Public transit routing

If you go to Google maps, you can now get directions involving public transit in urban centres such as Toronto and Montreal. These routes will not only show the usual turn by turn directions with distance and projected time but some can also show the transit cost.
This kind of navigation assistance is now also available on your GPS. Garmin offers what they are calling cityXplorer™ Maps. These maps are down-loadable for a price starting at US$10 and include only one urban centre for each download. They cover cities mostly in North America and Europe. Only 2 cities in Brazil and one in the Middle East are covered at this time. Note that this will only add the pedestrian routing if you already have coverage for the city loaded on the unit.
Value for money? Perhaps if you don't already have coverage for the city or you definitely want to explore a city using transit.

Dual Numaps update

I have commented on the numaps service before but wanted to specifically address the dual update option. When you consider the cost of doing updates it is a great deal to be able to update both the European and the North American maps for life for US$150. This is great for the units that come preloaded with the dual maps such as the Nuvi 370 but it also works on units to which you have added a different map by way of an SD card. Some of the customer service agents will tell you that you cannot use this map update option unless the dual maps are preloaded but don't believe them. It works best on models like the C340 but does require their assistance for models like the C550. Do not be goaded into purchasing separate numap updates as it costs significantly more to do that.

Garmin customer service

I have often complimented Garmin for their customer service but lately my experience has been mixed. I had an issue that one customer service agent told me could not be resolved in the way that I was suggesting it could be done unless I spent mega dollars. I suggested that because it had been resolved on a previous occasion with a similar model unit. For some reason, this individual did not take the time and effort to really look at the facts that I had presented but instead choose to give a canned response.
Very disappointing. On the other hand my persistence paid off and on my second call to resolve the same issue (which proves that it sometimes just depends on who answers your call), the solution was provided within minutes. She even thanked me for my long standing loyalty to the brand based on the number of units that were registered in my name. My advice is when you are told no, just call back; chances are it won't be the same person and if you are lucky, the no will become yes.

Lifetime subscriptions

It seems that Garmin has learned an important lesson about lifetime subscriptions from Navigon. Navigon introduced this concept with their traffic service more than a year ago. Now Garmin has come on board in providing it on all traffic service renewals. So for what used to be an annual $60 subscription that same $60 now provides you with the service for the lifetime of the antenna. I stress the antenna as the subscription is tied to the antenna and not the unit. This means that you can use the same antenna on a different device and still get the service.
Garmin has also introduced this concept to map updates as you can now purchase their nüMaps option which provides updates for the life of the unit. They also suggest that the updates will be more often (up to 4 times per year). The difference between the cost of a one time update and the lifetime subscription is negligible so clearly Garmin is prompting its customers to go in this direction. For us in the GPS rental business, this is a good thing as map updates are a significant hit to our bottom line but we must do them to ensure that our customers always have the most current information.

MSN Direct service on the Garmin C580

The MSN Direct service has been active in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) for a while now as I previously blogged in July of o7. The service now does include traffic for this area which is great. The problem I am experiencing is the time it takes for the MSN receiver to acquire the signal and begin displaying any information. This may be due in part to where we are located out in Whitby. Even when we test the service closer to the GTA core, it still seems to be slow in recognising the signals. This is especially true if the unit has not been in use for a while.

It is still a great service and superior in terms of cost and content compared to the Clear Channel option using the GTM 20 traffic receiver. You are getting more relevant travel related data (traffic, weather, gas prices and movie show times) at a lower cost including an affordable lifetime subscription option. We hope that over time the annoying lag time flaw will be corrected.

Garmin Map Update 2009

This latest North American map update from the good folks at Garmin is one of the best yet from a Canadian perspective. There were several inaccuracies from my vicinity in the east GTA which were missed on two previous updates that have been corrected on this one. It seems that they are incorporating more data from the locally based DMTI Spatial which is entirely focused on geocoding the Canadian landscape. Hats off to Garmin. Lets hope they will release a Mapsource MetroGuide Canada version 5 soon as the current version 4 has been around for a while.

CFRB appearance

Marc Saltzman invited me on his technology show to talk about GPS on June 1 at CFRB. As usual it generated several calls to our office from his listeners. It was generally a good session and we got through more than we did on the last occasion when I was only on for about half of the show. Marc is a great host who knows his stuff in the technology world but without coming across as a "know it all".

You can hear the show from his blog at http://www.sync-blog.com/sync/2008/06/techtalk-whats.html