Turn by turn GPS, first impression

[MontyMo]

I've had my Droid for about three weeks now. IT continues to amaze me. Yesterday I finally tried the GPS navigation. It did not let me down.

I found the interface to be simple, intuitive and effective. Not only did it get me where I wanted to go, It could go it while streaming Pandora and receiving phone calls. While on the phone, the navigation system spoke in my ear telling me to make a turn etc. Only I could hear the turn directions, not the caller. Nice! (maybe a little too loud though)

I'm sure all of you know this already, but i wanted to share my inpressions.

Monty

 

[armeddroid]

I've had my Droid for about three weeks now. IT continues to amaze me. Yesterday I finally tried the GPS navigation. It did not let me down.

I found the interface to be simple, intuitive and effective. Not only did it get me where I wanted to go, It could go it while streaming Pandora and receiving phone calls. While on the phone, the navigation system spoke in my ear telling me to make a turn etc. Only I could hear the turn directions, not the caller. Nice! (maybe a little too loud though)

I'm sure all of you know this already, but i wanted to share my inpressions.

Monty

Thas whas up.
Welcome to the forums.

 

[Speeding Wheels]

I've run into a couple of errors in the navigation. Nothing devistating just turns in wrong places etc.

Overall it's fantastic.

 

[JGard]

I wish I had the same luck with phone calls and nav. I was using nav the other night and received a call. Answered it via my stereo bluetooth and the display of the phone let the nav altogether to display the person's name to whom I was talking. Once the call was over, I had to "unlock" the phone to get back to the home screen and reopen nav. I was not happy because I ran into a detour in an unfamiliar area at that time and ended up getting rather lost

 

[manilaboy1vic]

i tested it from work yesterday to my house, which is North of where i work.. im heading toward the freeway and it wants me to take the South entrance then merge Northbound...

I dont think its a droid issue, more of a maps and lack of updated maps,, i have no doubt the droid Navi would help me tremedously if i was going to an uknown dest

 

[silverjk2007]

I am from Southern Indiana, and over the holidays, my family and I went to Destin Florida. I used both the Droid and Garmin, just to compare the two. Both the Droid and Garmin took me the same route. Not only was the route the same, I never lost a signal (thanks Verizon) while my sisters iphone lost her signal numerous times (thanks ATT).

 

[MontyMo]

<snip>
...while my sisters iphone lost her signal numerous times (thanks ATT).

LOL!

Monty

 

[Houndstooth]

I've been pretty impressed with the GPS too, but I agree with the person above who said that it seems like the maps could use an update.

A couple times it's had the right address for my destination, but told me to stop about a mile or two before I actually got there.

It also seems to pick really odd routes sometimes, especially when there's a highway around. I know I can choose alternate routes, but it's hard to explain how weird some of the paths it chose were. What's the default path it chooses? Shortest distance? Shortest time?

 

[bacalao]

my only problem with the gps is not any fault of google, I dont think. sometimes I will be driving on a highway and because the error of the position, it shows me on a parallel route next to the highway and attempts to correct me. usually it will get a better position and just carry on with the original route. This hasn't been a problem nor an inconvenience, just my observations of an excellent, free service.

 

[MontyMo]

As I have just found out, there are some small issues with the nav on the Droid.

But....
My wife has a TomTom "real" GPS. When visiting Minneapolis we became disoriented. I asked my wife to plug in the TomTom. The reply, 'Oh, I didn't bring it." What good is the TOmTom if it is not with us?

At the time I did not have my Droid. IT sure would have been nice to have it. These days I alway have GPS nav with me. The Droid is always in my pocket!

Monty

 

[calicocal]

It really is a convenience I never really new I was missing. It helps me a lot when visiting friends and relatives, but it is also helpful in my home town. It is nice to be able to look up a place right in the car and simply hit the address in dolphin and have it automatically bring up the navigation.

 

[MonkeyTime]

That's the key for me too, it's always with me.

I've found a few places with the right address input, but it's a block or so off in the real world. My house in fact shows up in Google Maps with the wrong address, mine doesn't exist according to them!

