GPS Feature Wish List

This page is for auto/navigation GPS product managers.

I'm a GPS geek, and I'm impressed by the price-performance improvements (e.g. display, Flash memory, etc.) in portable and vehicle built-in units. The map data and basic navigation functions in most GPS units are quite good. It's getting hard to imagine driving without navigation.

However, it seems like vendors have run out of innovation in the navigation use cases, and have added non-nav features (like MP3 playback, photo albums, etc.) I think there's a lot of innovation left in navigation; I've collected here ideas from my own wish list, friends, and other Web sites.

Here are some features I'd love to see:

• Product line simplification. I mostly have units from Garmin, who currently has eighty-two (!) handheld or car mounted models. It's too much work to figure out the small differences between models. This article is spot on: [1]

• Wifi. When I'm home, the GPS is usually within easy access to my home wireless network. And this should be done WITHOUT any PC/client software. The GPS can register with a server in the cloud, which can then in turn offer me a UI (e.g. just like Roku, Tivo, etc. work). Network connectivity enables a bunch of other features, including:
  • Map updates. Keep the maps current without me having to do anything, including latest data on highway closures and construction.
  • Automatic loading & updating of points of interest Tour guides, safety camera locations, Wifi access point locations, etc.
  • Gas price database See: [2]
  • Push addresses. I'd like to enter destination addresses on my computer, and have them pushed to my GPS. Variant: I want my admin to enter addresses and have them pushed down. This can be done by having the unit register into the "cloud", then providing me a Web interface (just like I can configure remote recording with Tivo).
  • Calendar sync. Just sync with my calendar, and load all the addresses from all of the appointments/contacts. Tell me when I need to leave for my next meeting, and when going to a meeting destination, tell me how late/early I'm going to be.
  • Contact database syncing. Have all of my contacts sync'd down, for easy selection as destination addresses, and Bluetooth hands-free calling.
  • Lowjack. If the unit is stolen (or the car it's in), it can be located by the user and remotely disabled. The threat of being tracked could reduce theft.

• Search improvements. The search in built-in Honda/Acura units is horrible: it finds the exact match "Wal Mart" 1200 miles away, instead of the near match "Wal Mart" across town. The search function needs to be "fuzzy over distance". Other search features:
  • Allow me to store searches in "Favorites". Being able to find the closest McDonalds is far more useful than bookmarking the address of a particular restaurant.
  • In the result list, show the road distance and travel time estimate, NOT the air distance to destinations. This would probably need some pre-computation cleverness in the database.
  • When searching along a current route (e.g. need to stop for gas), in the summary results, provide a estimate of the "out of the way factor", and bias the search for results with a low factor. This will also help to bias things for options that are ahead (vs options that need backtracking).
  • Allow searching along the route, forwarded ahead some user-selectable time period. For example, "where can we stop for lunch in about an hour?".
  • Fast searches. Again, use some pre-computation cleverness to speed the searches. There's no reason why it should take 10-20 seconds to find results in a 50mi radius, even on a modest hardware platform.
  • When nothing is found (or found nearby), offer other options in the category. Can't find Home Depot? Offer me a link to find any hardware store, instead.

• Find Parking. For city destinations, find the parking garage closest to my destination. I don't want to search for parking at my destination; I want the system to realize that I'm heading to a city address, and to suggest parking options. For city buildings with parking garages, route me to the garage entrance(s), which is not always at the building street address.

• Highway mode. On access controlled highways, the turn decisions are limited to exits. When on a highway, the GPS be smart about the display mode, showing:
  • Distance / time to next exit
  • Upcoming rest stops (with ETA)
  • Upcoming toll booths (extra credit: figure out toll amount), with audio announcement to have a toll ready
  • Summarize what amenities are available at the next exits (e.g. food, lodging, gas, etc.), along with the "out of the way factor". Allow me to scroll ahead to upcoming exits (e.g. "4 exits and 23 minutes ahead, there's a Boston Chicken").

• Use idle time to pre-calculate re-routing. For missed turns, my Garmin unit takes a few seconds to calculate a new route. Sometimes, I miss the suggested turn because it didn't recalculate fast enough. Why can't it use idle time to continuously build route recalculations?

Hardware improvements:

• Multi-touch screen. Use a high-quality, capacitive, multi-touch, scratch resistant screen like the iPhone. Use a gesture-based UI.
• Dynamic adjustment of brightness based on ambient light.

Some more ambitious items have to do with standards:

• Bluetooth car interface. Allow the GPS to get distance (wheel rotation) and direction (electronic compass) data from the car, just like the built-in units do. This would enable:
  • Inertial navigation in garages, downtown canyons, tunnels, etc.
  • It would also speed startup to fix: if the GPS notes the car mileage hasn't changed since shutdown, it knows the car hasn't moved from the last location.
  • Speedometer highlighting (e.g. change to red) when speeding
  • Gas management -- if the car reports an estimate of "miles until empty", the GPS can notify when the tank is getting low and suggest gas options. Even fancier, the system can help figure out:
    • If you can make it to your destination on your current tank
    • Good places to stop and fill up (e.g. minimize gas stops, and find stops least out of the way, and find stops with lots of other amenities nearby)

And finally:

• Open for 3rd party app development. Look at what's happened with the iPhone: huge revenue for Apple, and there's no way they could build 17,000 apps themselves.

Other Sites with Wish Lists

• [3]