
_________________
Phil

[robertn]

Reserecting an old thread I know, but the GPS problem is solved. It is easy and cheap to know where you are. If you want it better, fork out some more $$$. Any improvements here are incrementale evolution and costing it down.

Routing and Guidence is also solved - yes, they could be better, and will become better but not enough to warrent everyone ditching their old systems for new ones - again evolutuionary changes.

Where the revolution is going to come from is solving the where to and why and what needs to be done on the way problem.

Better is trip planning is whats needed - PND-"You will need to stop for petrol before you get to your destination, would you like me to add service stations to the trip" - then "would like like me to look for a place for dinner? What time would you like" - "I have found X,Y,Z, which one would you like me to make a booking". "Booking made for 6:10PM, ETA, 6:05PM"

Now when I travel, I often phone ahead an order so the taekaway
food is ready to go when I arrive. The "computer" could do that for me.....

An example of another problem. I am going to friends party and don't have any wine in the cupboard (this one does not happen often). I need to find somewhere I can buy wine, somewhere along the route, that has minimum disruption, but before I go there I need to get cash to pay for the wine. I really want the PND do do all this for me- now thats a revolution.

The problem here is two fold - data - lots of it way beyond anything TA and navtec have, that is changing anyway (Restaurant menus displayed on the PND so you can pre order your meal) - Google is getting closer, and User Interface, sorry, the 3.5" touch screen and software that current PNDs and PDAs have is just not useable for this level of complexity.

[MaFt]

it's already been hinted at but i think the quantum leap is in fact the ridiculously low price of systems these days!

MaFt

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