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INTRODUCTION

    I know what you're thinking... do we really need another GPS Navigation software program on the market? There are so many to choose from already. Well, yes we do. None of the GPS voice guided navigation programs offer all of the options they should. Especially not in North America. (Traffic reports integration where are you?)

    OnCourse Navigator 4 is the latest addition into the GPS software market and it's a new entry for North America. The product is the result of a collaboration between EasyPocketNav and Navigon to offer a Navigon software based GPS solution for North America. OnCourse Navigator has a number of new features that no other Pocket PC GPS Navigation software includes. Combine these with very accurate Navteq maps, and you could have a winner on your hands.  Navigate on...

WHAT'S HOT

   OnCourse Navigator is the first GPS navigation program to be able to offer route-based map-creation with Navteq maps in North America. It's also the only one to include a skin-able interface and voice tags for saved destinations.

SETUP

   Setting up the application is pretty straight forward. You just have to insert the first CD into your desktop computer and run the installer. 

    However, after the installer asks you to switch to CD 2, it does some more installing and then tells you to switch back to CD 1.  That was a little annoying.  The problem is that the installer does the desktop software and maps first, and then installs the Pocket PC software which is on CD 1.  If you're going to do a custom install, I recommend you install the map data to your hard disk as well as the application because the Map Export software will not be able to find the map data on a CD if it is not installed to the hard drive along with the application. 

PROGRAM FEATURES

    As is true with most GPS Navigation programs, there are a ton of features. GPS Navigation programs are among the most complex around for Pocket PCs. When you install On Course Navigator4, two applications are installed on the desktop and one on the Pocket PC.

MapExport Software

     OnCourse Navigator's Map Export software offers many options for creating map data for your Windows Mobile device. There are a few minor usability issues however. Such as finding your destinations can be slow and tedious with the map navigation tools. Also, it took me a while to figure out how to find a destination based on address. It turns out that there's a third magnifying glass icon that allows you to search for locations based on address. It's the one that does not have a plus symbol or minus symbol in it.

You can select pre-created map sets to copy to your device.

You can also create a corridor-based map set based on a planned multi-stop route that even spans multiple states. This method of map-set creation is best for long trips where you may not need map data for an entire region.

Exporting a map to your Pocket PC can take quite a long time.

A nice feature in the map export is that you can choose to store the data anywhere you want. You're not restricted to storing it in a specific folder. This may contribute to the slowness of the Pocket PC application since it has to figure out where the data is located every time. Other Pocket PC GPS Navigation programs only have to look in one place.

SkinEditor Software

     OnCourse Navigator also installs another Desktop application called SkinEditor. This program is very interesting since it allows you to create new themes or skins for the Pocket PC based Navigator software.

The SkinEditor lets you change just about all user interface colors as well as the background image.

It took me a while to figure out how to change the skins. In the Pocket PC software's settings, you have to choose the "Representation" item in order to change skins. It would have been easier if they went for consistency and called the setting "Skins".

 

OnCourse Navigator 4 Pocket PC Software

     Activation is based on your hardware. That means you can do a hard reset and reinstall the software without having to get a new activation code.  However, you will have to keep track of your serial number and activation code in order to reinstall. Disappointingly, there's no easy way to transfer your activation to a different device say if you upgrade your Pocket PC and still want to use the software.

OnCourse Navigator 4 installs a Today Screen item.  All it does is launch the Navigator 4 software. 

After about 30 seconds worth of looking at this screen, OnCourse Navigator 4 should load.  If it remains on this screen, the software is likely frozen.  This seems to happen when it can't find the bluetooth GPS receiver.

You have to accept the safety agreement every time you launch OnCourse Navigator.

Then the primary navigation screen appears.

     Pressing the voice recording button (it's the one with the person icon with sound waves coming out of his head) will turn on listening mode. If what you say during that mode matches a pre-recorded destination voice-tag, Navigator will start navigating to that destination.  This is a great feature that no other navigation software has yet matched, though it could still be better.

Choosing "One Destination" gives you some options for choosing a destination. 

     Choosing "Contacts" actually brings you to the Contacts program, instead of listing the contacts in it's own interface.  It's unclear how you get the Contact's address back into Navigator 4.  What you have to do is Tap-and-hold on the contact name and then choose "OnCourse Navigator" from the context sensitive menu.

This will bring up a dialog asking you which address listed for the contact that you would like to navigate to.

     Choosing "Recent Destinations" gives you a list of previous destinations to choose from.  It also loads the last selected software input method so that you can type in your destination in the field provided.  One obvious problem is the input panel's access button is missing, so you won't be able to switch to a potentially more appropriate software input method. It also crops off the bottom part of the last row of buttons.

You can switch to a 9 button numeric style input method which is nice for one-handed input.  However, the "C" and "123" buttons on the right cover up the edit and delete buttons for the saved locations; making those functions unusable.

Navigator will then confirm your destination when it's found on the map. I don't know why they list the zip code and city first, then the street, then the number.  That's backwards from what we normally use in North America.

Tapping the "Save" button on any destination will allow you to name the destination as well as create a voice tag for the location.

Pressing "Select Map" lets you choose to use a different map that was exported to the Pocket PC from the desktop MapExport application.

If you want to switch to a different map set that you've created, you'll have to restart the program. That's a bit of a pain as it takes so long to launch this software.

