[ale] Garmin killer

[Pat Regan]

On 12/31/2009 01:39 PM, krwatson at cc.gatech.edu wrote:
> I have a Garmin but there are some features it doesn't support.

I have an older Garmin.  It made me very unhappy about one or two years 
ago.  It was about 3:00 AM and I still had a few hours left on a 12+ 
hour drive.  She had me on a route over a bridge that was closed due to 
construction.  She sure didn't want to find me a new route, and she 
eventually ended up getting me lost on a road that turned into a dirt road.

She almost ended up on the road under one of my tires :p.

> or Google
>
> First Look: Verizon Droid with Google Maps GPS
> http://www.pcworld.com/article/174589/first_look_verizon_droid_with_google_maps_gps.html

I've only gotten to play around a bit with Google Maps Navigation on my 
G1.  So far, I like it for a lot of reasons.  Unfortunately, I haven't 
had a chance to test it in an instance where I don't know where I'm 
going :p.

My old Garmin is very insistent.  She wants you to follow her directions 
or she gets angry.  Google, and apparently other newer GPS units, seems 
to do a good job of updating your course to match your mistakes.

My first test was back home, up north.  Google wanted me to take the 
"wrong" way to my friend's house.  She updated to a route similar to 
what I wanted to take within less than a 1/4 mile taking the route I 
wanted to take.  Farther into the drive she wanted me to take some 
slightly different streets than I wanted to, but she always quickly 
updated to take me on the road I chose.  This was only a 15 miles trip.

I also recently tested it on a trip from PA to GA.  I didn't leave it 
navigating all the time, I just used it for distance and timing updates. 
  Google seems to incorporate traffic data with your ETA, which is nice.

I also prefer entering destinations on Google Maps.  I don't have to 
know addresses.  You can just tell it to navigate to McDonald's, 
Starbucks, or Dunkin' Donuts.  It'll pop up a list of nearby choices.  I 
understand the Droid's voice search can understand something like 
"navigate to mcdonalds" and it does the right thing.  My g1 just takes 
me to a google search :p.

The traffic data is nice and seems accurate, too.  On my trip back to 
GA, I was slowed down to about 35 MPH or less on I-75 southbound.  Nav 
was already running, so I turned on the traffic layer.  Sure enough, the 
road in front of me was yellow for a short way.  It also seemed to be 
yellow for about the right distance, too.

Google has an Android app called the "places directory."  It seems to be 
a categorized list of things listed in Google Local.  All that 
functionality and more seems to have ended up in the Maps app now.  That 
was helpful for finding a cheap motel to crash at on my last road trip.

Pat