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1. Saving Your Life
In December 2006, on his way to drive home from Seattle back to San Francisco, a San Francisco online
Tech editor died in Oregon in a heavy snow storm because he made a wrong turn from the coastal Interstate
Highway 5 into a logging road and he drove very far and deep into remote federal land. His car and his family
then got stuck in that remote area in the snow storm for one week. The use of a GPS navigator could have
prevented such tragedy and saved his life. Within a few seconds of his wrong turn, the navigator would have
announced loudly "Off Route! Re-Calculating" and in a few more seconds, the navigator would have started
telling him how to get back to Interstate Highway 5. The navigator would not let him stray too far from the
busy Interstate Highway 5 such that even if his car got stuck on the road in the snow storm: (1) he and his
family could have walked back to the busy Interstate Highway 5 to get help since he and his family would not
have been very far from the busy Interstate Highway 5, or (2) he could have found easily the phone numbers
of nearby gas stations, towing companies, police stations, restaurants, stores, shopping centers, hotels, etc.
from the database of 6-million points of interest in the navigator to call for help since he would not be too far
from the busy Interstate Highway 5.
The user friendly features of GPS navigators are described in more details in the following Section 2.
2. Enrichment of Life
2.1 Basic Navigation
From time to time, I hear some friends saying that they cannot go to a concert, a party or a seminar because
of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory and location. Furthermore, sometimes some friends
arrive at a party more than one hour late because they got lost in the night driving into an unfamiliar location of
the party.
I have been enjoying using a GPS navigator to take me anywhere in North America. GPS stands for Global
Positioning System. (See references for GPS at end of Section 2.) The GPS navigator has a speaker that
tells me turn-by-turn driving instructions by Voice while I am driving so that I do not have to worry about how
to get there. For each turn along the route, the navigator speaker tells me three times so that I do not miss
the turn: the first time is a few miles before the turn, the second time is about 0.7 mile before the turn and the
last time is about 300 feet from the turn. The GPS navigator has detailed road map and detailed street map of
the entire North America so that I can use it anywhere in North America.
A Garmin StreetPilot Navigator on left photo. The power cable and the speaker on right photo for driving
instruction by voice
Usually, there is only one cross street within 300 feet so that I can make the correct turn into the correct
street without having to see clearly the street name sign on the road. This is very helpful in the evening, and
especially in the raining night.
But if I still miss a turn occasionally, no problem, just keep on driving and in a few seconds, the navigator will
detect my mistake and announce "Off Route, Re-Calculating". And in a few more seconds, the navigator is
ready to tell me the new instruction to go from my current wrong position to my destination.
While we are driving, the navigator tells me the instructions mainly by Voice. User can adjust the volume
(loudness) of the voice of navigator to suit his/her preference. While we are driving, we “glance” the
supplemental information on the screen of navigator briefly and occasionally only as a supplement.
The navigator has a touch-sensitive screen and software-defined keyboard on the screen for me to enter the
street address of my destination anywhere in North America. (There are several other options to make it even
easier to enter the destination. One of the options is illustrated in the following Section 2.2.)
2.2 Large Database of 6 Million Points of Interest
The small box of GPS navigator has a database of about 6 million Points Of Interest (POI) in North America.
What this means is that I have practically all the Yellow Pages of the phone books of all large cities and all
small towns in North America packed inside that small portable box traveling with me. I can find almost
anything (gas stations, restaurants, hotels/motels, stores, airports, schools, supermarkets, train stations,
parks, tourist attractions, etc.) that I may need while traveling anywhere in North America. This large database
includes not only large and famous restaurants, but also practically all the small restaurants, Pizza and fast
food restaurants such as McDonald, Burger King, Wendy, etc. For example, I can ask the navigator to display
all the restaurants in the area near my current position, the distance from my current position and the direction
to each of those items on the list. If I am interested and touch/select any one item on the list, the second level
of display shows the name, the address, and the phone number. Then, if I touch "Go To" icon on the screen,
the navigator will take me to that nearby item (restaurant or gas station, etc.). Or I can call that restaurant,
before I go, to see if they have the particular foods that I want.
On a raining Sunday evening in the City of St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada, we needed to buy some
grocery. We stopped at a gas station to ask for information. The gas station attendant said that practically all
stores were closed on Sunday evening. The only one that might be open was a 24-hour supermarket, which
was pretty far away. He began to give me directions in a long sequence of left turn at street X, right turn at
street Y, right turn at Street Z, etc. because the supermarket was pretty far away. It was impossible for me
to remember accurately that long sequence of turns and the associated street name for each turn, and it was
difficult to read street name signs while driving because it was dark and raining. Therefore, I asked him for the
name of the supermarket and the street the supermarket was on. Then I ask the navigator for the list of all
points of interest in that area. Surely, that supermarket was on the list. I finger-touched the name of that
supermarket, then touched "Go To" icon on the navigator screen. The navigator understood that I wanted to
go to that supermarket, and guided me through many turns to reach that supermarket.
Notice that in using these Points Of Interest, I do not have to know their addresses ahead of time and do not
have to enter the address into the GPS navigator.
2.3 Portable and Usable on Any Car
These navigators are quite small, and portable. I can use it not only in my own car but also in any other car,
including any rental car. The only required connection with the car is the power source by plugging into the
cigarette lighter plug as shown in the picture above on right side for power cable.
