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New Zealand's a small country, so finding your way along our roads and highways should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong.
As our cities sprawl outwards and those tedious road works slowly but surely produce new transport routes, getting around has become more complicated than ever. Traffic lights and roundabouts appear overnight, new subdivisions spring up with their own collection of pretty but unfamiliar street names.
Wouldn't it be nice then to let a computer, which is updated regularly to account for new roads, show you the way to the very building you're looking for?
Thankfully, New Zealand is now well catered for when it comes to in-car and handheld GPS (global positioning system) gadgets designed to act as your electronic guide.
Auckland tech darling Navman developed our most successful global consumer electronics brand off the back of its popular navigation systems and it hasn't forgotten the local market. US navigation giant Garmin arrived earlier in the year with a rival line of devices and comprehensive local mapping. Both companies sell navigation systems you can install in your car yourself. Simply stick your device to the windscreen using the supplied suction cup and plug the GPS unit of your choice into the cigarette lighter. Then sit back and drive.
The advantage of in-car GPS is obvious – no more leafing through the dog-eared map book, squinting at the index as you look for your destination. Instead you select your street name from a database stored on the device. Once the desired destination is selected, the GPS will then direct you to the street using onscreen arrows to point the way. Voice prompting telling you when to turn is a standard feature – you can even choose which accent you want your navigator to speak in.
The GPS devices display information, such as the distance to your destination, your current speed and are clever enough not to send you up one-way streets the wrong way.
They are programmable, letting you enter the street addresses you visit often and they act as route planners, so you can plot the path of travel for long trips. The maps are available in 3D perspective.
That's GPS navigation in a nutshell, but the devices are already capable of doing much more.
The Garmin StreetPilot knows where every mounted speed camera in the country is and will alert you before you reach it. Navman's new iCN navigation device has a digital camera built in; you can take photos with it and overlay mapping information on the images so you know exactly where the shots were taken. All the navigation equipment makers are heading in the same direction – making digital maps more useful by including constantly updated points of interest such as local hotels and restaurants, or the nearest petrol stations. It means that you could be driving past a car park and the per-hour parking rate will flash up on the GPS display.
So-called location-based GPS services require that your in-car device connects to the mobile phone network. They are already in use overseas and will soon debut here. Now, points of interest are pre-loaded and you can add your own.
In deciding whether to take the plunge into GPS navigation, you need to decide if you'll make sufficient use of one. Do you make trips to unfamiliar places regularly? Do you do a lot of driving on your own? Do you spend a lot of time walking unfamiliar streets or going on hikes? If the answers to these questions are 'no', GPS will be of little more than novelty value to you.
Stay in the car or go portable
The main focus of GPS in New Zealand is in-car navigation and there are two types of devices you can buy – models that are permanently left in the car and handheld computers you can take with you. Navman and Garmin compete fiercely in both categories. Most motorists will prefer the former, models such as the Navman iCN 320 or the Garmin StreetPilot. They sit in the car but can be removed at night for security. They are often battery-powered but also charge via the car's cigarette lighter. They generally have rectangular screens for easy viewing of maps. Look for models that adjust the screen brightness to suit the available light.
Handheld GPS devices are ideal for those who want to use them as a mini-computer when the journey's over. Both Navman and Garmin handheld models are based on the Windows Mobile platform so offer you "pocket" versions of Word and Excel, MS Outlook, an mp3 player and the ability to add other Windows-based software. Couriers and travelling business people love these devices for their dual use as personal organiser, job scheduler and navigation aid. The handheld devices are no bigger than a regular personal digital assistant (PDA) and can be easily slotted into a pocket.
