This looks simply awesome - real-time traffic/weather/road conditions, live gas station pricing, etc., etc. - but the coolest thing is that it looks just like Google Earth! http://www.automotoportal.com/article/Volk...vigation_system Ben
Toyota offers a real-time system in Japan, with an On-Star equivalent. I guess the rest of the world is just a little too big and unconnected compared to Japan. I like the Google-earth perspective; overhead view is fine for detail turn-turn navigation, but zoom out and look where the road goes over the horizon...
This is just what we need. (said in my best impression of Otto from The Simpsons "Cool! I can see my house over there! Check it out!" Followed by "Whoa! There's the hospital...where they'll be taking us after they extricate us..."
One complaint I have about the Toyota Nav system is that it doesn't give me a very good idea of where I am in the world. Having a Bird's eye view that shows what's close in detail and what's far away in less detail would be useful sometimes for planning purposes and for getting my bearings in a new area. But while I'm driving I'd much prefer the current Toyota "stick figure picture of next intersection". As pictured, the prototype looks much more useful for planning than for actually driving.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tmorrowus @ May 14 2006, 03:03 PM) [snapback]255276[/snapback]</div> I always carry the (old fashioned, obsolete, etc) paper map book with me. Lets the passenger flip to whatever page is of interest "where will we be in two hours and want to stop for lunch?" kind of thing. Too hard to zoom around via nav screen.