2.4 Voice Instruction
Some people are still not interested in GPS navigator because of the following misunderstandings:
(1) The screen on the navigator is too small such that I cannot read the map or the driving instructions on that
small screen, and
(2) I cannot see the street name sign on the road at night such that I cannot turn into the correct street at night
in the dark.
These people miss the key point that the GPS navigator provides driving instructions mainly by "Voice" so that
the user does not have to read the small map or the driving instructions on the small screen and does not need
to read the street name sign on the road at night in the dark. No safe driver will be staring at the map, no
matter how big the screen is, while driving. No GPS navigator is designed to give driving instructions by
requiring the driver to stare at the map on the screen while driving.
I have been using Garmin StreetPilot GPS navigator model 2620 for more than 6 years. It has been working
very well for my driving tours to many places such as Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick,
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver Island in Canada and Arizona, California, Delaware, Idaho,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, etc. I am very happy
with Garmin StreetPilot Model 2620.
There are several different brands, such as Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, etc., of navigators on the market.
They probably all have roughly similar functions and capabilities. But I do not have experience of using other
brands of navigators. Some friends get their comparative evaluation information from Consumer Report.
Furthermore, Amazon website on GPS navigators has very large amount of useful information from users'
comments and their experience on their GPS navigators.
A friend and his wife went for a cruise in South America last year. Their total cost for that single cruise trip
was about $10,000. Without a navigator, many people are uncomfortable to drive on their own in unfamiliar
places for sightseeing tours. Therefore, they have to spend about $10,000 for each of such guided group
tours. On the other hand, the GPS navigator enables me to tour many beautiful places in North America
without incurring such high cost of $10,000 per cruise/trip. Therefore, the cost of about one hundred dollars for
a GPS navigator is quite worthwhile from my viewpoint as a heavy user of the navigator. Furthermore, the
benefit of saving your life, as described in Section 1, is priceless.
2.5 Challenge of New Gadget for Senior People
Many new electronic gadgets are coming on the market rapidly with various new applications. Some senior
people are overwhelmed by such tidal wave of so many new gadgets such that they are not using GPS
navigator even though they can benefit most from the help of a GPS navigator. Even though GPS navigators
are usually very user friendly and easy to use, many senior people are still without GPS navigator and are still
struggling everyday on how to get to their destinations. Then after the party or the meeting in the evening is
over, these senior people also have to struggle very hard on how to get out of that area through many turns of
streets in the dark to go home.
A friend came to a dancing class for the first time recently and he was late by about 30 minutes. When he
came in, he told us about how difficult it was to find this dance class location, how he got lost and how he
struggled this way and that way in order to find this location eventually. I asked him if he was using a GPS
navigator. He said that his daughter has been using one, but nobody showed him how to use it such that he is
not using a GPS navigator.
In another occasion, at the end of a dinner party, a friend could not drive home because of the difficulty to see
street signs in the dark in the evening. She had a printout of the streets map of the area near the party
location such that she could find the way to come to the party location in the daytime. But at night, she could
not depend on the map to drive out of that party area. She had to ask the party host to drive a car to lead her
car in the dark out of that area to reach a major highway so that she could drive home from there.
It is well known that many young people are enjoying the great benefits of using GPS navigator. A simple and
effective way for senior people to over come the barrier of new gadgets is to get a ride in the car of their
children or a friend who has been using a GPS navigator. It is worthwhile to get such a ride for about 30
minutes to see how it works, how easy it is to operate the GPS navigator and how easy it is to connect the
GPS navigator into the cigarette lighter plug in the car. Such a 30-minute ride is sufficient to eliminate the
barrier of new gadget for the senior people to feel comfortable to spend about $100 to buy a GPS navigator.
This will eliminate those miserable daily struggles of how to get there and how to get out of there in the dark in
the evening to go home.
The entire GPS satellite system is owned by the US government, not by any private company. Therefore,
there is no monthly subscription fee to pay in order to use the basic navigation services.
I find that this navigator is very useful to me not only for driving at night to an unfamiliar location for party in
New Jersey, but also for driving tour of many beautiful places for sightseeing and bird watching anywhere in
North America. This is how I have been touring many beautiful places in North America as shown on my
Travelogue website at www.shltrip.com.
By using a GPS navigator, you are no longer limited and bound by the problem of “I cannot go to a concert, a
party or a seminar because of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory”. The navigator
eliminates a lot of anxiety and stress of driving because:
(A) The driver does not have to strain to try to look at the names of many oncoming cross roads/streets in an
unfamiliar area to try to find the correct street to make the next turn.
(B) When the navigator tells me that the next turn is 7 miles away, then I do not have to stay on the outside
lane of the highway. I shift into the middle lane of the highway so that I can drive more smoothly and
peacefully without the frequent interference by other cars entering into the highway or other cars slowing down
to prepare to exist the highway.
(C) With the Turn-By-Turn instruction from the GPS navigator, the driver does not have to worry about how to
get there.
The GPS navigator enables you to drive to any place at anytime you want. It will greatly enrich your life by
giving you a lot of new freedom.
