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By Leslie Kim
I can hear the buzz among readers who have met me in person … How can that blonde pneumo-cephalic (translation: air head) write about anything that even faintly resembles technology?
First, the history:
J.D. Power, a nationally recognized marketing information firm of excellent repute, has my home phone number and occasionally calls for assistance with various surveys. As a somewhat typical American household, sporting a dad, a mom, a nanny, two young children (ages ten and four), several chows, a few turtles, a litter of hamsters, three birds and about a dozen fish, we have become a favorite telephone target. One night the survey company called to ask if I would mind driving a new Oldsmobile for a few days to rate the performance of a new onboard navigational computer, Guidestar. And so the adventure began.
Survey participants had only a few things in common. Each was over 25, used a vehicle in the course of business, had a clean driving record and owned a cellular telephone. Computer literacy was not a prerequisite. In fact, computer illiteracy seemed to be a plus. I fit the bill to a T.
We met at the Whittier office of Navigation Technologies, a world leader in the field of navigable digital database technology. The participants split into groups of three, and each group got into a new Oldsmobile. The fourth occupant of each car was a Nav-Tech employee, but he was there only as an observer/guide and would answer no questions. When we were all seated and belted, our guide told us, “Turn on the car and, using the computer, proceed to the Whittier Hilton.”
Huh?
It probably took us about five minutes to figure the gadget out enough to enter our destination (go to special screens, hit Hotels, hit Hilton, hit Whittier and BINGO!). Working on satellite signals, that little screen pinpointed our present location and then offered a series of commands to guide us to the Whittier Hilton. Astounding.
Concise, clear and backed up with voice commands. The darn thing talked to us! “Right turn ahead,” commanded a male computer voice. “Approaching freeway on-ramp, left entrance.” Incredible!
The small screen was ablaze with a street map and a moving directional arrow. Our location was pinpointed to within 200 feet or less. Wow!
We returned to our original location, easier yet, then signed the necessary papers and were assigned our own automobiles to take home (their cars, their gas and their money).
Inside the car, and with home my next destination, I entered the street address of my house. The screen lit up with directions and I was on my way. Proceeding south on I-5, then east on I-91, I was overwhelmed with the immediate sense of security I felt. How many times had I, in my prior life as an SIU investigator, pulled into gas stations in unfamiliar neighborhoods (some were not in the nicest of areas) to open my Thomas Guide and try to figure out how to get back on track? And how many times had I exited my vehicle to ask a station attendant for directions?
I thought of the countless required address checks and drive-bys, the statements that needed taking in all sorts of vague-directioned locations, the neighborhood checks, the courthouses that had to be visited, and more – so much more. I remembered that I would try to leave early to go to appointments when they were in areas I was not familiar with, leaving extra time just in case I got lost. Wasted hours, frightening minutes, indecisive seconds – all of that could be avoided with the technology that was now at my fingertips.
My previous job required me to drive, and navigate, in 13 western states. How long did I look for the Ramada Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco? Just where was the 5600 block of Smoke Ranch Road in Las Vegas? How many maps did I buy? How much time did I use – and lose? WHERE WAS THIS SYSTEM WHEN I MOST NEEDED IT?
The system tells the driver exactly where he is at all times. It plans a route to a specific destination and then leads the way with synthesized voice commands and visual prompts. It advises the locations of points of interest, automated teller machines, department stores, post offices, airports, gas stations, restaurants, hotels and more. And if, en route to a destination, the driver misses a turn or gets off course, the system will re-chart the course and get the errant driver back on track. “Make a U-turn as soon as you can safely and legally do so.”
The controls are all housed in a single case along with a bright, 4-inch-diagonal active matrix color display. Swivel-mounted in the center of the car’s instrument panel, the display can easily be detached when the car is parked in uncertain locations. Ain’t gonna let nobody steal this baby!
There are only seven buttons. They make the screen move forward and backward through all possible destinations, allowing a trip preview. After each turn, the display advises the exact distance remaining until the next turn, and it continues to decrease by tenth-mile increments, allowing the driver to know exactly how much further he must proceed until he reaches the correct intersection.
The system’s memory holds ten pre-selected destinations. The driver may choose to enter those places he drives to most often, similar in a sense to using speed-dial on a telephone. For the less common locations, he may scroll through city names and push enter when the cursor hits the destination city. Then the streets are scrolled through – with speed buttons going through the alphabet and preventing the operator from having to see every street name in a city displayed while trying to locate Zorro Avenue. Next, the specific address is entered by advancing the cursor and scrolling up or down to find the number. Finally, there are three options to choose from: surface streets, freeways or shortest route. And then the computer does its magic. The entire process takes considerably less than two minutes.
The synthesized verbal commands (right turn ahead) are given between 0.2 and 0.5 miles before the turn. With this system, I believe that even I, pneumocephalic as all get out, can never again get lost. Never!
The system is equivalent in computer power to an Apple laptop. It includes an active matrix color display, a GPS receiver, a removable PCMCIA hard drive and a vibration gyroscope. Designed for flexibility and expandability, the system will incorporate coming data-link technology and allow for eventual real-time traffic information to be transmitted and considered in route planning. Consider that there is a plane to catch at Los Angeles International Airport and there’s an accident on I-405. The system will receive the information and instruct the driver where/when to exit, and how to bypass the problem and continue on to the destination. Fantastic!
Two factors combine to create a ground track, allowing the system to compute where the driver is at any given time. The car’s digital odometer feeds in the speed and the vibration gyroscope provides lateral movement input. The car’s position is continually compared to the route map that has been generated – thus the ability to warn the driver when he has strayed off course.
The GPS (Global Positioning System), assisted by an innocuous GPS antenna located on the rear window shelf, locks in Nav-Star satellites and triangulates when clear sky is above. When the car is inside a tunnel or underground parking structure, the GPS is inoperable, but the system uses dead-reckoning and continues to work reasonably well.
Most astounding is the price. The system retails for about $2,000 – far less than I ever would have guessed – and is currently available on the Oldsmobile 88 LSS and the Oldsmobile Ciera.
The ability of an investigator to get straight to a desired location, without time-waste or security concerns, is immeasurable. In fact, given the nature of our business, I dare say that a guidance system, especially in unfamiliar areas, is an absolute necessity. It allows investigators to go into any city, leave their maps at home, and make perfect use of their valuable – and often limited – time.
Most major USA cities have already been mapped. Many major European cities, especially in Germany, have been added to the databanks.
Individuals who want to try the system out are advised to call Avis, Hertz or National. A one-day rental will provide all the necessary convincing … plus a 55 mph excursion into the future.
For those futuristic companies and managers who want to skip the preliminaries and lead the industry progression, call 408-737-3200 (Nav-Tech’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California).
© Copyright 1996 Alikim Media