Portable car GPS systems

GPS in Car

Car GPS navigation is a special form of navigation, as it is not you who navigates, but computer-software that tells you how to travel to your destination. And frankly spoken, it does the job much better, than you ever could. Especially the systems with voice output are a great help, without the slightest distraction for the driver. Everybody could use one and everybody can use one, because you really do not need any special skill to operate these car GPS systems.

As with most techniques, also in car GPS navigation there are many different solutions for the same problem. We will only treat portable solutions, so no fixed in-car vehicle GPS systems. In every category we will give some examples of typical brands and models.

Self-contained, voice prompted car GPS systems

The Lowrance iWAY 500C is a portable color GPS+WAAS navigation system that shows you the way to any destination across town, or across the U.S. and Canada. Pick your destination with the touch-screen display and the iWAY 500C automatically displays the best route, and gives you turn-by-turn directions with voice and visual guidance. Substantial 20GByte internal hard drive, with 10GBytes allocated to built-in, high detail mapping and 10GBytes reserved for MP3 music storage to be used with the built-in MP3 player.

The SKYNAV 3000 Mobile Navigation System from Cobra Electronics is a "plug and go" system, which comes with North American street-level detail map of the entire 48 contiguous states and selected Canadian cities on board the system�s 20 GB disk drive (no downloading required). Users can beam addresses to the unit from a Palm or pocketPC. The unit contains a gyroscope to track position, even if satellite navigation signals are lost. The high-resolution 5.2 inch diagonal 320 x 240 pixel color display has automatic brightness control (day or night) and includes an odometer, speedometer, trip timers, a GPS compass and displays elevation readings.

The SKYNAV 2000 comes with major US interstates and one detailed street level regional map (customers can select from 20 regions) and additional detailed regional maps can be easily purchased by phone or online and instantly accessed on the unit without the need of a computer (no downloading required).

The AmeriGo GPS Navigation System from Royal is a fully portable automobile GPS device, powered by the i.MXL applications processor from Motorola, which provides long battery life for power-hungry applications such as GPS. The unit includes 128 MB of RAM and Pharos GPS Software with turn-by-turn voice prompted directions. The AmeriGo offers six screen variations, favorite destination storage and a one-touch Home key and comes with four U.S. map CDs.

TomTom GO is an all-in-one navigation device for in-car use. It works straight out of the box and can easily be moved between cars. The internal Li-Ion battery is good for more than 5 hours constant navigation. The software is pre-loaded on the SD memory card. The unit contains a two-plane acceleration sensor that enables navigation up till 5 minutes, after GPS satellite reception is interrupted. The touch screen allows the route to be planned with just a few taps on the screen. Maps are from TeleAtlas and the GPS receiver comes from SiRF.

Garmin�s StreetPilot III DeLuxe comes with MapSource City Navigator CD-ROM and everything you need to download street-level map sets from your PC. The simple, intuitive menus of the StreetPilot III offer access to the shortest and fastest routes, directions, and estimated arrival time of your intended destination. Automated voice prompts alert you to upcoming turns, course deviation, and distance to final destination. For North America, Western Europe, Australia and South Africa.

The Garmin GPSMAP 276C is an all-in-one, versatile, color chartplotter and automobile navigator, perfect for land and water. On water, the GPSMAP 276C is a dependable, color Chartplotter with built-in Autoroute basemap enhanced by Garmin�s marine cartography. The unit supports external NMEA sources for water depth, water temperature and water speed through two serial interfaces. On land, the GPSMAP 276C�s Americas or European Autoroute base map features interstates and major highways. With an optional automotive kit that includes MapSource City Select software, data card, friction mount, and 12V power adapter with speaker, drivers can receive voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions to addresses and points of interest throughout the United States and Canada or Europe.

For map transfer or software updates, the GPSMAP 276C features a fast USB-PC interface. The unit has a 3.8 inch diagonal, 480 x x320 pixel, 256 color TFT screen with adjustable LED backlight and a rechargeable lithium battery. Stores up to 3000 user waypoints, 50 reversible routes with 300 waypoints per route. The automatic track log can contain 10,000 points and one can save 15 tracks.