Tutorial information on GPS (Global Positioning System) is available at the following websites:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/gps/
http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
http://www.trimble.com/gps/index.shtml
December 27, 2006
In December 2006, on his way to drive home from Seattle back to San Francisco, a San Francisco online
Tech editor died in Oregon in a heavy snow storm because he made a wrong turn from the coastal Interstate
Highway 5 into a logging road and he drove very far and deep into remote federal land. His car and his family
then got stuck in that remote area in the snow storm for one week. The use of a GPS navigator could have
prevented such tragedy and saved his life. Within a few seconds of his wrong turn, the navigator would have
announced loudly "Off Route! Re-Calculating" and in a few more seconds, the navigator would have started
telling him how to get back to Interstate Highway 5. The navigator would not let him stray too far from the
busy Interstate Highway 5 such that even if his car got stuck on the road in the snow storm: (1) he and his
family could have walked back to the busy Interstate Highway 5 to get help since he and his family would not
have been very far from the busy Interstate Highway 5, or (2) he could have found easily the phone numbers
of nearby gas stations, towing companies, police stations, restaurants, stores, shopping centers, hotels, etc.
from the database of 6-million points of interest in the navigator to call for help since he would not be too far
from the busy Interstate Highway 5.
The user friendly features of GPS navigators are described in more details in the following Section 2.
2. Enrichment of Life
2.1 Basic Navigation
From time to time, I hear some friends saying that they cannot go to a concert, a party or a seminar because
of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory and location. Furthermore, sometimes some friends
arrive at a party more than one hour late because they got lost in the night driving into an unfamiliar location of
the party.
I have been enjoying using a GPS navigator to take me anywhere in North America. GPS stands for Global
Positioning System. (See references for GPS at end of Section 2.) The GPS navigator has a speaker that
tells me turn-by-turn driving instructions by Voice while I am driving so that I do not have to worry about how
to get there. For each turn along the route, the navigator speaker tells me three times so that I do not miss
the turn: the first time is a few miles before the turn, the second time is about 0.7 mile before the turn and the
last time is about 300 feet from the turn. The GPS navigator has detailed road map and detailed street map of
the entire North America so that I can use it anywhere in North America.
A Garmin StreetPilot Navigator on left photo. The power cable and the speaker on right photo for driving
instruction by voice
Usually, there is only one cross street within 300 feet so that I can make the correct turn into the correct
street without having to see clearly the street name sign on the road. This is very helpful in the evening, and
especially in the raining night.
But if I still miss a turn occasionally, no problem, just keep on driving and in a few seconds, the navigator will
detect my mistake and announce "Off Route, Re-Calculating". And in a few more seconds, the navigator is
ready to tell me the new instruction to go from my current wrong position to my destination.
While we are driving, the navigator tells me the instructions mainly by Voice. User can adjust the volume
(loudness) of the voice of navigator to suit his/her preference. While we are driving, we “glance” the
supplemental information on the screen of navigator briefly and occasionally only as a supplement.
The navigator has a touch-sensitive screen and software-defined keyboard on the screen for me to enter the
street address of my destination anywhere in North America. (There are several other options to make it even
easier to enter the destination. One of the options is illustrated in the following Section 2.2.)
2.2 Large Database of 6 Million Points of Interest
The small box of GPS navigator has a database of about 6 million Points Of Interest (POI) in North America.
What this means is that I have practically all the Yellow Pages of the phone books of all large cities and all
small towns in North America packed inside that small portable box traveling with me. I can find almost
anything (gas stations, restaurants, hotels/motels, stores, airports, schools, supermarkets, train stations,
parks, tourist attractions, etc.) that I may need while traveling anywhere in North America. This large database
includes not only large and famous restaurants, but also practically all the small restaurants, Pizza and fast
food restaurants such as McDonald, Burger King, Wendy, etc. For example, I can ask the navigator to display
all the restaurants in the area near my current position, the distance from my current position and the direction
to each of those items on the list. If I am interested and touch/select any one item on the list, the second level
of display shows the name, the address, and the phone number. Then, if I touch "Go To" icon on the screen,
the navigator will take me to that nearby item (restaurant or gas station, etc.). Or I can call that restaurant,
before I go, to see if they have the particular foods that I want.
On a raining Sunday evening in the City of St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada, we needed to buy some
grocery. We stopped at a gas station to ask for information. The gas station attendant said that practically all
stores were closed on Sunday evening. The only one that might be open was a 24-hour supermarket, which
was pretty far away. He began to give me directions in a long sequence of left turn at street X, right turn at
street Y, right turn at Street Z, etc. because the supermarket was pretty far away. It was impossible for me
to remember accurately that long sequence of turns and the associated street name for each turn, and it was
difficult to read street name signs while driving because it was dark and raining. Therefore, I asked him for the
name of the supermarket and the street the supermarket was on. Then I ask the navigator for the list of all
points of interest in that area. Surely, that supermarket was on the list. I finger-touched the name of that
supermarket, then touched "Go To" icon on the navigator screen. The navigator understood that I wanted to
go to that supermarket, and guided me through many turns to reach that supermarket.
Notice that in using these Points Of Interest, I do not have to know their addresses ahead of time and do not
have to enter the address into the GPS navigator.
2.3 Portable and Usable on Any Car
These navigators are quite small, and portable. I can use it not only in my own car but also in any other car,
including any rental car. The only required connection with the car is the power source by plugging into the
cigarette lighter plug as shown in the picture above on right side for power cable.
2.4 Voice Instruction
Some people are still not interested in GPS navigator because of the following misunderstandings:
(1) The screen on the navigator is too small such that I cannot read the map or the driving instructions on that
small screen, and
(2) I cannot see the street name sign on the road at night such that I cannot turn into the correct street at night
in the dark.
