TRAVELERS’ CHECK : Even GPS gets lost on new streets
Posted on Monday, November 10, 2008
Global Positioning Systems are remarkable gizmos that make it easy for drivers to go any place on earth unless it’s a new place.
In-dash navigation systems and even less expensive portable GPS units are great in a city such as Bella Vista, where the confusing array of cul-de-sacs and curvy streets make drivers’ heads spin. Still, GPS works well in Bella Vista because so many roads are well-established ones.
“It’s a valuable tool for someone in my business, but maybe not the average person,” said Scott Comiskey, a Bella Vista insurance agent who owns a Honda Civic with an in-dash navigation system. “I can punch an address in and go directly to it.”
Andi Stephens, whose family owns Kitchen Distributors in Fayetteville, gives a high grade to her Acura’s in-dash system. It helps her find the houses where she designs kitchens.
“It helps me work,” she said.
The good folks at Frank Fletcher Honda in Bentonville let The Guru get behind the wheel of a new Honda Accord with in-dash navigation and then tear through the streets of Rogers. His analysis: GPS might be nice for Comiskey in Bella Vista, but it wasn’t so sweet in Rogers where new streets open constantly.
In Rogers, the Accord’s map showed The Guru to be driving across a field instead of on Pauline Whitaker Boulevard near Pinnacle Hills Promenade.
It didn’t know a section of Promenade Boulevard extends north of New Hope Road. It’s too new.
“Sometimes they get as far as two years behind,” said Tim Flight, editor of GPSreview. net, an online newsletter about the systems. “I can find roads that are 10 years old that aren’t in their databases yet.”
That’s the exception rather than the rule, though.
It’s fun tooling around with the in-dash system in the Accord, a $ 29, 125 car in which $ 2, 000 can be tied to the navigation system.
Say “Find fast food” aloud toward the steering wheel and a list pops up that includes KFC, Burger King and other restaurants hell-bent on increasing pants sizes.
Ryan Blake, a sales manager at Frank Fletcher Honda, estimates 10 percent of new car customers in Northwest Arkansas want GPS. Those who buy them swear by how helpful they are, Blake said.
The maps can be updated.
For $ 185, Honda will send a new map on a disc. The 2009 Accord’s system showed the Promenade mall even if it didn’t Pauline Whitaker Boulevard’s path to Interstate 540.
There were other flaws. For example, The Guru left Walnut Avenue in Rogers to go south on I-540 and the femininesounding voice told him he was getting on U. S. 62. Indeed, U. S. 62 shares I-540 ’s path from Rogers to Fayetteville, but it’s dumb not to call it I-540.
But should a GPS novice buy a portable version or an indash system ?
The best portable devices made by Garmin, Tom Tom and Magellan cost less than $ 1, 000. Good ones can be had for $ 200, and updated maps for most varieties are $ 60 or so.
Cost is a major reason to favor portables, Flight said.
“The portable systems are the way to go, considering how fast this technology is changing,” Flight said. “The systems are way different than they were just a couple of years ago. They are becoming obsolete so fast.” Robert J. Smith’s column about people on the move in Northwest Arkansas appears each Monday. He can be reached at rsmith@arkansasonline. com.
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