Thoughts on Google Navigation.

[n0cturne74]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

I see what you're talking about with the My Maps as a layer but can't figure out how to get maps saved to it. Right now it says no maps found.

 

[radsaq]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

I see what you're talking about with the My Maps as a layer but can't figure out how to get maps saved to it. Right now it says no maps found.

Go to Google Maps on your desktop and select "My Maps" (next to "Get Directions" on the left side under the logo).

 

[n0cturne74]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

I see what you're talking about with the My Maps as a layer but can't figure out how to get maps saved to it. Right now it says no maps found.

Go to Google Maps on your desktop and select "My Maps" (next to "Get Directions" on the left side under the logo).

I had actually stumbled upon that while troubleshooting my way through it. Thanks alot radsaq I appreciate the help

 

[Tekmazter]

Hey Everyone,

I've used the Nav now quite extensively. Not 24 hours after I purchased the DROID I took it on a week long trip to NYC for use on foot, with public transportation, and in my rental. Since then I've also used it frequently around the area of Boston.

A few things...

First, you CAN mute the voice when a call comes in. Just hit Menu and MUTE. This is the way it's supposed to work according to Google themselves (no I don't have a reference link --sorry) but you can definitely read this on their site.

Secondly, if you're on foot and next to large buildings (hi-rises) while using the NAV, the triangulation is just OK, not great. A couple of times it had me off by 1/2 block.

This is obviously due to the vertical height of the bldg's vs. the positioning of towers and satellites. However, NYC (Manhattan area) is easy to navigate once you have directions so this didn't play an important role in my trip because everything is in blocks and by the numbers. Once you have the directions, which Google Maps/NAV was very accurate with, it was easy.

I don't have the car dock. Instead I've had a Kuda kudausa - KUDA car custom color leather mounts for mobile electronics universal car mount in my car for a couple of years. While it sits lower on the console than where a typical Navigation would be and is in a verticle vs. horizontal position, the GPS (for me) has been SPOT ON. This has allowed me to avoid having to resort to looking down at the screen. This is a big plus. To expand upon this point, the DROID with Google NAV was just as good as my Garmin which was recently stolen I also used the NAV while riding in a cab and muting the volume using the volume rocker on the phone. In comparison to what cabbies use, it was VERY accurate! With the real time traffic layer I was also able to see if the cab driver was taking me down a bad route. Fortunately this never happened. A side note on traffic status. It's pretty good in my area (Boston, MA). However, it's about 5 minutes behind.

In doing some reading, it's my understanding that Google is not going to be simply try and enhance real time traffic monitoring in future releases to get you to your destination. Apparently they're also developing a large database which works the following way:

When you choose a route and pump it into Google NAV, it tells Google (online) the route you're using. It also logs how long it took for you to complete the route, what the traffic status of the route was during your trip etc... In future versions of Google Nav, your Nav app will actually route you based on the fastest time according to information data mined in the Google database. No Garmin, or Tom Tom does this and it's very exciting if you don't worry about the big brother aspect of what's going on here. Future versions of this software is going to have some real data behind how it routes you. Couple that with the traffic status, and this is/will be the killer NAV Tom Tom and Garmin have yet to build.

There is no night mode as those of you have mentioned. However, there are apps out there which will do one-touch profile settings to set the screen to different levels of brightness/contrast. I haven't done this yet, but it's a workaround until a night mode is developed.

Updates are/will be pushed direclty via Google. This is a nice change from having to jack in my Garmin to the laptop and go and pull the updates from their site manually.

I've lost GPS twice since using the Google NAV. One time while in NYC I had the reboot the phone to get it to come back up. The second time it reacquired by itself. It's been very resilient in both rerouting and updating. I've had no other problems with it.

So far my experience has been very solid and I'm extremely satisfied. I was in the market for a new GPS and got so much more. A great phone, a great internet tool and a pretty good GPS which is still in beta BTW. I know there are people who will say it doesn't replace a Tom Tom or Garmin just yet, but Google is the wave of the future in this space people. It's right in their wheel house --DATA MINING! Think I'm wrong, track the public release of The DROID getting free GPS and go and look at the Tom Tom and Garmin stocks. People who invest know a thing or two about competition.

 

[longhorn]

Is it available for the Droid Eris yet?

 

[jerknextdoor]

for those looking for favorites.

google nav has it's pluses and minuses, but it's good enough for free.

for those of you looking for favorites i accidently figured out if you're on the screen where you would type in the address open the keyboard and press something and it will give you all the recent searches. it works well enough to get me to work or home.

not ideal, but at least i dont have to type my girlfriends work address in everytime since the voice doesnt understand the street its on (only thing the voice search hasnt understood so far).

lack of night mode is annoying, but i just dim the screen. hopefully if google doesnt take car of that the guy who makes the 'car mode' app (forces speakerphone when in the dock) app.

my biggest beef so far is that i'd like an easy way to submit errors. there is a street with no left turns it tells me to turn down all the time and another street that's been closed for a long time (no bridge and no plan to reopen it). i would like to be able to just hit something that can mark that spot so when i'm not driving i can give them a detailed report on the problem.

