Automotive GPS Devices

An automotive navigation system is a satellite navigation system designed for use in automobiles. It typically uses GPS to acquire position data to locate the user on a road in the unit's map database. more...

Home
Apple iPod, MP3 Players
Camcorder & Camcorder...
Car Electronics
Digital Camera Accessories
Digital Cameras
GPS Devices
Accessories & Cables
Automotive GPS Devices
Garmin
Garmin Quest
Garmin StreetPilot
Other Garmin Models
Magellan
Mio
Navman
Nextar
Other
TomTom
Maps, Software
Marine GPS Devices
Recreational GPS Devices
Tracking Devices
Gadgets & Other Electronics
Home Audio
Radios: CB, Ham & Shortwave
Telephones & Pagers
Vintage Electronics
Z Consumer Electronics

Using the road database, the unit can give directions to other locations along roads also in its database. Dead reckoning using distance data from sensors attached to the drivetrain, a gyroscope and an accelerometer can be used for greater reliability, as GPS signal loss and/or multipath can occur due to urban canyons or tunnels.

History

There is much debate about who made the first automotive navigation system.

Alpine claims they created the first automotive navigation system in 1981.

Honda claims to have created the first navigation system starting in 1983, and culminating with general availability in the 1990 Acura Legend. This analog system used an accelerometer to navigate using inertial navigation, as the GPS system was not yet generally available.

Both Mitsubishi Electric and Pioneer claim to be the first with a GPS-based auto navigation system, in 1990. Also in 1990, a draft patent application was filed within Digital Equipment Co. Ltd. for a multi-function device called PageLink that had real-time maps for use in a car listed as one of its functions.

Magellan, a GPS navigation system manufacturer, claims to have created the first GPS-based vehicle navigation system in the U.S. in 1995.

Technology

Visualization

Navigation systems may (or may not) use a combination of any of the following:

top view for the map; top view for the map with the map rotating like the automobile; bird's-eye view for the map or the next curve; linear gauge for distance, which is redundant if a rotating map is used; numbers for distance; schematic pictograms; voice prompts;

Road database

Contents

The road database is a vector map of some area of interest. Street names or numbers and house numbers are encoded as geographic coordinates so that the user can find some desired destination by street address (see map database management).

Points of interest (waypoints) will also be stored with their geographic coordinates. Point of interest specialties include speed cameras, fuel stations, public parking, and "parked here" (or "you parked here").

Read more at Wikipedia.org