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The state-of-the-art in GPS: Navman Platinum S300t SatNav (GPS) units were one of the “hot” items at Christmas time. Most were the low-cost, low-featured variety. But we wanted to see what was offered in the top-of-the-range models and Navman came to the party with their just-released “Platinum” S300t. About the only thing it doesn’t have is the kitchen sink. Oh, did I miss that? M y main reason for visiting the Sydney Motor Show back in October was to get as much information as possible on electric cars – and in particular, the Chevy Volt (see report in SILICON CHIP, December ’08) Apart from that, I found the show somewhat disappointing with quite a number of manufacturers choosing not to show (no pun intended!) Sure, it was all glitz and glamour, lots of bright lights and agonisingly sparkling paintwork – but not much in the way of substance, especially for us and, therefore, readers of a technical electronics magazine. So I started to look for other items of interest. Apart from a long, envious drool at the masterpiece of auto engineering that Enzo Ferrari kindly named after me (Testarossa, of course!) and staring gobsmacked at a magnificently restored Ford GT with an estimated auction price approaching $300,000 (you could buy them for less than $20,000 brand new!) there really wasn’t much to hold my interest, at least. As I was about to leave, I took another look through the press kit which organisers gave to members of the media. It was mostly one PR blurb after another, until I got to the Navman folder. "What's this? A brand new GPS unit?". My excitement lasted only a by Ross Tester few milliseconds when I realised that it wasn’t a “real” GPS but unfortunately only a case (yes, a real GPS case!) with a weight inside it to simulate the works. There was also an invitation to visit the Navman stand to see what all the fuss was about with their new Platinum range. I’m not sure the PR effort was all that successful, as mine was the first dummy GPS the people on the stand had seen (and this was day 3!). Anyway, the most helpful Navman salesman took me through the features of this new model and that was enough to convince me that we should get hold of one for review. Why look at SatNav? Let’s face it: SatNav (GPS) units are JANUARY 2009  19 the proverbial “dime a dozen”. They’re long past being a toy for the idle rich; in fact, GPS units are now inbuilt into many cars, ranging from the humble daily drive to some very up-market (read expensive!) marques. For those who don’t have one built in, the stuck-to-the-windscreen models are becoming ubiquitous. Just have a look at the number of cars being driven around these days with a GPS hanging off the glass. Police tell us that the windscreen mount is a dead give-away for thieves because 99% of people place their GPS in the glovebox when they leave the vehicle. Even if the glovebox is locked, that’s only a few moments work with a screwdriver. The number of portable GPS units has just taken a monumental increase – with belt-tightening the order of the day last Christmas, large Plasma and LCD TVs took a hammering in the sales departments but retailers reported GPS units just about flying out the door. Indeed, there were several GPS units being advertised at prices seemingly impossible even last Christmas – around $100 in some cases. But these were/are, in the main, “old technology” with 3.5-inch screens and not much more than basic GPS functions (eg, where am I, show me how to get to “X”). We weren’t really interested in these because they are so common and just about everyone understands how GPS works (if you don’t, see the side box!) But the Navman S300t Platinum GPS was anything but “basic” – and we thought our readers would like to see what a state-of-the-art GPS unit offers, albeit with a rather more significant pricetag than sub-$100! In fact, the platinum range have recommended retail prices ranging from $429 up to $699 for the unit we played with. I don't think $699 is the most expensive GPS unit on the market these days but it would have to go close. So for this amount of money, you’d want to get a lot more than basic GPS functions, right? You do! We’ll look at these in a bit more detail shortly but first, let’s describe the unit itself. The first thing you notice about the Platinum series is, unlike most GPS units, the complete absence of buttons on the front panel. That’s because the myriad of controls have been migrated to the touch screen. That screen, by the way, now includes “glide touch” – you navigate around the map or menus by gliding your fingers over the screen. That’s really neat. Ignoring the absence of buttons, the S300t looks not too dissimilar to many of the other GPS units on the market these days (I’m sure Navman would argue with that!) but it’s only after use that the differences become apparent. With a 4.3-inch “widescreen” it measures 130 x 78mm and is just 13.5mm thick. Weight is 150g. It looks identical to the three other S-series (Platinum) models but it's the list of features that places the S300T at the top (at least currently) of Navman’s evolutionary tree. Released only last November, Navman claim the four models in the Platinum series – and the S300t in particular – represent the very latest in satellite navigation technology. As well as providing a lot more "grunt" inside the case, importantly they have simplified the user interface to just three key areas: “go” for regular navigation instructions, “find” to search for specific places, areas or businesses and “explore” to search an area in