GPS Navigation options compared

[Guest travisb]

I've recently tried 3 sorts of navigation software with GPS support on my C500. I thought I'd share my experiences and opinions on each. This is just a quick review of my experiences, Paul is still conducting his mega test!

Hardware:

Bluetooth GPS receiver: Fortuna Clip-on

Software:

Mapopolis

CoPilot

PocketStreets

Mapopolis

Good:

Ability to zoom in on a area of a map to find address, POI etc.

Ability to save and recall trips.

Spoken directions clear.

Excellent customer support.

I found locating addresses a bit hit and miss

Good at re-orientating itself should you decide against its preferred route.

Not so Good

Map detail - my road is not even shown despite being off an A road. Mapopolis admit to poor detail in Ireland, but it seems Wales (at least the Gwynedd map) suffers similarly. New European maps are due out shortly so things should hopefully get better. Having now swapped to the US pack, I can say these are very detailed.

Safety camera POI's have to be installed separately.

CoPilot

Good

Spoken directions clear

Safety camera POI warnings

Ability to get traffic jam warnings

Easy to install via mini sd (which comes with normal sd converter). This also has more extra space on it than the standard Orange supplied 16m mini sd.

Your location can be tracked via a web site so people can know where you are. (Not sure if this is good or bad thing!)

Not so good

In the short time I've had it, I've found if I deviate from the route it recommends, it can get disorientated for longer than Mapopolis.

Not found much use for the PC installation. In mitigation I've only had it 4 days!

Again, in my part of the world, detail is not that great. At least my road is shown, albeit as 'unnamed road' but no addresses shown at all. The Marina is also missing.

PocketStreets

The new version of PocketStreets for Smartphone (available with Autoroute 2005 and Streets and Trips (US only) now supports GPS.

Good

Trip planning via pc and ability to export a map area to the phone (via ActiveSync).

Not so good

No directions, either spoken or text, it only gives a 'you're here' location on the map.

Have to print out directions from pc.

Overall Observations:

If you are a UK road warrior, casting a nervous eye on the points total on your licence, then CoPilot is the one in my opinion. Admittedly once Tom Tom solves it's C500 problems it will have serious competition.

If you are less worried about speed camera's and avoiding traffic jams, or if cost is a factor, then Mapopolis is a serious alternative. If the new maps are as good as promised then I'd recommend it to the more casual user.

PocketStreets is difficult to compare directly. Yes it has GPS support, but with no directions given its suitability is limited. Maybe Microsoft are building up to something proper, but the competition has a big start on them. it's not that much of a step up from the likes of Mapquest or Multimap.

Finally, a word about Navteq:

All the software above use Navteq as a source for their maps, and some of the problems described above can be blamed on the poor detail of the maps they have provided (IMO). As GPS road navigation breaks out from it's exclusive (and expensive) in car provision and becomes something we carry around in our pockets, hopefully the incentive will be there to improve the quality. In the mean time if you see something missing from their maps tell them via the feedback form on their web site Here . You have nothing to lose but your way occassionally :)