Smartphone GPS navigation software
Comparisons:
Software that supports OpenStreeMap
Android GPS navigation software
Please see Android GPS navigation software.
- + free
- - needs data/Internet access; reduced-bandwidth mode downloads only intersection diagrams
- + vector maps or satellite imagery, or both superimposed
- voice guidance
- runs on pretty much any handset, and Android soon
- forum
iGuidance
- Windows Mobile
- development is frozen; Mapopolis went out of business
- can NOT edit existing POIs, e.g. to update phone numbers, or to remove them when they're no longer there
- user defined POIs (landmarks/maplets) are not exportable (proprietary .MLP format)
- proprietary map format, non-interoperable, not supported by GPSBabel (see readme.mapconverter)
- designed for stylus use, not fingertips
- "Pocket GPS World review":http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/mapopolis471.php
- small (328Kb + 2.74Mb voice synthesis file + 76k menu.mbp)
- free, except the maps; no-hassle installation
- good map architecture: can add portions easily, can overlay POIs etc. Map size for Santa Clara & Alameda, CA + Place guides: ~9Mb
- 2004 maps for California counties Santa Clara, Alameda, Santa Cruz maps list only ONE Blockbuster Video and no Radio Shack!
- most POIs are plotted right on the side of the street, even if you have to enter a parking to find them
- text-to-speech voice synthesis of street names
- auto-zoom, but not always performing well
- auto-scroll screen to keep current location at the bottom, instead of in the center
- GPS trail & playback
- intelligent route log, detecting stops and generating meaningful summary (start&stop locations&time, distance, average and maximum speed, number of stops): Tools -> GPS -> Show Log
- automatically re-routes on missed turn
- can't calculate alternate routes, except if the user indicates a road and "Routes through"
- can't avoid an area or a street
- limited route customizability ("avoid freeways" is pretty much it); no preference for walking/bicycling/driving. That means for walking you'll get directions only in the right way of one way streets, which can loop you around
- no trip planning/multiple-stop routing
- sometimes doesn't recognize U-turns (composes directions out of forward, left, go 50ft., left)
- no 3D mode, kinda cluttered display
- configurable color set, with preconfigured "Night mode" and auto-switch to it based on current time and list of sunset times
- configurable hardware buttons
- automatically reconnects to Bluetooth GPS when back in range
- confusingly calls ramps "To San Francisco" instead of freeway/highway name (I-880)
- "next step" pop-up not disappearing automatically when not needed, to free up map space
- can disable the PocketPC auto-power-off
- can turn PPC backlight on before turns (new in 4.6)
- can't pause other audio output; directions will be mixed over whatever sound is playing
- how do you know which counties you need? E.g. what is the filename of the county to the left of where your map ends? See Long-Routing with Mapopolis 4.xx for easily determining counties; also Multi-state route planning procedure. County maps can be found at the US census website (e.g. for California)
- free until 2010-01-01
- runs on pretty much any phone
- - requires data connection to download routes, but claims to need very little bandwidth (30KB for a 560km route from Bonn to Munich)
- "Search, save, and load your own POIs and routes and share them on the Internet! (supporting Google Maps/Google Earth formats)" - features
- 3D buildings
- search for POI around: current position, destination, along route
- "small forum":http://www.oncoursenavigator.com/forum/
Teletype World Navigator
- - Windows Mobile 5+ only
- + can download maps while online then use them offline
- + forum(http://terracrosser.com/forum/index.php)
- free?
TomTom Navigator 2004 USA
- reduced functionality in comparison to TomTom Navigator 3.07!
- review
TomTom Navigator 5
Routis
Pharos Ostia
2nd tier
Beeline GPS
- rudimentary navigation: no mapping, no routing, only GPS trail and movement/position information
- can't zoom map; can poorly drag only from "Waypoint -> Show waypoint on map"
- displays lat/lon/alt, sats in view/use, HDOP, VDOP, PDOP, 2D/3D mode
Destinator 3.0.25 ARM (C) 2001 Paradigm
- messy installation: mount the ISO, rename
c:\paradigm c:DestinatorApps; run the patch from http://download.destinator1.com/PocketPC2003SE_patch.zip, run C:DestinatorApps\Start\Install Program\Install.exe
- very good map architecture: can cut rectangles from the map and regenerate only those crops
- POIs have phone numbers
- clearest address selection: city, Street, Number; avoids stupid 'N', 'S' or the like preceding the street name and impairing finding it
- nice looking maps (parks, streets): 2D, 3D, bird's eye (some sort of 3D)
- strange way to go on the map to a specific address: Destinate, Address, 'Show' from the status bar
- semi-poor route customizability: no 'avoid toll roads', or bike/pedestrian
? trip planner mode
- can define list of [streets?] to avoid when routing
- routes are organized in item lists, can scroll to one and 'avoid'
- can't search for POI just by part of name, must select category first
- can't pronounce location names; only predefined voice clips instead of real text-to-speech
- cannot configure hardware buttons
- replaces the Today screen, which can be problematic when you want to enable Bluetooth, for example. You have to exit Destinator then restart it.
Footnotes