The sound of GPS - a backseat driver in handheld form

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 6 Sep 2002 at 16:14

Navman has voice-enabled its GPS system for iPAQ handhelds. The geographical information system can now literally tell you how to get home.

The company already provides GPS-based add-ons for a range of handhelds, but the Navman GPS3400 add-on includes a speech element to its wireless navigational advice.

Turn-by-turn instructions are now provided by a (British) male or female voice, and the system can announce speed limits and round about exit warnings in advance. The Navman user-interface has also been updated with larger graphics and the support for detailed touch-screen control.

The system is capable of calculating the shortest or quickest route to any destination, and - to avoid repeating commonly used addresses - you can store frequently used destinations, in the manner of bookmarking favourite Web sites.

Once maps are downloaded - of partial areas or entire countries - they can be viewed at different levels of detail to help with orientation, perhaps switching from a motorway-level to detailed street information. The unit uses 128MB compact flash memory cards.

As well as including landmarks, such as parks, lakes, hotels and petrol stations, the GPS3400 is designed to accommodate diversions and re-calculates the originally planned route.

Available in the UK the end of September, the unit has an RRP of £380. A Compaq iPaq is not included!

For more info, check out www.navman-mobile.com.