greater detail or pull up information about points of interest (POI) online using TrueLocal. Each in the range sport a 400MHz processor with either 1GB or 2GB of memory (the top two models have 2GB) and a micro-SD card slot. Advanced features In no particular order, just some of the features offered by the S300t are: • Live traffic updates using the SUNA Traffic Message Channel (TMC). Updates are provided continually as road conditions are monitored, including accidents, incidents and traffic congestion. It will provide the location, how long the likely delay and even give you options to detour you around the location. A lifetime subscription to SUNA TMC is included. • Maps cover 100% of the population of Australia – over 1.1 million kilometres of roads with shortcuts, fuel, parking, places to eat, tourist information and much more. The maps are powered by Navteq and Reproduced not far off life size, the Navman S300t is shown here in its 3D mode with major buildings and landmarks as you would see them driving along – in this case, Sydney's Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building. Also on this screen is a traffic warning from the SUNA TMC, showing where the delay is and average speed. The S300t is remarkable for the lack of controls. In fact, there are two on the front – the blue stripe (bottom right) invokes the on-screen menu, which basically controls every function and setting. The pin (just visible top right) allows you to "fix" a current position so that you can return to it later. It's a very handy feature when you are, for example, looking for an address in an strange area. The only other control is the power switch on the top of the unit. Almost hidden here is the power connector on the underside. 20  Silicon Chip • • • • • • • • • • • • you can zoom the maps for greater detail/greater area. Tag location – if you want to remember where you were, or a particular building/address, pressing a “pin” icon on the screen records that location exactly, enabling you to return (with GPS directions) at any time. Bluetooth hands-free, which enables you to go on line via Truelocal to do searches of over one million listings. You can also use the Navman as a hands-free car kit for mobile phones with Bluetooth. FM Transmitter – the S300t (along with the next model down, the S200) features an FM transmitter which operates through you car radio/stereo, so all voice and warning tones come through that. MP3 music files and even Bluetooth connected phone calls also operate in this way. FM Radio Receiver – the same two models also have an inbuilt receiver for FM radio stations which also operate through the transmitter to the car stereo. Automatic day/night screen switching Lane guidance and junction views – no longer will you be caught in the wrong lane to make a turn or heading. 3D landmarks – if you’re in a strange city, major buildings/landmarks (such as the Sydney Opera House or the MCG) appear in 3D that fit the dimensions of the map, making recognition that much easier. Digital log book – store distance expenses, etc Efficiency mode – it can give directions that avoid braking and keep speeds constant, reducing petrol consumption. Explore – hundreds of thousands of points of interest are programmed in but the Navman allows you to go much further by connecting to TrueLocal to look up more information, even dial them up or be guided directly there. Warnings – speed cameras, red light cameras, accident blackspots, railway crossing and school zones are all highlighted as you drive along. Speed zones also give you the warning for change of speed (unfortunately, not time related so it will still say 40km/h at midnight!) Pedestrian mode – swap to this mode and you'll get directions for In its "Explore" mode you can do just that – not just with the hundreds of thousands of POIs loaded but you can also connect to TrueLocal and use the huge database to find what you want. It will then direct you there or, with a bluetooth phone paired, you can then call up hands-free! travelling on foot, including blocked access, turn restrictions, etc. • Overseas maps – Eastern and Western Europe, USA, New Zealand and Canada are already contained in the box (you do need to purchase an unlock key). • NavPix Downloads – you can download geo-tagged images from Flickr (or from Navman website) and go! • Micro SD card slot – with this you can view pictures or even videos or play MP3s (said to be great for the children on long trips – but isn’t that where you’d want the GPS operating?) I'm sure there are more features that I didn't find out about in the short time I had to play with the Navman but you'd have to agree, this list is pretty extensive. Digital map updates The Navteq digital map data bears special mention. They claim to have the largest field team of geographic analysts in Australia who continually update the maps with both local knowledge and contacts. They collect data on new roads, one-way streets, turn restrictions, physical barriers, new housing developments and points of interest including banks/ATMs, petrol stations, restaurants, hotels and shopping centres. In use The basic operation of the Navman S300t is very easy to get going and use –eg, telling you where you are and how to get to where you want to go. The Australian female voice (Karen) was much more pleasant than that of my own GPS (sometimes I’d love to throttle Jane and occasionally [electronically] do!) You can also have an Aussie male, Lee. But if you spend as much on a GPS as the Navman S300t, or even any of the platinum range, you’re going to want to use a