     If you choose "Several Destinations" from the main menu, you get this screen which allows you to to create, edit, and save multi-stop itineraries.  Tapping the Plus icon brings you to the normal destination screen where you can choose any number of destination creation methods. The trash icon deletes the selected destination. The Caclulator icon calculates the route to navigate. After you calculate the route, you can choose "Show on Map" in order to see the entire route that Navigator has created for you. This is very helpful if you do not have GPS reception or you just want to see the route the software has planned for you.

Tapping the open folder icon lets you load an Itinerary that was previously saved, or created in the desktop's MapExport program.

     When you tap "Start Navigation" from a single destination or multiple destination screen, you are presented with another options screen allowing you to choose various navigational settings.  I kind of like this way of doing things as you don't have to dig through the settings to change these options with each trip.

     Then, after tapping "Start Navigation", Navigator will calculate the route with the given options.  It's nice that it shows the percentage complete for each destination as well as the total percentage.  However, this initial route calculation can take a long time depending on the complexity and distance of your trip.

In the navigation screen you see on the right information about reaching my next destination and my final destination.  On the left are icons indicating my next two turns, along with a progress bar of sorts indicating the distance to my next turn.

     When you tap the screen, other buttons appear along the right and top.  You see zoom level controls on the right, and along the top are the panning tool, itinerary listing, north up orientation, center on current position (blank in this view), and 3D view. The Auto button removes the buttons on the top and right, and returns the software to automatic navigation mode.

The 3D view gives you a more interesting perspective on the navigation map. Your destination flags also appear in 3D with cute little shadows behind them.

If you Tap and hold on the map, you get the following dialog.

Tapping on the task option gives you the above menu.

Executing the search for nearby destinations gives you another interface where you can choose many options for searching for points of interest.

Once you find the destination you want, you then have to go to the same Tap & Hold menu and "Add to Route."

Navigator can be quite slow redrawing the map if you're zoomed out a lot.

     The little triangle in the lower right of the map view brings up the navigation options screen. You can change the map view from daytime to night time using the icons at the top.  You can also mute the entire system with the crossed-out speaker icon in the upper right.  Note, this does mute everything on your Pocket PC, so if you're listening to music on your car stereo while navigating, this button will mute everything.  Most Pocket PC Navigation programs behave this way, but that does not make it right.  The mute button should only mute the navigation software's voice prompts.  This options dialog also allows you to Quit navigation, set a new way point (interim destination), block a certain road, show route list, change route options, and change the application preferences. 

The Route List option shows you all of the turns that you'll make.  As you can see it's a bit difficult to read, and there's no way to copy this listing as text and paste it into an email or whatnot.

The Block Road option gives you a list of distances to avoid the road for.  I assume it has to be activated when you're on that road.  This is useful for creating traffic detours.

The maps look great and even indicate street direction.

I found an address that Navigator could not calculate directions to. Strangely, if I changed the type of routing to Pedestrian, it WAS able to calculate directions as well as direct me to the destination without error.

OPTIONS

The Preferences button brings you to a series of screens for changing options.

  

Map and Route information items can be turned on and off.

The Volume control preference actually controls system volume, not the application's voice prompts volume.  This can be a real pain if you're also using your Pocket PC as a media player in the car since the voice prompts volume will likely be much louder than the music volume. 

The "Representation" preference is actually for changing the appearance of the application.  I might have chosen a different word for this option. 

You can choose a number of different skin styles for the application.  My custom "MCE Style" skin also shows up here.

The default "Standard" skin was a bit too distracting and busy for my tastes.

Auto mode options let you change the way Navigator displays the map while driving.

  

The Speed Profile options let you change the type of vehicle you're driving. Presumably, the different options will calculate a route and specify instructions at more opportune times accordingly.

  

The Logbook lets you keep track of your trips for billing purposes. The Keypad options let you customize the hardware buttons to perform certain functions while Navigator is running.

  

The Itinerary options let you turn on the option that will navigate you to the next destination automatically after you've reached the previous destination. Format settings let you change the time and distance measurement units and formatting.

The GPS settings page is important for configuring your GPS reciever.

  

Your Home Address can be edited here. This will be the address assigned to the house icon on the main page giving you quick access to this destination.  The Radio-mute setting mutes the Navigator instructions when you are on a phone call using a Pocket PC Phone edition device.

HELP SUPPORT

    OnCourse Navigator 4 comes with a PDF based manual. The manual seemed to be a little difficult to use and not as detailed as I would like. However, Easy PocketNav has created a nice support section on their website that's updated as the need arises. You can also contact Easy PocketNav by email and your questions will be addressed promptly. Easy PocketNav is very helpful when it comes to support. They certainly want you to be happy with their product.

     Their website also offers some excellent information for potential customers. You can view a number of video demos that let you see and hear how the software will function. This is very useful and should be mandatory for any software company who does not offer a downloadable trial version.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

    OnCourse Navigator 4 requires a Pocket PC running Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, or Windows Mobile 2003 SE. The application also needs about 5-7Mb Storage memory and 6-15Mb Program memory. If you've only got 64Mb RAM on your Pocket PC, you might want to close a few programs before running Navigator 4. You'll also need a NMEA compatible GPS receiver. As for the desktop side, the MapExport and SkinEditor applications are very greedy when it comes to your screen real-estate... you'll need a 1024x768 pixel screen resolution and it will only run on Windows 9x, 2000, and XP.

BUGS AND WISHES

     The biggest problem with OnCourse Navigator 4 is how slow it is to launch. This makes it frustrating to use on short trips where it would take longer to launch the software and enter your destination than it would for you to just figure it out by street signs. