**DONOTDELETE**
06-04-2000, 04:50 PM
Being a computer/gadget junkie, I decided some time ago that my next car would be equipped with a GPS navigation system. I still haven't decided which car I'm going to buy, but my two favorites are the Mercedes ML-320 and the Infiniti QX4. Both are luxury SUV's, and both have navigation systems available as options.
While doing my research, I have examined every GPS navigation system I know of: Jaguar, Acura, Mercedes, as well as after-market add-ons made by Alpine. These systems are very similar in capabilities, operation and price.
Today I had a chance to get a first look at the navigation system just released on the Infiniti QX4. The dealer had a QX4 in stock with the navigation system which is a $2000, factory-installed option. Unfortunately, they haven't gotten the data CD for my area yet, so I couldn't test it in action. However, I was able to play with its functions, and the dealer loaned me a training CD that Infiniti sent them with detailed information and a demonstration of the navigation system.
The QX4 navigation is very impressive; it's the best I have seen for several reasons:
First, it uses a touch screen to make selections rather than forcing you to use a tiny joystick to navigate between the menus. The screen itself is larger than any other any other in-panel screen that I've seen, and it is positioned high on the dashboard, making it easy to glance at. To set a destination address you touch the "Destination" button beside the screen, a menu appears with options such as "Street address", "Street intersection", "Points of interest", "Address book", "Previous destinations" and "Point on map". You then touch the menu item on the screen to select it (much faster than using a joystick to select it). If you want to go to a street address, a new menu appears where you have a keyboard displayed on the screen. You touch the keys to enter the street name and numeric address. You only have to enter the first few letters of the
street name, and it will display a list of the streets beginning with those letters. You then touch the particular street name you want to select (you can touch scroll-up/scroll-down buttons if the list is long).
If you want to enter the present location in your address book, you just touch a few menu items to store the present location then use the keyboard screen to type in a one-line description. Selecting an entry in the address book as a destination involves just a few quick screen touches to call up the address book list and select the item you want. You can also easily rename an address book entry or delete it -- again, this is done using the touch screen.
The detour function is very fast and easy to use. You touch the screen to call up a menu, select the detour option, and a popup menu appears asking whether the detour should be around a 1, 5, 10 or 20 mile stretch.
There are many options that are available. You can select the fastest or shortest route. You can minimize freeway travel or toll roads, and you can enable or disable ferry routes. If you enable the "Auto reroute" feature, it will continuously calculate the best route to the destination from your present position if you wander off the prescribed route.
The Points of Interest destination option has entries for hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATM's, colleges/universities and hospitals. There is also a "Quick Stop" feature that looks for points of interest in your current vicinity: it shows a list with directions and distances of the nearest 5
matches. All you have to do is touch one to set the POI as an immediate waypoint.
If you want to go to a location that doesn't have an address but you can find it on the map, you can use a cursor to mark the point as a destination or waypoint. I believe this is the only situation where you have to use a joystick to scroll around the map.
In addition to specifying the final destination, you also can specify up to 5 intermediate waypoints. All of the methods available for setting the destination can be used to select the waypoints.
The second major advantage that the QX4 system has over the other systems is their "Birdview" display. Every other navigation system I've seen has only a planar map view where you are looking at a flat map display showing streets, the route and your position. The QX4 has this type of display, but you can also select the "Birdview" display. This display is very interesting and
useful. The point of view is from a few hundred feet up (you can select the altitude) and slightly behind you looking down and forward: Like a bird looking down at you as you drive a little ahead of it. This gives a perspective view showing your position and the roads extending into the distance. Because of the natural perspective effect of this viewpoint, the closer roads are larger and you get progressively less detail into the distance. Major buildings are shown as 3D figures extending up from the surface; airports are shown with planes on the runways. Here is the URL of a web page that has a sample image: http://www.xanavi.co.jp/en/nav/index.html
I think this view is very useful for seeing what is coming up soon and what lies ahead in the distance.
Like most of the other navigation systems, the QX4 system has its route data divided into 9 regions stored one region per CD. Presumably one CD comes with the system. You can buy the other CD's for $120 each. They use the same route data provided by Navtech that all of the other systems use, but they obviously have to do some transformations to get their "Birdview" perspective view. Currently, detailed, street-level map data is only available for major cities
(this is true for all of the car systems).
There is an "Open" button located beside the navigation screen that causes the screen to fold forward exposing the CD drive used for the navigation CD. When you get the navigation system, Infiniti includes a 6-disc CD changer located in the side of the rear cargo area for audio CD's. It would be better if the CD changer was accessible while driving the car.
The Boise audio system has its own set of controls that do not use the navigation screen, so you can tune the radio, and switch CD's without interfering with the navigation screen. Audio controls are also located on the steering wheel.
The climate control system shares the screen with the navigation map. When you press a climate control button, the right half of the screen switches to displaying climate information including the desired inside temperature, the current outside temperature, recirculate/outside air, and an image showing which air vents are active. Temperature control is set using a knob rather than the
touch screen, but the setting is shown digitally on the screen.
In addition to having the map to guide you, it has auditory guidance messages. You can set the volume separately from the radio. Unfortunately, since we didn't have the data CD, I didn't have a chance to hear the auditory prompts, so I can't comment on their clarity.