lot more than the basic SatNav functions – in other words, some of the myriad of features it comes packed with. I have to say that some of the “premium safety alerts” – school zones, accident black spots, red light and speed cameras, etc – I found not only a nuisance (yes, they can be turned off!) but I also often found them inaccurate. For example, it several times insisted I was coming to a school zone when there was none. Once it said there was a school zone 250m ahead when I was driving down a 150m deadend street where there was definitely no school, or any school in the general direction. (There was a school perhaps 500m behind me – was this the one it was referring to?) Another time it told me there was a school zone ahead in 300m, no 350, no 400m . . . all the way to 550m when it decided there was no school anyway. A few hundred metres later, I turned a corner and drove for 200m alongside a school that has been there since Adam and has school zones on three sides. . . and no school zone showed at all. It also insisted there was a “safety camera” ahead, after I had passed it by it on a parallel road. Not only is that annoying, if you are in an unknown area your concentration is not what it should be when you’re continually looking for revenue raisers (woops – forgive my cynicism showing through) – in this case non-existent ones. I also found it was often inaccurate in its reported position – whether this was me not having learned enough about the unit I’m not convinced – but it sometimes told me I was tens, and sometimes hundreds of metres away from where I knew I was. Loss of GPS JANUARY 2009  21 How the Global Positioning System Works L ike many of today’s technology breakthroughs, GPS was originally a military system. Initially four NAVSTAR satellites, the first launched in 1978, formed the backbone of the system. As satellites go, they aren’t very big: about 1.5m wide and 5m long. In orbit (17,450km out), they weigh only 850kg. Each satellite contains ­four extremely accurate atomic clocks (one second in three million years!). This time information and satellite identification is transmitted on two L-band carriers around 1.575GHz. Today there are 32 of these satellites which provide coverage to every point on the planet. At least three satellites would normally be “visible” from anywhere; more important areas have up to twelve satellites available from was used extensively to obtain positions in completely which to obtain data. featureless desert and often in blinding sandstorms. In Because the exact position of each satellite is known fact, GPS has been credited with having a decisive role at any instant in time, a GPS receiver on the ground (or in the UN forces’ success. in the air, or at sea) ­can work out precisely how far away Most of today’s GPS receivers require an initial “fix” from that satellite is by comparing the time-stamped transmitted no more than three satellites to establish their position. signal to the time it actually received that signal. Once the signal is received and position determined, it can Doing the same thing with the signal from a second keep accurate readings using only one satellite. Therefore satellite enables the GPS receiver to determine its position it is ideal in very poor signal areas. between the two. Adding a third signal enables a location It can take almost a minute to receive and analyse to be established; ie, a three-dimensional “fix”. enough signals to determine position from a “cold start”. And adding a fourth signal (or more) enables errors to Once the receiver knows where it is, a “hot start” gives a be virtually eliminated, giving even more accuracy. position in about eight seconds. While operating, Design accuracy is within 30 metres of true the information is updated about every 100ms. position. Until 2000, accuracy for civilian and While the majority of GPS units are fully selfnon-US-ally users was only 100m because of contained, some have the ability to output “selective availability” or SA errors, deliberately data for recording, further analysis, etc. introduced into the system to make it more The output from the module is data in difficult for non-friendly armed forces the form of NMEA-0183 sentences. to use. NMEA stands for the National But former US President Marine Electronics Association Clinton ordered SA be reand has become the standard for moved on 1st May 2000, to all GPS data output. An NMEA allow all users access to the sentence contains an address military-precision signal. field, a data field and a checksum. Achieved accuracy is usuWithin the data field can be such ally better than 30m and often information as latitude and longisignificantly better – most tude, north or south of equator, Basic Positioning (simplified to one plane vehicle GPS systems can east or west of 0° meridian, speed only): if the GPS receiver (at point A) knows show exactly where a vehicle over ground in knots, course over it is a certain time away from the red satellite, is on the road to within a few ground in degrees true, the date it must be somewhere on the red circle. metres, an accuracy of at and time, and whether the data is Similarly, if it also knows it is a certain time least 5m or even better. That’s vaild or not.