The Garmin StreetPilot 2610/2650 is a portable automotive navigation system. Just choose your destination using StreetPilot�s touch screen or remote control to be automatically guided with turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts. Both units have color displays, built-in maps, and everything needed to download additional map detail and look up points of interest and addresses in seconds. Select maps and transfer data directly to the unit through an USB connection and onto a standard CompactFlash memory card. And both also have a MCX-type connector for an optional external active GPS antenna. The 2650 also has dead reckoning capabilities and can only be purchased through authorized installation dealers and is therefore a fixed in-car navigation system. For North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

The Garmin StreetPilot 2620 is a plug-and-play portable automotive GPS navigator that features pre-loaded, detailed maps, right out of the box. The unit includes a pre-programmed hard drive that stores detailed maps of the entire United States, plus metropolitan areas of Canada plus a database with more than 5 million points of interest. The intuitive, menu-driven touch screen ensures that navigating the unit is as easy as navigating the road. The system includes a unique wireless infrared remote control, which allows easy operation of the unit from a distance. New and exclusive software upgrades include: Multiple Destinations, Road Segment and Area Avoidance, Find Nearest on Route, and Adjustable Road Class Preference. For North America and Europe.

The Garmin StreetPilot 2660 is a 2620 with dead reckoning. This means that once the unit is installed by an authorized Garmin installer, you�ll continue to get navigation guidance even if you lose GPS reception. Simply unplug the dead reckoning cable from the vehicle adapter if you want to use the 2660 in another vehicle. It will navigate the same way as the StreetPilot 2620.

The Navman iCN630 portable in-car Navigation system now comes with 3D Map View and the latest map data from TeleAtlas. Features include: voice guided navigation, Post code search, user selectable avoid areas and complete route summary display. The unit has a TFT automotive rated LCD 3.8 inch QVGA 320 x 240 pixel screen with 65,000 colors. The iCN630 comes with 64MB of memory to store your local area maps. The built-in Secure Digital (SD) and Multimedia Card (MMC) Expansion slot are ideal for additional maps and data storage up to 256MB. For USA, Canada, Western Europe and Australia.

The new Navman iCN 650 is the ultimate Pan-European in-car navigation system. Incorporating the very latest GPS technology, design and software, the iCN 650 is a feature rich system that sets the standard for transferable navigation. It comes fully loaded with maps for 16 countries in Western Europe on a 2Gb internal hard drive. The iCN 650 is the complete 'Drive-Away' solution, straight from the box. The system has a massive in-built 2Gb hard drive so it can effortlessly handle street-level maps for 16 Western European countries plus over a million pre-loaded points-of-interest and still gives you room to add more. You also get an awesome 3.8inch automotive-rated TFT screen, an high sound quality speaker so you can clearly hear the turn-by-turn voice guidance, a multidirectional GPS antenna accurate to 5 meters all in a rugged magnesium alloy casing. Additionally there is an intuitive remote control giving you full journey management.

The new Navman iCN 510 is a sleek, pocket sized, mobile GPS solution delivering outstanding performance, features and design. The iCN 510 encapsulates Navman style and quality in a compact system that delivers leading edge road navigation. With its contemporary style and precision build quality the iCN 510 offers an outstanding wireless navigation system you can use in-car or on foot. The distinct iCN 510 characteristics include a lightweight casing, sleek multi-directional GPS receiver, high-resolution touch-screen, responsive menu system and infra-red port for optional remote control. The iCN 510 is a complete 'Drive Away� solution because it is pre-loaded with the very latest regional maps for your country from TeleAtlas and is also pre-powered out of the box. You can just 'Buy, Walkout of the store and Drive Away'.

The Magellan RoadMate 500/700 is a portable auto navigation system with voice-prompting, turn-by-turn guidance and the latest touch screen technology. The RoadMate 500 comes with 4 CD ROMs containing advanced mapping of the entire U.S. and major metro areas and highways of Canada. Up to 100MB file size can be downloaded to the included memory card. The RoadMate 700 comes with a single seamless database, built-in to a 10GB hard drive, which contains all major city streets as well as federal, state and county roads and highways.