These people miss the key point that the GPS navigator provides driving instructions mainly by "Voice" so that
the user does not have to read the small map or the driving instructions on the small screen and does not need
to read the street name sign on the road at night in the dark. No safe driver will be staring at the map, no
matter how big the screen is, while driving. No GPS navigator is designed to give driving instructions by
requiring the driver to stare at the map on the screen while driving.
I have been using Garmin StreetPilot GPS navigator model 2620 for more than 6 years. It has been working
very well for my driving tours to many places such as Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick,
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver Island in Canada and Arizona, California, Delaware, Idaho,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia, etc. I am very happy
with Garmin StreetPilot Model 2620.
There are several different brands, such as Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, etc., of navigators on the market.
They probably all have roughly similar functions and capabilities. But I do not have experience of using other
brands of navigators. Some friends get their comparative evaluation information from Consumer Report.
Furthermore, Amazon website on GPS navigators has very large amount of useful information from users'
comments and their experience on their GPS navigators.
A friend and his wife went for a cruise in South America last year. Their total cost for that single cruise trip
was about $10,000. Without a navigator, many people are uncomfortable to drive on their own in unfamiliar
places for sightseeing tours. Therefore, they have to spend about $10,000 for each of such guided group
tours. On the other hand, the GPS navigator enables me to tour many beautiful places in North America
without incurring such high cost of $10,000 per cruise/trip. Therefore, the cost of about one hundred dollars for
a GPS navigator is quite worthwhile from my viewpoint as a heavy user of the navigator. Furthermore, the
benefit of saving your life, as described in Section 1, is priceless.
2.5 Challenge of New Gadget for Senior People
Many new electronic gadgets are coming on the market rapidly with various new applications. Some senior
people are overwhelmed by such tidal wave of so many new gadgets such that they are not using GPS
navigator even though they can benefit most from the help of a GPS navigator. Even though GPS navigators
are usually very user friendly and easy to use, many senior people are still without GPS navigator and are still
struggling everyday on how to get to their destinations. Then after the party or the meeting in the evening is
over, these senior people also have to struggle very hard on how to get out of that area through many turns of
streets in the dark to go home.
A friend came to a dancing class for the first time recently and he was late by about 30 minutes. When he
came in, he told us about how difficult it was to find this dance class location, how he got lost and how he
struggled this way and that way in order to find this location eventually. I asked him if he was using a GPS
navigator. He said that his daughter has been using one, but nobody showed him how to use it such that he is
not using a GPS navigator.
In another occasion, at the end of a dinner party, a friend could not drive home because of the difficulty to see
street signs in the dark in the evening. She had a printout of the streets map of the area near the party
location such that she could find the way to come to the party location in the daytime. But at night, she could
not depend on the map to drive out of that party area. She had to ask the party host to drive a car to lead her
car in the dark out of that area to reach a major highway so that she could drive home from there.
It is well known that many young people are enjoying the great benefits of using GPS navigator. A simple and
effective way for senior people to over come the barrier of new gadgets is to get a ride in the car of their
children or a friend who has been using a GPS navigator. It is worthwhile to get such a ride for about 30
minutes to see how it works, how easy it is to operate the GPS navigator and how easy it is to connect the
GPS navigator into the cigarette lighter plug in the car. Such a 30-minute ride is sufficient to eliminate the
barrier of new gadget for the senior people to feel comfortable to spend about $100 to buy a GPS navigator.
This will eliminate those miserable daily struggles of how to get there and how to get out of there in the dark in
the evening to go home.
The entire GPS satellite system is owned by the US government, not by any private company. Therefore,
there is no monthly subscription fee to pay in order to use the basic navigation services.
I find that this navigator is very useful to me not only for driving at night to an unfamiliar location for party in
New Jersey, but also for driving tour of many beautiful places for sightseeing and bird watching anywhere in
North America. This is how I have been touring many beautiful places in North America as shown on my
Travelogue website at www.shltrip.com.
By using a GPS navigator, you are no longer limited and bound by the problem of “I cannot go to a concert, a
party or a seminar because of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory”. The navigator
eliminates a lot of anxiety and stress of driving because:
(A) The driver does not have to strain to try to look at the names of many oncoming cross roads/streets in an
unfamiliar area to try to find the correct street to make the next turn.
(B) When the navigator tells me that the next turn is 7 miles away, then I do not have to stay on the outside
lane of the highway. I shift into the middle lane of the highway so that I can drive more smoothly and
peacefully without the frequent interference by other cars entering into the highway or other cars slowing down
to prepare to exist the highway.
(C) With the Turn-By-Turn instruction from the GPS navigator, the driver does not have to worry about how to
get there.
The GPS navigator enables you to drive to any place at anytime you want. It will greatly enrich your life by
giving you a lot of new freedom.
Tutorial information on GPS (Global Positioning System) is available at the following websites:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/gps/
http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
http://www.trimble.com/gps/index.shtml
December 27, 2006
| Saving and Enrichment of Life by using GPS Navigator |
A Garmin Nuvi GPS Navigator A Tom Tom GPS Navigator
3. New Generation of GPS Navigators:
Just like most other consumer electronic devices, the technologies and functional features of GPS navigators
have been advancing very fast while the physical sizes and weights are decreasing year by year. There are
also increasing number of manufacturers competing in this rapidly growing market. Consequently, the prices
have been decreasing rapidly year by year.
Just like most other consumer electronic devices, the technologies and functional features of GPS navigators
have been advancing very fast while the physical sizes and weights are decreasing year by year. There are
also increasing number of manufacturers competing in this rapidly growing market. Consequently, the prices
have been decreasing rapidly year by year.
