WHY GPS, WHAT CAN IT DO FOR ME and WHAT TO BUY ?

A navigation GPS is accurate to generally 3 to 5m anywhere in the world. Other GPS systems are accurate to sub metre and other centimeters depending on your requirement. The positioning is determined by 4 satellite signals giving precise time, 1 second in 3 000 000 years. This means that any GPS getting good signal, set for local time and a 3D position will give accurate time, no long will you have to phone 1026 for the time. Some large organizations like the banks, use GPS technology to calibrate the time on their computer network servers.

If the GPS device is getting a good fix it will know your position anywhere on the earth to within 3 to 5 meters. To get a good fix the device has to receive good signal which is line of sight. Therefore you will not get good signal in a concrete building or in the back of a car.

If your GPS knows your position and has an intelligent navigation map loaded the GPS will navigate you step by step to your set destination. The destination could be preset by you or the destination could already be preloaded on the mapping dataset. South Africa’s mapping should be complete except for maintenance name changes and new developments by the end of this year. Points of Interest like restaurants, hotels, shops etc will be on going. If no intelligent mapping is loaded the device will navigate you to your destination in a straight line as the crow flies.

When navigating to a destination with intelligent mapping the GPS should give you three options, Fastest Time (which is recommended in South Africa) as it will navigate you to your destination via the highways which should be the safest route. Shortest Distance will take you as close to a straight line to your destination via all the back roads stop streets and robots. This could mean that you end up driving through undesirable areas or criminal havens.

So what does this now mean? It means that a Street navigation GPS device is a safety device and a management tool for business and no longer toys for boys. By using the fastest time it should save you time and time is money in today’s life. Getting you to your destination quickly and safely.  It will also save petrol and petrol is also money. As I said it is a safety device so you should be concentrating on the road and listening to the blonde and not watching her. When you do have to have a quick peak it has to be quick and a bigger screen will always help, maybe a bit more expensive but worth the extra money if it helps prevent an accident. A business using GPS’s or PND (Personal Navigation Device) should improve productivity and efficiency because the person on the road should not be wasting time looking for addresses. If the device has a breadcrumb you can then also see where the vehicle or person has been and also a way to prove kilometers travel for tax purposes.

As a safety device the GPS will get you to your destination no matter what alternative routes you may select or detours, homing you in to your destination. This will also mean that you never have to stop and ask a direction as that is when you will become venerable. While moving no one can assault you, yes they can harass you but you will always have the choice of where to go and what to do still be in control. If you do happen to get lost you could then give someone a co-ordinate of your location and they could then come and find you.

Similarly you could give the location of an accident scene, either as a co-ordinate or a street address or the nearest main junction as a reference point with the nearest hospital and its telephone number or the nearest police station with its telephone number. This is always a major plus point when in areas that you are not familiar with.

A PND will enable you to navigate you to the nearest shops by categories, hotels, B&B’s, Petrol Stations (very handy), restaurants (also in different categories), Banks and ATM’s etc. The other day travelling to Hammanskraal north of Pretoria when I had to take my wife’s daughter for her learners license I was not sure where to go so as I approached Hammanskraal I did a search under Community, Police  and it took me exactly to my desire destination. A comfort zone and reassurance that I had control of what I was doing.
How does this new technology give me control.

I know where I am. (Position or a co-ordinate or both)

  1. I know where I am relative to my known surroundings
  2. I know how far I am from other known points
  3. I know how long it should take me to get to the other known points
  4. I know how to get to these other known points

A nice to have on most of these devices will give you your maximum speed to assist you in maintaining the legal speed limit especially now that the new demerit system is about to be instated. Also these devices will also inform you of the known locations of Speed Enforcement Cameras. Be careful some devices give you this feature free but most charge for the known locations. If someone tells you it’s free they must show you it is free as most companies are charging R600 a year for the feature. I believe the R600 is worth every cent if I have to pay but why pay when it can be free. Garmin’s Speed Trap data is free but at the time of writing not the easiest to update from the web. Shortly the web is to be altered and this will be able to be done at just one click of your computers mouse.

A nice feature that some of the Garmin devices have is a breadcrumb trail to see where you have driven. This has to be enabled and will show you your travelled route by means of a blue line in the middle of the road. If you cross over this line it means that you are driving round in circles. Again giving you control of what you are doing. The Nuvi 500 (A device designed and developed for the outdoor life style) will also give you the backtrack feature enabling you to reverse out the way you have just come in on. You can therefore never get lost.

Some of the PND’s also give you the capability of having Bluetooth connectivity. In other words a hands free kit for your cellphone while in the car. This feature is a nice to have but I think is over rated and not used by most people who want the feature. It also comes at a substantial price, about 30% to 40% extra in cost.

Most PND’s are not water proof and not dust proof and therefore not robust enough to be used out of a car. A number of retailers sell these devices as outdoor, 4x4, motor cycle devices which is not correct. Only the new TomTom Rider, Garmin Zumo series and Nuvi 500 are PND’s that fit this requirement. The problem arose when a number of retailers sold Garmin Nuvi devices about 2 years ago including the Tracks4Africa data set creating an incorrect impression for the client. Two years later we still have not been able correct this perception.

Both TomTom and Garmin have a backup service in South Africa. Garmin have 3 workshops in the country, Cape Town, Durban and head office in Johannesburg. The Tom Tom workshop is in Johannesburg. Garmin’s Johannesburg workshop is open from 0800 till 1630 and telephonically till 1800. An afterhours number is also available for mapping support.

On this point when phoning in for assistance you are one of thousands that have such devices and especially at the time of a new mapping release these lines are normally clogged. Be patient. Garmin have appointed extra staff to assist and have installed extra lines to help.

Unfortunately TomTom’s backup service is situated overseas and has its frustrations. They do have a local office in Fourway’s and the staff I have found to be extremely helpful.

Garmin’s Garmap 2009 mapping update cost R10 for the DVD with all the mapping preloaded and all you have to do is purchase the required mapping license off of the web. If you have a 2008 map set in most situations the license fee is free for the 2009 street maps or Topographical maps. If you have a 2007 maps set it will cost you R349 for the license fee and if a 2006 and older mapping set it will cost you R699. Garmin are also the only people who have other mapping datasets.

  1. Waterways (for fisherman to be used on outdoor GPS’s)
  2. Topographical Maps (contour maps)
  3. West Africa street maps
  4. East Africa street maps
  5. Street maps for Mauritius
  6. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) A photo finish map generated from contours. Not the best product at present as it is only generated from 200m contours. We expect an improvement in the near future on this product.
TomTom’s map updates are free if updated from the web within 30 days of purchase. These update files are also not small and you need at least an ASDL line to do such an update. My first update on my GO720 was 55Mb and took some time. Out of the 30 day free update period, the cost is €80. Yes the map share data is free for a year but that is the device user’s contributions and in my experience very limited. Do not mistake the free map share updates with map updates.
What should I buy? There are many products on the market today, some are excellent products others are just OK. The question that you must ask yourself is :
  1. What do I need the GPS for? What am I going to do with the device, don’t buy just because it is the top of the range (I have said this on many occasions before). Quality in the Garmin and TomTom ranges is the same throughout the ranges but what additional features do you require. These features should then meet your needs. Some features are nice to have but unnecessary
  2. What is your budget, and be realistic. Fancy features add unnecessary costs. Are you going to use these additional features?
I am not comparing any other product at present as I do not consider the other products on the market to be of the same quality and standard as the two mentioned above. Two years ago I wrote an article about the different products on the market, the majority of these products cannot be found in the shops today. In a few months I will be doing my selection for 2009.
Happy GPS adventures