The Magellan 750M Plus is a portable GPS vehicle navigation system. The built-in database of detailed maps covers the United States and most of Canada, as well as over 1 million points of interest. No need to load new data. As Route Method you can choose from Shortest Time, Shortest Distance, Most use of Freeways, or Least use of Freeways. For Off-road Navigation you can set waypoints along your off-road travels and mark favorite trails, hunting and fishing spots, so you can visit them again and again. The unit provides information about your location, even when power is not available (emergency battery).

The Mobile Crossing WayPoint is a new kind of PDA that integrates highly effective satellite guided vehicle navigation with a high-performance Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC. In addition to moving maps and spoken directions, this navigation device doubles as a fully functional Pocket PC. The WayPoint model 200 can connect to the Internet via a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, using its built-in Bluetooth interface. Once connected, the WayPoint displays real-time weather and traffic. (The lower-end WayPoint model 100 does not include Bluetooth.)

Not-self-contained car GPS systems, that need to be connected to a Palm PDA or PocketPC to run street routing software

GPS PocketPC

The differences are in the way that the receiver and the PDA or PocketPC are connected.

Small GPS receivers with a cable (GPS mice)

The advantage is that the receiver can be powered by the 12V car battery and that a waterproof receiver can be mounted on the roof of the car for better satellite reception. Examples in this category are the Pharos iGPS-180, the Leadtek 9531 and 9532, the Royaltek Onyx, the GlobalSat BR-305 and the TripNav TN204. For Macintosh computers there is the Rayming TN-200 with an USB-connector.

See also "Smart Antennas" on the GPS-Antennas page.

Small GPS receivers with Bluetooth transmission

Here the great advantage is that there is no disturbing cable between the receiver and the computer. This gives a greater flexibility when searching for the best placement for the receiver. This is especially great for walkers and hikers who can put the receiver in their hat, without a cable to the PDA. The disadvantage is that the receiver has to be powered on its own. The whole system depends on the receiver�s battery-life. Examples in this category are the Emtac Bluetooth, the CoPilot BT GPS, the TripNav TN206, the TeleType BlueTooth GPS, the GlobalSat BT 308, the TomTom Bluetooth, the Navman 4400, the Rikaline 6031-X7(Xtrac), the SysOnChip GPS Bluetooth, the Socket Bluetooth, the Holux GR-230 and the RoyalTek RBT-3000 "BlueGPS", which is a datalogger for 30000 records as well. The Fortuna Clip-on Bluetooth GPS is switchable between a standard ST mode (SiRFstar II/LP) and the extra-sensitive XT mode (+ SiRF Xtrac).

GPS receivers in the form of an extended CompactFlash(CF) card

The big advantage is that the receiver and the PDA/PocketPC form a whole and that the receiver is powered through the CF-slot. One disadvantage is that this whole could be rather fragile. Worse is that you have to sacrifice the CF-card slot for the GPS receiver and have to store your maps on the much more expensive SD-card, if your pocketPC has a SD-card slot at all. Some examples are the Pretec Compact, the Haicom 302CF, the Haicom 303E with an Evermore chipset, the Haicom 303MMF with a standard SiRF II chipset, the GlobalSat BC-307 and the Transplant CF Primum.

Newer technology (SiRFstarII/LP + SiRFXtrac) makes that receivers are much more sensitive and can hold a fix under very difficult circumstances as under trees, in (urban) canyons and parking garages. As SiRFXtrac has to do an awful lot of computations in its effort to obtain useful information from weak satellite signals, the whole system becomes a bit slow. At the low speeds of walkers, hikers and bikers this is no problem at all, but at 120km/h a delay of 1sec equals 33m. This means that the instruction to turn could come a bit late sometimes. Examples in this category are the Haicom 303S, the Rikaline GPS-6021-X6 CF receiver, the Holux GM-270 Ultra CF receiver, which comes complete with an external patch antenna, the SysOnChip CFplus and the Fortuna Xtrac CF GPS receiver, which is switchable between standard ST-mode (SiRFstarII/LP only) and the more sensitive, but slower XT-mode (SiRFstar II/LP + SiRFXtrac). This last-named receiver offers the best of two worlds.