These are two sample photos of the new generation of GPS navigators that are smaller, lighter and less
expensive than my 6-year old GPS navigator. They have new and more advanced receiver chips such that
these new navigators are much more sensitive and work well in much more challenging environment than my
6-year old navigator does. Yet, these new navigators are very inexpensive, costing only about $150 or less in
November 2009. Furthermore, with built-in small rechargeable battery, these new navigators can be put in the
shirt pocket so that they can also be used while the user is hiking in remote areas or walking on the street in a
big and unfamiliar city.
On the other hand, my 6-year old GPS navigator is still working very well after 6 years of heavy use all over the
North America and after extensive heavy shaking on some very rough pebble roads.
4. Benefits of Supplemental Information on the Screen of GPS Navigator
4.1. Estimated Arrival Time: In September of 2008, a friend-couple and I drove separately to meet at the
Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania in the morning to watch Fall Migration of large number of hawks. The friend
couple arrived at the Hawk Mountain much earlier than I did. They called me on mobile phone while I was still
driving on the highway and they asked me where I was and how long it would take me to arrive. My partner on
the passenger seat answered the mobile phone call. We looked at the screen of our GPS navigator and it
indicated that 20 more minutes for us to arrive at our destination of Hawk Mountain. So, we told that friend
couple 20 more minutes before we arrive. With that key information, the friend couple went up to the first
observation location on the Hawk Mountain and enjoyed watching a large group of many hawks riding a rising
thermal in the air to go up high, then glide out of the thermal to fly south. Then they came back to meet us at
the entrance gate of the Hawk Mountain. It turned out that event of the large kettle of rising hawks was the
best show in that whole day. If we did not have that information of 20 minutes from the GPS navigator, our
friend-couple might have stayed at the entrance gate to wait for us and missed the best show of the day
entirely.
4.2. Estimated Arrival Time Again: I usually go to beautiful national parks to see beautiful sceneries or to
national wildlife refuges for bird watching or wildlife watching and photography. These national parks and
national wildlife refuges are usually in remote rural areas where there is no traffic jam. The estimated arrival
time to destination on the screen of GPS navigator is usually very accurate. Such accurate arrival time has
been very useful and helpful in my sightseeing trip. For example, when we finish touring a remote national park
and want to go to our next motel for the night, if the GPS navigator tells me that our arrival time is before 8 PM,
then we will stay hungry and drive to the area of our next motel to enjoy a better dinner because there are
usually better restaurants in the small town near the motel. On the other hand, if the GPS navigator indicates
that our arrival time to next motel is 10 PM or even later in the evening when most restaurants will be closed,
then we will eat first at a small and simple food outfit near the remote national park before taking the long drive
to the next motel. While eating dinner near the remote national park, I will also call the next motel to tell them
that I am coming and my arrival time and make sure that they keep my reserved hotel room for me even though
I usually have a guaranteed reservation for late arrival using my credit card.
We usually have never been to those motels previously and (without the help of the GPS navigator) we usually
do not know how long it will take to drive from a given remote national park to the next motel because we
usually are in a new and unfamiliar territory in the sightseeing trip.
4.3. 6-Million Points of Interest: There are other benefits of several other helpful supplemental information on
the GPS navigator. The benefits of 6-million Points of Interest in the small GPS navigator have been described
Sections 1 and 2.2.
4.4 Via Points: One more example: we can look at the route planned by the GPS navigator for us. If we do not
like that route, we can enter one or two Via-Points which will force the GPS navigator to plan to new route
going through those Via-Points to reach our destination. Then the new route planned by the GPS navigator Via
those Points may be much closer to our preferred route.
For example, if we are going from Queens-Flushing in New York metropolitan area back to mid New Jersey,
the route planned by GPS navigator may take us through Midtown Tunnel, Manhattan and Lincoln Tunnel as the
shorter route. But such shorter route can be horrible because we will run into terrible traffic jams at Midtown
Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln Tunnel. On the other hand, if we specify Verrazano Bridge as a Via Point,
then the new route planned by the GPS navigator will go through Verrazano Bridge to come back to mid New
Jersey, thereby avoiding all those terrible traffic jams at Midtown Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln Tunnel.
Such new route is certainly much better as my preferred route to avoid all those heavy traffic jams even though
the new route may not be the shorter route.
4.4.1. Elimination of Driving Stress: You may wonder if I know the preferred route, why do I still need the
GPS navigator to drive from Quuens/Flushing back to New Jersey? The reason is that this long driving route
has multiple lanes with heavy traffic and several tricky Y-Splits along the way. Sometimes the correct lane is on
right side whereas other times the correct lane is on left side. If I do not shift to the correct lane at the right
section of the road, it is very easy to be forced by the heavy traffic flow onto the wrong side of the Y-Split to
go over a bridge into Manhattan against my will to run into all the terrible traffic jams. Sometimes a big truck in
front of me blocks my view of the overhead road signs such that I end up in the wrong side of the Y-Split into
Manhattan or a street in downtown Brooklyn. I do not drive this route frequently such that I do not remember
the correct lanes for all these tricky Y-Splits. Such driving to try to avoid all these potential troubles and traps is
quite stressful.
On the other hand, the GPS navigator knows about all these tricky Y-Splits and will tell me ahead of time to
shift to the correct lane to get ready for each on-coming Y-Split no matter whether I can see the overhead road
sign or not. Therefore, GPS navigator can eliminate a lot of stress of driving on such tricky route with heavy
traffic and guide me back to New Jersey smoothly. It is a much more comfortable, relaxed and smooth driving
with the help of the GPS navigator.
