Professor

I wish I had a weather button to see a doppler map of the area I'm driving into. Some of these summer storms are terrible, and I waiting for some hail in them.

NJRonbo

Weather is a nice feature, but I wish for something even
simpler that the NAV system is missing....

A little "ding dong" that indicates you are at the turn.

I used to own the Magellan RoadMate which is probably
the best NAV system you can buy outside of the ones
installed in cars. While it's a mere toy compared to the
RL navigation system, it did at least give a bell confirmation
when your car was at a turn.

On the RL navigation you have to look at the map for
the "number of feet to turn" indicator, which is nice, but
defeats the purpose of keeping your eyes on the road
and not on the map.

It's no big deal in the long run. The NAV in this car is
outstanding -- but you did ask what we would want added.

bluemule

Recently, my Honda dealer loaned me a van with essentially the same NAV setup as the RL's. The van had a backup camera installed, and this was *really* convenient...needs to be in color though.

fab06

How about navigation dependant on traffic conditions. It would be rather simple. XM updates on the traffic speed. You set a standard speed for non-highway roads that is constant. If the highway speeds drops below that it suggests an alternate route. Or if there are two highways that have traffic information. It picks the shortest distance or the fastes by doing a simple calculation of road speed and distance.

As always they should make it a selectable feature as in you can turn it off or on.

:gheywave:
**Now this is a golden idea if the Nav Traffic people are listening. Make the system communication have an uplink. So Nav Traffic nows how fast you are going on what road and in what direction. Then everyone out there no matter which city or town can be reporting realtime traffic to NavTraffics database. Then it could issue road speeds for tons of roads not just highways. How amazing would that be. The system could build a database and remember that when xyz car drove this road at this time yesterday the traffic was bad. ie. today no one with navtraffic is driving it but there is a good chance there is traffic on that road today at the same time. So it could report slower traffic. The database could get smart. The more information fed into the system the more accurate it could get. As always this would have to be a selectable feature for people that don't like databases knowing where they are headed.**


Scratch that NavTraffic if you want that idea you need to give me some royalties.

Bitium

didn't think about that, but it sounds like a good idea. Say you are driving to orlando from miami, while driving you want to see how the weather looks in orlnado before you get there. Very good idea.

vp911

I wanted the weather updates.

I like the idea fab06 had - the uplink so the traffic coudl be sent to everybody with the speed.

bkw

I can see the police getting their hands on this technology and before you know it, you'll be receiving AHFC statements with penalties from the local authorities factored in.

Great idea though.

Jbro

When you are not navigating to a destination, I would like an option where the Nav system displays the name of the upcoming intersecting streets instead of constantly displaying the name of the street you are traveling on.

Nocturnal

Good ideas here. Some more 'reasonable' than others :-)

I like Jbros's idea a lot. This is how a lot of ad-hoc navigation is done, based on intersections.

As far as speed uploads go, there are obvious advantages but privacy groups would have a field day. I don't see this happening any time soon if ever.

Weather would be a nice gadget especially in areas where weather will indeed affect where and how you drive.

I'm surprised that the nav system doesn't yet use the traffic data to give you alternate routes. Sounds like a half baked solution or perhaps a deliberate feature-stall.

Some kind of PC link would be a nice addition I think. It makes sense IMO to plan your trips at home and then drive. The car already has bluetooth, that interface could be used to chat with the PC. Sell the software as an addon ($50). Import maps from Google Maps or Mapquest. Or simply edit your list of waypoints. If BT is not feasible (not many PCs have it yet and the range may be insufficient to get from the office to the garage) then a simple flashcard interface would do.

I'm surprised that there's no 'ding' when you get close to your turn. Doesn't it have voice output that tell you the way?