GPS NEWS - March 2008

We are now into 2008 and how time flies. If time continues to travel at this speed we will soon be preparing for Christmas 2008, will in the meantime, be a very interesting year yet again. Not only in the world of Satellite Navigation but also in events in South Africa. The year will, as in the past, bring new products, new technologies and features, adding to the wide spectrum already available to us.

I must apologise for an incorrect statement in my recent article concerning the Garmin Nuvi 710. The Nuvi 710 does not have the feature of “Text to Speech” (Turn left into Von Willigh Street) but the normal turn left in 300metres.

During the Christmas season numerous people approached me with the idea that the Nuvi 710 now replaces the Garmin Quest, as it is rumoured that the Quest will be discontinued shortly. I can confirm that it is a rumour which has been doing the rounds for nearly a year. I have not, however, been able to confirm this rumour but then anything is possible. If the rumour is true then what is in its place to replace the Quest? Nothing that I know of which is currently available.

The Nuvi 710 is a street navigator and is not designed for outdoors. It is neither waterproof (so I will not take it out of my vehicle) nor is it dustproof (so I will tape up the slots which will cause other problems with the build up of heat inside the machine) Drop it and you will have to buy a new GPS, whereas the Quest is robust and should take the knock. The Nuvi 710 only has a breadcrumb trail and does not have a back track feature. At the end of the day what you buy is always your choice especially if your intend using it as an outdoor receiver.

It is also rumoured that the Garmin GPS MAP 276C is also shortly to be discontinued. Both the Quest and 276C are outdoor GPS’s and Garmin will have to go far to develop something that will match their features and capabilities This update for the 276C already exists elsewhere in the world but as South Africa does not have the infrastructure to support these additional features they are not being imported.

Since the Nuvi series became available in South Africa there have been numerous complaints that the GPS does not navigate the user on the correct route to their destination, in other words the routing feature does not work. Very often I have found that my client has done a map update from Garmap Southern Africa Street Maps version 1.0 to version 1.5 and in so doing they have retained the version 1.0 mapping on the SD card when loading the version 1.5 to the GPS’s internal memory. The problem now arises which mapping dataset should the GPS use to navigate, which dataset takes priority, as both are loaded and available to be selected. All one has to do is to disable one dataset and enable the other and the selection problem is resolved. , or, alternatively remove the SD card. This selecting of the bets dataset is done under “settings” “map settings” “map info”. (both datasets should be displayed with a tick. Simply disable the older dataset). This could also happen if Tracks4Africa, which is routable in our neighbouring states, is loaded. There has also been an irritation with owners of Garmin Quests who are using Tracks4Africa version 7.10 mapping loaded at the same time as having the standard Garmin Southern Africa version 1.5 loaded. The problem here is the same as described in the foregoing paragraph and again only one dataset can be loaded at any one time. With the older version this was not a problem and all that had to be done was to enable the one and disable the other. Now, on the latest versions this is not possible. Garmin, who do not recognize Tracks4Africa, will do nothing as they do not see it as their problem. It is interesting that NavTech have a product for South Africa (the City Navigator South Africa 6) a Garmin product but not sold in South Africa, experiences the same problem. Hopefully some solution to the problem will be found as it is the end user that will benefit when they will be able to use the Quest to it full capacity. Garmin Southern Africa Street Maps version 2.0 should be launched around the end of February 2008 and hopefully will have overcome this problem.

During the Christmas period as many as 2 or 3 people a week approached me having experienced problems with their Garmin Quest receivers. Among the problems were the receiver did not switch on or only half a screen visible or it faded or was illegible. The problem on every occasion was that the battery was flat. The GPS was never inserted correctly into the 240v charger or the antenna was not opened when using it in the car suction bracket which prevented the GPS making contact with the bracket points and therefore not charging the GPS.

On the positive side we have heard in the last few months that EGNOS (WAAS in Africa and Europe) will be operating again in South Africa by 2010 (everything will be happening in 2010!). EGNOS is a differential GPS system which will improve your GPS accuracy down to 2 to 3 meters horizontally. Please do not try to enable it at present as this capability is not operational in Southern Africa and could cause unnecessary inaccuracies when least expected.

Unbeknown to me and even some of the Garmin staff in South Africa, the new Mapsource products are now only available with a single unlock licence, unlike the past two. Garmap the South African product produced under licence has always only had a single licence. The result is that all the City Navigators Europe, America, Australia, Blue Charts etc are now only unlock able to one GPS. Should one wish to have the mapping loaded to a second receiver one would have to buy a second licence.

Till next month happy GPS adventures.