4.4.2. How to Add a Via Point
In Garmin Nuvi-350 GPS navigator, after we finished entering the destination and the navigator has finished
calculation for the route and is ready to guide us to our destination, if we enter one more new destination, the
GPS navigator will ask us if this new destination is a Via Point on the original route to go to the first destination
or is this a totally new destination for a new route unrelated to the first destination and the associated first
route. If you press the Yes (It is a Via Point) option at this point, then GPS navigator will keep the first
destination, add this new, second destination as a Via Point and will recalculate a new route that will go through
this Via Point to reach the first destination.
5. Caution on Unpaved Roads or Roads with Deep Snow
5.1. Potential Risks for Driving on Unpaved Roads
In GPS navigator, there is an option for user to check or un-check so that the user can allow or
disallow the GPS navigator to use low quality, unpaved roads as part of the calculated and
recommended route to reach user's destination. For traveling in unfamiliar territory, it is safer for the
user to disallow the GPS navigator to use the unpaved roads, and to force the GPS navigator to use
only the well travelled, higher quality, paved highway for the calculated and recommended route to
reach the destination.
One may consider using an unpaved road only in the familiar territory that one already knows that it is
safe. Otherwise, one should not drive onto an unpaved highway in an unfamiliar territory even if the
GPS navigator tells you to go into an unpaved road because (1) it is a big unknown, (2) it may be
dangerous: the car may get stuck in mud, or loose sand, or deep rut, or water crossing where the
water level may swell in a raining day, or deep snow on unpaved and unplowed road (getting stuck in
deep snow in the winter in a remote area for several days can be life threatening), etc., (3) very few
other travelers on those low quality, unpaved roads such that one may get stuck in there for many
days, and (4) the commercial towing trucks usually will help you only on paved highways and will
refuge to come to unpaved road to help you because the regular towing truck may also get stuck on
such unpaved road. Please read the real life news stories of such danger at the following website:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_re_us/us_stranded_motorists
One must not follow the GPS navigator blindly and must exercise common sense for safety. For
example, the GPS navigator does not know the weather condition and does not know if the heavy
snow on a road is plowed or not.
After the GPS navigator finished calculating a recommended route for you, you can check it to see if
you like the route or not. One method to check is to zoom out the map on the GPS screen so that you
can see the entire recommended route (with special color). The second method is to use the menu to
see the route in text form and scroll through several pages to see all sections of the route. Most of the
time, the recommended route is good and you can follow it. But occasionally, you do not like the
recommended route, then there are several methods that you can use to force the GPS navigator to
recalculate to produce a new and different recommended route. These methods (A), (B) and (C) are
described in the following two paragraphs.
If you forget to check the safe option and the GPS navigator tells you to go into an unpaved road in an
unfamiliar territory or into a remote forest logging road with unplowed deep snow, you (A) should have
a big warning red alert in your mind to reject such potentially dangerous navigation, should stay on
the high quality paved highway and should keep driving on the paved highway with frequent travellers
and with snow plow clearing away the heavy snow from the highway. Such rejection will force the GPS
navigator to detect your deviation from its recommended "dangerous" route and to re-calculate to
produce a new and better route from your current position to reach your destination.
In case if the navigator is still stubbornly guiding you back to that unpaved road or that road with
unplowed deep snow, you may (B) choose one or more Via Points on higher quality, paved highway to
force the GPS navigator to recalculate a new route that goes through your specified Via Points to
reach your destination. (The method to set Via Points is described in Section 4.4.2 above,) or (C)
change the route selection criterion from Shorter-Distance Route to Shorter-Time Route or vice versa
such that the new route selection criterion may force the GPS navigator to select a new route without
using the unpaved road or the road with unplowed deep snow.
5.2. Need for Safety Design Against Risk of Unpaved Roads
GPS navigator has become very popular and many users are relying heavily on GPS navigators for
their driving guidance. They assume that the GPS navigator will always guide them safely. To meet
such users' expectation for safe navigation, the GPS navigator should be designed with the following
safeguards:
5.2.1. When the GPS navigator is about to guide the user to go into a low quality, unpaved road, the GPS
navigator has a responsibility and obligation to give user a strong warning by both voice and screen
display about the potential danger and risk of driving on an unpaved road.
5.2.2. Many users do not know the option buried in the complex menu structure to allow or to disallow
the GPS navigator to include the unpaved roads in its calculated and recommended route. For safety
consideration, the default setting in the GPS navigator should be to disallow the GPS navigator to use
the unpaved roads.
If a more knowledgeable user digs through the complex menu structure to find this option and to
change the default setting to allow the GPS navigator to use the unpaved road, then such more
knowledgeable user bears more responsibility for the potential danger and risk of entering the lower
quality, unpaved roads because of his/her deliberate action to change the default setting in the GPS
navigator. However, some curious users may change this safe default setting accidentally. Therefore,
the warning in 6.2.1 is still necessary even if the safe default setting is changed by the user.
When a user checked a box to change this safe default setting, the GPS navigator should respond
with a warning of the potential risk of driving on unpaved roads and should ask the user for a
confirmation that the user understands the risk and really wants to change the safe default setting. It
should be only after such confirmation before the change is accepted and implemented by the GPS
navigator.