 

[raphytaffy]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

So I added this an address to "My Maps", opened up the google maps app, selected layers, and then selected the address I just added. What's the simplest way to get directions to this address now? Doing this just opened up a map of the address on the map. Is there a way to just have it automatically map a route from my location when I select the address?

 

[radsaq]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

So I added this an address to "My Maps", opened up the google maps app, selected layers, and then selected the address I just added. What's the simplest way to get directions to this address now? Doing this just opened up a map of the address on the map. Is there a way to just have it automatically map a route from my location when I select the address?

Under layers, select "More" and then you can choose "My Maps" and the map you created. After this, a button will appear in the lower left of the map view that brings up a list of locations on your map. It will bring up various options (including navigate to) when you click on one.

 

[raphytaffy]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

So I added this an address to "My Maps", opened up the google maps app, selected layers, and then selected the address I just added. What's the simplest way to get directions to this address now? Doing this just opened up a map of the address on the map. Is there a way to just have it automatically map a route from my location when I select the address?

Under layers, select "More" and then you can choose "My Maps" and the map you created. After this, a button will appear in the lower left of the map view that brings up a list of locations on your map. It will bring up various options (including navigate to) when you click on one.

Hmm I'm just not seeing this option. Here's my step-by-step:

1. Open up Google Maps app
2. Select Layers
3. Select More layers
4. Select My Maps
5. Select one of my saved maps

After this all it does is load a map of the location of the saved map. I don't see any buttons on the lower left that brings up a list of locations on my map. Clicking the menu button just brings up the same options as before: Search, Directions, Layers, My Location, Join Latitude, More.

Clicking on Directions loads My Location at the starting point but does not recognize the address of the layered location as the end point.

 

[jwd45244]

Is it available for the Droid Eris yet?

Yep, look for Google Maps in the Market. It won't have Voice Search but everything else works.

 

[otaku]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

So I added this an address to "My Maps", opened up the google maps app, selected layers, and then selected the address I just added. What's the simplest way to get directions to this address now? Doing this just opened up a map of the address on the map. Is there a way to just have it automatically map a route from my location when I select the address?

This feature does not work if your main account is a Google Apps account (ie, tied to a domain other than gmail.com).

 

[DroidMastar]

If you add locations to one of your "My Maps" on Google Maps, you can select these in Layers on the Droid, which will then show a list button that lets you select a location you've set on the map.

So I added this an address to "My Maps", opened up the google maps app, selected layers, and then selected the address I just added. What's the simplest way to get directions to this address now? Doing this just opened up a map of the address on the map. Is there a way to just have it automatically map a route from my location when I select the address?

This feature does not work if your main account is a Google Apps account (ie, tied to a domain other than gmail.com).

I don't think you all are reading the entire thread. You can make shortcuts to destitinations and put them in a folder on your home screen... pretty simple
. Just press down and hold on an empty space on your home screen and then click shortcuts then click directions. You can then create a folder on your desktop to store this in. You can create as many as you want and drop them in the folder.

 

[raphytaffy]

Just press down and hold on an empty space on your home screen and then click shortcuts then click directions. You can then create a folder on your desktop to store this in. You can create as many as you want and drop them in the folder.

By far the simplest method. Especially since the other one doesn't seem to work for me.

 

[jdubbs23]

So I added this an address to "My Maps", opened up the google maps app, selected layers, and then selected the address I just added. What's the simplest way to get directions to this address now? Doing this just opened up a map of the address on the map. Is there a way to just have it automatically map a route from my location when I select the address?

This feature does not work if your main account is a Google Apps account (ie, tied to a domain other than gmail.com).

I don't think you all are reading the entire thread. You can make shortcuts to destitinations and put them in a folder on your home screen... pretty simple
. Just press down and hold on an empty space on your home screen and then click shortcuts then click directions. You can then create a folder on your desktop to store this in. You can create as many as you want and drop them in the folder.

This procedure is fine and easy, of course, for accessing quick saved locations from the home screen.

But the real problem is that when I'm actually using the GPS, I put my phone in the car dock and it goes into Car Mode. Now what do I do? I have to EXIT car mode and then go to the folder with the saved locations??? That's ridiculous.

I want to put the phone into the dock, and quickly get started going where I need to go...from within the Car Mode application.

 

[takeshi]

I don't think it's fair to compare this to a dedicated piece of hardware such as Garmin or tom tom

Really depends on what a person is looking for from a given solution. If you're looking for the best option among GPS apps and standalone units it's certainly fair. For me, I'm not going to bother with carrying a standalone GPS so it really doesn't matter how it compares to a Garmin/Tom Tom/whatever.