Moving this from my "story" thread since seems more relevant here:
I got a PM asking me about the Google maps integration with the nav. I saw that people refer to it as two different things. I don't perceive it this way. On the 17" you have this big beautiful map, search box, and history drop down. You can select a destination or map view by typing anything in the search. It works just like Google maps, in that you can type the destination in any of a number of ways and it suggests a list of what it thinks you mean. (e.g. Type "Irvine Metrolink" and get back results that say things like "Metrolink Station, 15215 Barranca Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618") I find it's not quite as good at figuring out what I mean as the web Google maps interface, but it's clearly intended to work the same way and I suspect this will improve with time. The list comes up dynamically as you type (after not typing for a couple seconds depending on connection speed), or if you press enter it will appear in a slightly different format that seems to use a bit different matching algorithm.
Once you select your destination from the drop down, it shows the marker on the map with a hover card showing the address and with a big "Navigate" button. Clicking Navigate causes the map to plot a blue line from your current location to the destination, with a navigation hover box in the upper left showing the next few step by step directions in text. You may not see all the way to your destination on the map depending on how zoomed in you are. You can easily move the 17" map around and zoom in and out with your fingers. (It has +/- zoom buttons, but you can also pinch to zoom like on an ipad--although it seems to snap to only certain levels of zoom.) If you have selected to have navigation show above the steering wheel, there you get the TomTom-like forward view graphic people have posted pictures of (including line guidance with overhead signage--which doesn't appear on the main screen).
These two screens seem closely integrated with each other. I don't know if there's a difference in terms of data connectivity. Maybe it downloads all the directions at the start of the route, but retrieves the big map background on an as needed basis. I don't believe any of this would work without connectivity in the current firmware--at least at the time you start your route.
So no, I don't think they are two different nav systems. I can try to snap pictures later, but I think pictures above probably already give everyone a pretty good idea what I'm talking about.
I'm pretty happy with it. I LOVE seeing the traffic conditions overlaid on the map. (I drive LA freeways a lot.) The only things I miss from my iphone TomTom app:
- Dynamic routing around traffic. Instead I have to look at the traffic and make my own judgements.
- Speed limit warnings: I'd love it if I could opt to have the car warn me with a polite warning beep when I go a certain % above the speed limit for the road I am on. (TomTom can do this, except it doesn't let you set a % above the limit before it warns.) It's certainly easy to accidentally zoom way above the limit with this car's acceleration and silence.
I got a PM asking me about the Google maps integration with the nav. I saw that people refer to it as two different things. I don't perceive it this way. On the 17" you have this big beautiful map, search box, and history drop down. You can select a destination or map view by typing anything in the search. It works just like Google maps, in that you can type the destination in any of a number of ways and it suggests a list of what it thinks you mean. (e.g. Type "Irvine Metrolink" and get back results that say things like "Metrolink Station, 15215 Barranca Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618") I find it's not quite as good at figuring out what I mean as the web Google maps interface, but it's clearly intended to work the same way and I suspect this will improve with time. The list comes up dynamically as you type (after not typing for a couple seconds depending on connection speed), or if you press enter it will appear in a slightly different format that seems to use a bit different matching algorithm.
Once you select your destination from the drop down, it shows the marker on the map with a hover card showing the address and with a big "Navigate" button. Clicking Navigate causes the map to plot a blue line from your current location to the destination, with a navigation hover box in the upper left showing the next few step by step directions in text. You may not see all the way to your destination on the map depending on how zoomed in you are. You can easily move the 17" map around and zoom in and out with your fingers. (It has +/- zoom buttons, but you can also pinch to zoom like on an ipad--although it seems to snap to only certain levels of zoom.) If you have selected to have navigation show above the steering wheel, there you get the TomTom-like forward view graphic people have posted pictures of (including line guidance with overhead signage--which doesn't appear on the main screen).
These two screens seem closely integrated with each other. I don't know if there's a difference in terms of data connectivity. Maybe it downloads all the directions at the start of the route, but retrieves the big map background on an as needed basis. I don't believe any of this would work without connectivity in the current firmware--at least at the time you start your route.
So no, I don't think they are two different nav systems. I can try to snap pictures later, but I think pictures above probably already give everyone a pretty good idea what I'm talking about.
I'm pretty happy with it. I LOVE seeing the traffic conditions overlaid on the map. (I drive LA freeways a lot.) The only things I miss from my iphone TomTom app:
- Dynamic routing around traffic. Instead I have to look at the traffic and make my own judgements.
- Speed limit warnings: I'd love it if I could opt to have the car warn me with a polite warning beep when I go a certain % above the speed limit for the road I am on. (TomTom can do this, except it doesn't let you set a % above the limit before it warns.) It's certainly easy to accidentally zoom way above the limit with this car's acceleration and silence.
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