Original in 2006, Updated on October 7, 2011
expensive than my 6-year old GPS navigator. They have new and more advanced receiver chips such that
these new navigators are much more sensitive and work well in much more challenging environment than my
6-year old navigator does. Yet, these new navigators are very inexpensive, costing only about $150 or less in
November 2009. Furthermore, with built-in small rechargeable battery, these new navigators can be put in the
shirt pocket so that they can also be used while the user is hiking in remote areas or walking on the street in a
big and unfamiliar city.
On the other hand, my 6-year old GPS navigator is still working very well after 6 years of heavy use all over the
North America and after extensive heavy shaking on some very rough pebble roads.
4. Benefits of Supplemental Information on the Screen of GPS Navigator
4.1. Estimated Arrival Time: In September of 2008, a friend-couple and I drove separately to meet at the
Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania in the morning to watch Fall Migration of large number of hawks. The friend
couple arrived at the Hawk Mountain much earlier than I did. They called me on mobile phone while I was still
driving on the highway and they asked me where I was and how long it would take me to arrive. My partner on
the passenger seat answered the mobile phone call. We looked at the screen of our GPS navigator and it
indicated that 20 more minutes for us to arrive at our destination of Hawk Mountain. So, we told that friend
couple 20 more minutes before we arrive. With that key information, the friend couple went up to the first
observation location on the Hawk Mountain and enjoyed watching a large group of many hawks riding a rising
thermal in the air to go up high, then glide out of the thermal to fly south. Then they came back to meet us at
the entrance gate of the Hawk Mountain. It turned out that event of the large kettle of rising hawks was the
best show in that whole day. If we did not have that information of 20 minutes from the GPS navigator, our
friend-couple might have stayed at the entrance gate to wait for us and missed the best show of the day
entirely.
4.2. Estimated Arrival Time Again: I usually go to beautiful national parks to see beautiful sceneries or to
national wildlife refuges for bird watching or wildlife watching and photography. These national parks and
national wildlife refuges are usually in remote rural areas where there is no traffic jam. The estimated arrival
time to destination on the screen of GPS navigator is usually very accurate. Such accurate arrival time has
been very useful and helpful in my sightseeing trip. For example, when we finish touring a remote national park
and want to go to our next motel for the night, if the GPS navigator tells me that our arrival time is before 8 PM,
then we will stay hungry and drive to the area of our next motel to enjoy a better dinner because there are
usually better restaurants in the small town near the motel. On the other hand, if the GPS navigator indicates
that our arrival time to next motel is 10 PM or even later in the evening when most restaurants will be closed,
then we will eat first at a small and simple food outfit near the remote national park before taking the long drive
to the next motel. While eating dinner near the remote national park, I will also call the next motel to tell them
that I am coming and my arrival time and make sure that they keep my reserved hotel room for me even though
I usually have a guaranteed reservation for late arrival using my credit card.
We usually have never been to those motels previously and (without the help of the GPS navigator) we usually
do not know how long it will take to drive from a given remote national park to the next motel because we
usually are in a new and unfamiliar territory in the sightseeing trip.
4.3. 6-Million Points of Interest: There are other benefits of several other helpful supplemental information on
the GPS navigator. The benefits of 6-million Points of Interest in the small GPS navigator have been described
Sections 1 and 2.2.
4.4 Via Points: One more example: we can look at the route planned by the GPS navigator for us. If we do not
like that route, we can enter one or two Via-Points which will force the GPS navigator to plan to new route
going through those Via-Points to reach our destination. Then the new route planned by the GPS navigator Via
those Points may be much closer to our preferred route.
For example, if we are going from Queens-Flushing in New York metropolitan area back to mid New Jersey,
the route planned by GPS navigator may take us through Midtown Tunnel, Manhattan and Lincoln Tunnel as the
shorter route. But such shorter route can be horrible because we will run into terrible traffic jams at Midtown
Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln Tunnel. On the other hand, if we specify Verrazano Bridge as a Via Point,
then the new route planned by the GPS navigator will go through Verrazano Bridge to come back to mid New
Jersey, thereby avoiding all those terrible traffic jams at Midtown Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln Tunnel.
Such new route is certainly much better as my preferred route to avoid all those heavy traffic jams even though
the new route may not be the shorter route.
4.4.1. Elimination of Driving Stress: You may wonder if I know the preferred route, why do I still need the
GPS navigator to drive from Quuens/Flushing back to New Jersey? The reason is that this long driving route
has multiple lanes with heavy traffic and several tricky Y-Splits along the way. Sometimes the correct lane is on
right side whereas other times the correct lane is on left side. If I do not shift to the correct lane at the right
section of the road, it is very easy to be forced by the heavy traffic flow onto the wrong side of the Y-Split to
go over a bridge into Manhattan against my will to run into all the terrible traffic jams. Sometimes a big truck in
front of me blocks my view of the overhead road signs such that I end up in the wrong side of the Y-Split into
Manhattan or a street in downtown Brooklyn. I do not drive this route frequently such that I do not remember
the correct lanes for all these tricky Y-Splits. Such driving to try to avoid all these potential troubles and traps is
quite stressful.
On the other hand, the GPS navigator knows about all these tricky Y-Splits and will tell me ahead of time to
shift to the correct lane to get ready for each on-coming Y-Split no matter whether I can see the overhead road
sign or not. Therefore, GPS navigator can eliminate a lot of stress of driving on such tricky route with heavy
traffic and guide me back to New Jersey smoothly. It is a much more comfortable, relaxed and smooth driving
with the help of the GPS navigator.