GPS receivers in the form of an extended Secure Digital(SD) card

The big advantage is the same as for the CF-card receiver i.e. the receiver is powered through the SD slot. As these units are much smaller than the CF units, the whole is less fragile. Build on the latest technology they are low-power. And with this solution one can use the much cheaper CF-card to store the maps.

Examples in this category are the IO Data�s SD GPS receiver and the Matsushita Secure Digital GPS Module, based on the SiRFstar IIE/LP chipset. As for golfers small and lightweight are important, iGolf Technologies brings out the iGolf SD GPS Package for pocketPC, which includes a SD-card GPS receiver and the iGolfgps v2 golf application. The Pharos iGPS-SD GPS receiver is bundled with StarCaddy Golf Software, but you can purchase it separately.

Sleeve receivers for the HP iPaq PocketPC

Advantage is a rather compact, less fragile GPS receiver. The position for best satellite reception may not be the best for reading the screen. Only two examples here: the Navman GPS3450 and the Emtac/Transplant Sleeve.

An �ordinary� GPS receiver as a car GPS

You don�t need any of the above GPS receivers if you already have an 'ordinary' GPS receiver. Mapping or non-mapping does not matter. Almost every receiver that can communicate in NMEA 0183, version 2 or higher, will do the job.

We connected a Garmin GPS II (an 8 channel multiplexer from 1996) to a Dell Axim PocketPC, running TomTom Navigator 2 software and everything just worked fine. Don�t forget to set the interface mode to �None/NMEA�. On newer models this is simply �NMEA�.

See our GPS Car Tracking page if you want to track a car with GPS.

Software and maps to make things work

Examples of excellent voice prompted GPS Street Routing Programs include TomTom Navigator 3 for PocketPC SmartPhone and Palm Tungsten T3, Europe and North America, Powerloc Destinator 3 for PocketPC, Europe, USA, Canada, Austalia and Brazil, Mapopolis Navigator for PocketPC, MS Smartphone and Palm, US, Canada and Western Europe, TravRoute CoPilot Live 4 for PC and PocketPC, Europe and US, EMTAC Navigator for Palm, US and Canada, the PocketMap Navigator for pocketPC, USA only, the Rayming iGuide for laptop and pocketPC, USA and Canada, the ViaMichelin MapSonic for pocketPC and Palm, only Europe and the Pharos Pocket GPS Navigator for pocketPC, US and Canada. Also from Pharos is the Ostia Software for pocketPC, only USA. Route 66 from Route 66 Graphical Information Systems is for pocketPC and Mac, Western Europe (also for Symbian and Windows Smartphones), USA and Canada. Offers free up-to-date traffic information for The Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany and Great-Britain. TeleType GPS for PC and pocketPC is available for USA, Canada, Europe, South America and Australia. Deluo Routis is for PC and pocketPC, USA and Canada. Socket's MyNavigator for PC and pocketPC, North America and Western Europe. Infomap Navigator from Directions Ltd. is only for PC and is available for Europe.

Off board Navigation systems

Off Board GPS

Why store all those out-dated maps on expensive memory cards?

If you live in Germany and already have a Bluetooth pocketPC with an extra GPS mouse and a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone with a GPRS contract, you can use the services of MobilePilot from Tele-Info AG. You can plan your route on the PC via Internet and download the maps for a corridor around your trip or you can do the planning on-road via your mobile phone. The big advantage is that you don�t have to stock big rectangular map chunks to your pocketPC. But more important is that you always use the most up-to-date maps, which you do not have to update once a year or so. During your trip the system will be informed, via your mobile phone, about traffic congestion and other conditions that demand a change of route. If the change is so big that you come outside the loaded map-corridor, the system automatically downloads new map sections.