 

[SwordOfWar]

Its a great free service but it has a lot of minor issues. I'll name a few to show you guys what I mean.

For example, try entering this address:
2486 NC HWY 904
Fairmont, NC 28340

It won't find anything at all. After messing around with it for a long time, trying different combinations, I found out I had to input the address displayed below to get it to detect the location:
2486 N Carolina 904
Fairmont, NC 28340

Now most modern GPS devices don't have issues with ancronyms like HWY instead of highway, or NC instead of "N Carolina".

The VZ Navigator I had on my old phone didn't have that kind of problem. I also think it would get more accurate results if it had individual boxes for zip, city, road etc...

It might not seem like a big problem for most people, but when you type in an address just like its listed on incoming mail to people's houses and it doesn't detect it correctly, its frustrating.

Another thing it is missing that I liked from VZ Navigator was the ability to change how it calculated routes (based on time/speed limits, or by miles, or few turns etc...). It also doesn't have an option to avoid HOV lanes (a lane where you need multiple people in your car to legally drive on that lane...some places have those for you country people).

The MAP data is not as mature/detailed as other popular GPS systems. Every GPS I have ever seen has always had some errors or didn't have every road listed, but it seems like a more common issue with Google's GPS system.

However, it does keep a connection very well, at least on the DROID with Verizon. If you are lost, it might not take you the best possible route, but it will get you where you want to go, with no hassle.

It does sport some "kool factor/geek" features like the satellite imagery, 360 degree street view and such. But its missing some of the "more productive/useful" features, like I described above.

I think the best thing about Google Navigation is that it's on my phone. I carry my phone anywhere I go, and so I always have it with me. I couldn't imagine walking around with a TomTom in my pocket, lol! However, if you plan on using it for more than an hour in a single day, you really need to charge it or it will drain your battery quick.

Another awesome tip is to use it to lookup nearby restaurants and it will list the number to call them. You can use that to order ahead of time and pickup your food when you get there (or avoid waiting in line). It beats looking at the refrigerator hoping you have a number for the place written somewhere, such as when you want to order Pizza!

Overall I love it and I wouldn't dare buy any GPS software over using this free and fun service.

 

[FireDroid]

I love it, even for it's quirks!! I know it will improve. When I think about it, I paid $250 from amazon for my Nuvi and all it does is is navigate and does traffic which I had to pay extra for, but I paid $200 for the Droid that does Nav /traffic free, music, movies, web browser, and phone calls!

It really is a deal when you start breaking down all the other gadgets you paid for that are in this one phone!! lol

 

[KZIWarrior]

my only problem with the gps is not any fault of google, I dont think. sometimes I will be driving on a highway and because the error of the position, it shows me on a parallel route next to the highway and attempts to correct me. usually it will get a better position and just carry on with the original route. This hasn't been a problem nor an inconvenience, just my observations of an excellent, free service.

Well that actually is the fault of Google, in a way of speaking... they have recently stopped their contract with TeleAtlas and another major provider (essentially the providers that TomTom and Garmin use) and as a result they are having to use their own maps/data in conjunction with free maps they get from the Census Bureau and other free sources.

Properly recording, monitoring and adjusting maps and correcting calibrating the GPS data in relationship is a HUGE job... it was foolish (and IMHO STUPID) for Google even consider taking on this task on their own. Especially at a time when they are developing a Navigation system... Come on Google WTF??? dumping TONS of money into a Navigation system is just pointless if you're not going to get detailed/accurate maps for the program to use.... serious FAIL on this one... :soapbox:

And before anyone chimes in with "nav and maps work perfect for me" congratulations... spend a minute on Googles support forums (if you can really call them 'support') to see just how many people are having problems with the maps lately. Yes, those of you in major populated areas, and those (particularly in the NorthEast) where the infrastructure hasn't changed in the last 10 years or so will be fine... for a LARGE portion of the rest of the country the maps are (now) a joke compared to the competition (even the free competition).