4.4.2. How to Add a Via Point
In Garmin Nuvi-350 GPS navigator, after we finished entering the destination and the navigator has finished
calculation for the route and is ready to guide us to our destination, if we enter one more new destination, the
GPS navigator will ask us if this new destination is a Via Point on the original route to go to the first destination
or is this a totally new destination for a new route unrelated to the first destination and the associated first
route. If you press the Yes (It is a Via Point) option at this point, then GPS navigator will keep the first
destination, add this new, second destination as a Via Point and will recalculate a new route that will go through
this Via Point to reach the first destination.
5. Caution on Unpaved Roads or Roads with Deep Snow
5.1. Potential Risks for Driving on Unpaved Roads
In GPS navigator, there is an option for user to check or un-check so that the user can allow or
disallow the GPS navigator to use low quality, unpaved roads as part of the calculated and
recommended route to reach user's destination. For traveling in unfamiliar territory, it is safer for the
user to disallow the GPS navigator to use the unpaved roads, and to force the GPS navigator to use
only the well travelled, higher quality, paved highway for the calculated and recommended route to
reach the destination.
One may consider using an unpaved road only in the familiar territory that one already knows that it is
safe. Otherwise, one should not drive onto an unpaved highway in an unfamiliar territory even if the
GPS navigator tells you to go into an unpaved road because (1) it is a big unknown, (2) it may be
dangerous: the car may get stuck in mud, or loose sand, or deep rut, or water crossing where the
water level may swell in a raining day, or deep snow on unpaved and unplowed road (getting stuck in
deep snow in the winter in a remote area for several days can be life threatening), etc., (3) very few
other travelers on those low quality, unpaved roads such that one may get stuck in there for many
days, and (4) the commercial towing trucks usually will help you only on paved highways and will
refuge to come to unpaved road to help you because the regular towing truck may also get stuck on
such unpaved road. Please read the real life news stories of such danger at the following website:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_re_us/us_stranded_motorists
One must not follow the GPS navigator blindly and must exercise common sense for safety. For
example, the GPS navigator does not know the weather condition and does not know if the heavy
snow on a road is plowed or not.
After the GPS navigator finished calculating a recommended route for you, you can check it to see if
you like the route or not. One method to check is to zoom out the map on the GPS screen so that you
can see the entire recommended route (with special color). The second method is to use the menu to
see the route in text form and scroll through several pages to see all sections of the route. Most of the
time, the recommended route is good and you can follow it. But occasionally, you do not like the
recommended route, then there are several methods that you can use to force the GPS navigator to
recalculate to produce a new and different recommended route. These methods (A), (B) and (C) are
described in the following two paragraphs.
If you forget to check the safe option and the GPS navigator tells you to go into an unpaved road in an
unfamiliar territory or into a remote forest logging road with unplowed deep snow, you (A) should have
a big warning red alert in your mind to reject such potentially dangerous navigation, should stay on
the high quality paved highway and should keep driving on the paved highway with frequent travellers
and with snow plow clearing away the heavy snow from the highway. Such rejection will force the GPS
navigator to detect your deviation from its recommended "dangerous" route and to re-calculate to
produce a new and better route from your current position to reach your destination.
In case if the navigator is still stubbornly guiding you back to that unpaved road or that road with
unplowed deep snow, you may (B) choose one or more Via Points on higher quality, paved highway to
force the GPS navigator to recalculate a new route that goes through your specified Via Points to
reach your destination. (The method to set Via Points is described in Section 4.4.2 above,) or (C)
change the route selection criterion from Shorter-Distance Route to Shorter-Time Route or vice versa
such that the new route selection criterion may force the GPS navigator to select a new route without
using the unpaved road or the road with unplowed deep snow.
5.2. Need for Safety Design Against Risk of Unpaved Roads
GPS navigator has become very popular and many users are relying heavily on GPS navigators for
their driving guidance. They assume that the GPS navigator will always guide them safely. To meet
such users' expectation for safe navigation, the GPS navigator should be designed with the following
safeguards:
5.2.1. When the GPS navigator is about to guide the user to go into a low quality, unpaved road, the GPS
navigator has a responsibility and obligation to give user a strong warning by both voice and screen
display about the potential danger and risk of driving on an unpaved road.
5.2.2. Many users do not know the option buried in the complex menu structure to allow or to disallow
the GPS navigator to include the unpaved roads in its calculated and recommended route. For safety
consideration, the default setting in the GPS navigator should be to disallow the GPS navigator to use
the unpaved roads.
If a more knowledgeable user digs through the complex menu structure to find this option and to
change the default setting to allow the GPS navigator to use the unpaved road, then such more
knowledgeable user bears more responsibility for the potential danger and risk of entering the lower
quality, unpaved roads because of his/her deliberate action to change the default setting in the GPS
navigator. However, some curious users may change this safe default setting accidentally. Therefore,
the warning in 6.2.1 is still necessary even if the safe default setting is changed by the user.
When a user checked a box to change this safe default setting, the GPS navigator should respond
with a warning of the potential risk of driving on unpaved roads and should ask the user for a
confirmation that the user understands the risk and really wants to change the safe default setting. It
should be only after such confirmation before the change is accepted and implemented by the GPS
navigator.
Original in 2006, Updated on October 7, 2011
Please press the F11 key on your keyboard to get full-screen view of photos and web page. Pressing F11 key
again will return to your normal screen with various tool bars.
again will return to your normal screen with various tool bars.