For Germany, Italy, France, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland you can use T-Mobile�s T-D1 Navigate. You only need a Bluetooth GPS receiver and T-Mobile�s MDA, which is a GSM/GPRS-enabled pocketPC or a Nokia 3650,7650 or 6600 or the Siemens SX1 mobile phone, operating with the powerful Symbian system platform. In this solution you don�t need a pocketPC anymore. The Symbian cell phone does all the work. You don�t have to register with the system. You pay the GPRS-traffic for downloading the maps and a small price per calculated route. Dynamic navigation in function of traffic congestion, road works or weather-conditions is actually only available for Germany.

The Wayfinder Mobile Navigator from Wayfinder Systems AB in Sweden still needs a Bluetooth GPS receiver, but is already compatible with the following GSM phones: Nokia 3650, 7650, N-Gage and 6600, SonyEricsson P800 and P900 and the Siemens SX1. It is already available in 15 Western European countries and will be implemented in the USA and Canada during Q1 2004. The user gets 12 months unlimited navigation for a fixed price. The price for downloading the maps depends on which formula you have for the GPRS subscription with your GSM operator. You can plan your trip in advance with your personal travel planning tool on the wayfinder.com homepage. Here you can store places as Favorites and access them both in the phone and on the Internet. Traffic information through TMC is not yet available in all countries.

gpware has a similar service for Bluetooth enabled phones as Wayfinder, called �gpmobile�, for GSM networks in the US and Europe. This is the first ever Multilingual Speech enabled navigation solution. Supported phones are the Nokia 3650, 3600, 6600, 7650 and N-Gage as well as Sony Ericsson P800 and P900.

What is TMC?

The Traffic Message Channel (TMC) is a specific application of the FM Radio Data System (RDS) used for broadcasting real-time traffic and weather information. Data messages are received silently and decoded by a TMC-equipped car radio or navigation system, and delivered to the driver visually or as human speech in the preferred language of the user. TMC messages can be filtered so that only those relevant to the current journey are displayed, while a TMC-enabled navigation system can offer dynamic route guidance - alerting the driver of a problem on the planned route and calculating an alternative route to avoid the incident.

One step further

When in the near future most cell-phones, mobile phones and GSM�s (3 different names for the same thing) will be equipped with a GPS receiver, we don�t need the Bluetooth GPS receiver anymore for the above off board navigation systems. With always the most up-to-date maps and TMC, this will by far be the most interesting dynamic navigation solution.

This point is reality (February 2004) in the US. TeleNav provides voice-prompted street routing through Nextel Java phones with incorporated GPS receivers (Motorola i58sr, i88s and i730). TeleNav mapping data covers the entire United States, except for Alaska. You will be able to use TeleNav wherever there is Nextel network coverage (Total Connect from Nextel). See our GPS phones page for many more examples (March 2004).

Two steps further

When some mobile phones would be equipped with the Global Locate A-GPS Chip Set or the SiRFStarIII A-GPS Chip Set, which both can also be operated in autonomous mode, the users of these phones will be able to obtain a valid GPS position fix inside buildings, in the most dense forests, in (urban) canyons and underground parking garages. If some smart cell phone manufacturer would incorporate classic GPS navigation possibilities in his device and up-to-date Topographic maps would come in via the phone, the choice will be very easy for all GPS enthusiasts.

This one is realized too !

May 28, 2005. Sylvan Ascent Inc. introduced TopoPhone, a new kind of GPS topographic mapping software for mobile phones. It has become commonplace for people to bring along a cell phone, topographic maps and GPS receiver when going hiking, skiing, hunting, or snowmobiling. TopoPhone combines all of these into your cell phone, and adds something new; the ability to see where the other people in your party are located. TopoPhone makes it harder to get lost yourself, and easier to find or rescue others who are lost or injured. TopoPhone provides detailed USGS Topographic maps, and all the usual GPS capabilities such as waypoints, tracks and routes. The maps are downloaded automatically into your phone as needed - there is never any reason to hook up to a desktop computer. Maps are stored for later use, so TopoPhone can be used even when out of cellular range. If other people in your group also have a TopoPhone equipped cell phone, everyone can see where everyone else is on their phone if they so choose. TopoPhone uses SMS text messaging to send GPS coordinates between phones, and displays the locations on the map. This scheme is simple, private and secure.

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