­ away from the blue satellite, it can only be where the red and blue circles intersect (points not too bad from 17,450km By the way, the reason that the A & C). If a third (green) satellite is added, it away! exact positions of the GPS satelcan only be at point A. Once it knows it is at The GPS system is fairly lites is always known is that they point A, even if the GPS receiver temporarily unaffected by weather; rain themselves use signals from the loses data from one or two satellites it knows it other satellites to exactly deterand cloud generally have litcannot be at points B, C or D so it takes its data tle impact but wet foliage and mine their own position. from one satellite and works with that data even dense tree cover can And positioning is not the only until another comes into view. In the real GPS cause problems. use for GPS: its highly accurate world, all of the circles are actually spheres, During the “Desert Storm” time signals are used in a huge so the system operates in all three dimensions war in the Middle East GPS variety of applications worldwide. and can therefore give height. 22  Silicon Chip signal? I don’t think so, given where I was at the time – with an open, clear sky view. And no, I was neither lost nor inebriated! Most of the time, though, it was dead accurate, as you would expect. But the inconsistency disturbs me. I never had the opportunity for it to re-plot my way around an accident, as the only accident I saw in the time I had it was just a few tens of metres from the SILICON CHIP office – and there was no way to go another route! However, that feature in itself would be one of the more handy to have if you are on the road a lot and/or have deadlines to meet. And I didn’t try the unit in its “pedestrian” mode, even though this is very easy to invoke. (Hey, why walk when you can drive?) The display I found the daytime display too “pastel” for my liking – I much preferred the night-time display, which automatically switches over if set that way. You can adjust the brightness of the display in both day and night – even with the daytime display at 100% it was not the easiest to see in bright light and even worse in direct sunshine. Conclusion The Navman S300t has the most amazing array of highly desirable features I have ever seen in any SatNav unit. But personally, that’s perhaps where I had the most difficulty with it. Like most technology products these days, in the hands of a ten-year-old, I’m sure every one of those features would be understood and functioning very, very quickly. Despite the assurances of Navman that they had simplified the user interface from previous models, despite me having used a GPS for a year or so, I found the learning curve a little steep. Maybe it is because I have used another brand of GPS and am very comfortable with it that I had to “unlearn” a lot to learn the Navman S300t. Is that just me? Without wanting to sound boastful, as a person who lives “technical” 24/7, I believe I can come to grips with most “technical” products at least a little quicker than the average man-in-the-street. So if you buy yourself a Navman S300t, you will be amazed at the range of features it offers – but be prepared to spend time getting to know it. Or find yourself a friendly ten-yearold to explain it all to you! Where from, how much: Navman GPS units are available from specialist retailers, department stores and dealers throughout the country, or online via www.navman. com.au The model reviewed, the Navman Platinum S300t, has a recommended retail price of $699 but before Christmas we saw them retailing at up to $50 or so less than this. The entry-level Platinum model, the S100, has an RRP of $429, with others retailing for $499 (S150) and $599 (S200). The main differences between the S100 and S300t are less memory (1GB), no Bluetooth (therefore no live local search either), FM transmitter, 3D Landmarks or 3D junction view, no MP3 or video player capability nor FM Radio receiver and the SUNA TMC is optional. The two others in the range have varying levels of these features. Otherwise, as we mentioned, they are SC identical in appearance. Radio, Television & Hobbies: the COMPLETE archive on DVD YES! NA R MO E THA URY ENT QUARTER C NICS O OF ELECTR ! Y R O T IS H This remarkable collection of PDFs covers every issue of R & H, as it was known from the beginning (April 1939 – price sixpence!) right through to the final edition of R, TV & H in March 1965, before it disappeared forever with the change of name to EA. For the first time ever, complete and in one handy DVD, every article and every issue is covered. If you’re an old timer (or even young timer!) into vintage radio, it doesn’t get much more vintage than this. If you’re a student of history, this archive gives an extraordinary insight into the amazing breakthroughs made in radio and electronics technology following the war years. And speaking of the war years, R & H had some of the best propaganda imaginable! Even if you’re just an electronics dabbler, there’s something here to interest you. • Every issue individually archived, by month and year • Complete with index for each year • A must-have for everyone interested in electronics Please note: this archive is in PDF format on DVD for PC. Your computer will need a DVD-ROM or DVD-recorder (not a CD!) and Acrobat Reader V6 (free download) to enable you to view this archive. This DVD is NOT playable through a standard A/V-type DVD player. ONLY 62 Exclusive toSILICON CHIP $ + $ 00 7 P&P HERE’S HOW TO ORDER YOUR COPY: BY PHONE:* (02) 9939 3295 9-4 Mon-Fri BY FAX:# (02) 9939 2648 24 Hours 7 Days <at> BY EMAIL:# silchip<at>siliconchip.com.au 24 Hours 7 Days BY MAIL:# PO Box 139, Collaroy NSW 2097 * Please have your credit card handy! # Don’t forget to include your name, address, phone no and credit card details. BY INTERNET:^ siliconchip.com.au 24 Hours 7 Days ^ You will be prompted for required information JANUARY 2009  23