Xanavi, a Japanese company partly owned by Nissan, builds the navigation system. For additional information about the navigation system, go to http://www.xanavi.co.jp/en/index.html
Infinity has an interactive simulation of the navigation system on their web page. The URL is http://www.infiniti.com/docs/fr_qx4.html
Phil Sherrod
While doing my research, I have examined every GPS navigation system I know of: Jaguar, Acura, Mercedes, as well as after-market add-ons made by Alpine. These systems are very similar in capabilities, operation and price.
Today I had a chance to get a first look at the navigation system just released on the Infiniti QX4. The dealer had a QX4 in stock with the navigation system which is a $2000, factory-installed option. Unfortunately, they haven't gotten the data CD for my area yet, so I couldn't test it in action. However, I was able to play with its functions, and the dealer loaned me a training CD that Infiniti sent them with detailed information and a demonstration of the navigation system.
The QX4 navigation is very impressive; it's the best I have seen for several reasons:
First, it uses a touch screen to make selections rather than forcing you to use a tiny joystick to navigate between the menus. The screen itself is larger than any other any other in-panel screen that I've seen, and it is positioned high on the dashboard, making it easy to glance at. To set a destination address you touch the "Destination" button beside the screen, a menu appears with options such as "Street address", "Street intersection", "Points of interest", "Address book", "Previous destinations" and "Point on map". You then touch the menu item on the screen to select it (much faster than using a joystick to select it). If you want to go to a street address, a new menu appears where you have a keyboard displayed on the screen. You touch the keys to enter the street name and numeric address. You only have to enter the first few letters of the
street name, and it will display a list of the streets beginning with those letters. You then touch the particular street name you want to select (you can touch scroll-up/scroll-down buttons if the list is long).
If you want to enter the present location in your address book, you just touch a few menu items to store the present location then use the keyboard screen to type in a one-line description. Selecting an entry in the address book as a destination involves just a few quick screen touches to call up the address book list and select the item you want. You can also easily rename an address book entry or delete it -- again, this is done using the touch screen.
The detour function is very fast and easy to use. You touch the screen to call up a menu, select the detour option, and a popup menu appears asking whether the detour should be around a 1, 5, 10 or 20 mile stretch.
There are many options that are available. You can select the fastest or shortest route. You can minimize freeway travel or toll roads, and you can enable or disable ferry routes. If you enable the "Auto reroute" feature, it will continuously calculate the best route to the destination from your present position if you wander off the prescribed route.
The Points of Interest destination option has entries for hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATM's, colleges/universities and hospitals. There is also a "Quick Stop" feature that looks for points of interest in your current vicinity: it shows a list with directions and distances of the nearest 5
matches. All you have to do is touch one to set the POI as an immediate waypoint.
If you want to go to a location that doesn't have an address but you can find it on the map, you can use a cursor to mark the point as a destination or waypoint. I believe this is the only situation where you have to use a joystick to scroll around the map.
In addition to specifying the final destination, you also can specify up to 5 intermediate waypoints. All of the methods available for setting the destination can be used to select the waypoints.
The second major advantage that the QX4 system has over the other systems is their "Birdview" display. Every other navigation system I've seen has only a planar map view where you are looking at a flat map display showing streets, the route and your position. The QX4 has this type of display, but you can also select the "Birdview" display. This display is very interesting and
useful. The point of view is from a few hundred feet up (you can select the altitude) and slightly behind you looking down and forward: Like a bird looking down at you as you drive a little ahead of it. This gives a perspective view showing your position and the roads extending into the distance. Because of the natural perspective effect of this viewpoint, the closer roads are larger and you get progressively less detail into the distance. Major buildings are shown as 3D figures extending up from the surface; airports are shown with planes on the runways. Here is the URL of a web page that has a sample image: http://www.xanavi.co.jp/en/nav/index.html
I think this view is very useful for seeing what is coming up soon and what lies ahead in the distance.
Like most of the other navigation systems, the QX4 system has its route data divided into 9 regions stored one region per CD. Presumably one CD comes with the system. You can buy the other CD's for $120 each. They use the same route data provided by Navtech that all of the other systems use, but they obviously have to do some transformations to get their "Birdview" perspective view. Currently, detailed, street-level map data is only available for major cities
(this is true for all of the car systems).
There is an "Open" button located beside the navigation screen that causes the screen to fold forward exposing the CD drive used for the navigation CD. When you get the navigation system, Infiniti includes a 6-disc CD changer located in the side of the rear cargo area for audio CD's. It would be better if the CD changer was accessible while driving the car.
The Boise audio system has its own set of controls that do not use the navigation screen, so you can tune the radio, and switch CD's without interfering with the navigation screen. Audio controls are also located on the steering wheel.
The climate control system shares the screen with the navigation map. When you press a climate control button, the right half of the screen switches to displaying climate information including the desired inside temperature, the current outside temperature, recirculate/outside air, and an image showing which air vents are active. Temperature control is set using a knob rather than the
touch screen, but the setting is shown digitally on the screen.
In addition to having the map to guide you, it has auditory guidance messages. You can set the volume separately from the radio. Unfortunately, since we didn't have the data CD, I didn't have a chance to hear the auditory prompts, so I can't comment on their clarity.
Xanavi, a Japanese company partly owned by Nissan, builds the navigation system. For additional information about the navigation system, go to http://www.xanavi.co.jp/en/index.html
Infinity has an interactive simulation of the navigation system on their web page. The URL is http://www.infiniti.com/docs/fr_qx4.html
Phil Sherrod