Your GPS thinks you are stupid

I have a confession to make, I am not longer enamoured with my GPS. 

 

It started off as a passionate relationship where I used it every chance I could to revel in amazement at its technological mastery, then I went through a phase of trying different voices (male, female, Australian, US, Canadian or English), and even trying the different languages so I could learn some basics of French and German as I drove to work every day.

However, like all former favourite toys, my GPS has been sitting in a drawer in the house for a year or so now.

When I think about what tore our relationship apart it was the way my GPS always considered me to be an idiot. Every time I started it up it gave me directions on how to get out of my own street.

Well, I have a fix. Imagine the following dialogue with your GPS instead.

Good morning, please state your destination.

54 Mallabar Road on the Gold Coast please.

Okay, do you know how to get to the M1 southbound to the Gold Coast.

Yes

Alright, please head there and when we get close to exit 63 I will reactivate to take you from there

Imagine your GPS giving you the following instructions.

Do you know the big Westfield at Carindale?

Yes

Well go past it on Creek road southbound till you can see the McDonalds sign. Turn right at the lights just before McDonalds, keep going till you get to the roundabout and then turn left.

Imagine your GPS remembers your friends place or places you regularly go to.

Do you remember how to get to the Indian restaurant you went to last Saturday?

Yes.

Please head there and I will reactivate to give you precise directions when you are close.

Or, how about the following.

Do you know how to get to Kedron?

No.

In that case, do you know how to get to Enoggera.

Yes.

Please head towards Enoggera and I will give you precise directions from there.

Wouldn't that be fantastic. Let's face it we know our way around the city, even unfamiliar parts of it to some extent or another.

We can navigate by street names, major intersections, suburbs, shopping centres, petrol (gas) stations, places we go to regularly, sports grounds, golf courses, etc.

An obvious problem with the ideas is that these places change over time. Well, yes, and that also raises the question of who keeps the data up to date. So lets start with suburb names, major road names, major shopping centres and major intersections. Those don't change too often.

Ultimately, it would be nice to have this all through your smartphone, possibly only a voice based system with visual maps only if and when you need it.

This makes sense to me as it is how I and most people I know navigate. Once you have familiarity with an area, you look up a map to see if there are any landmarks or waypoints near your destination that you are familiar with and then map out your route from there. What we never do is work out how to go the whole way.

So, here's to a revolution in GPS to make it match us humans.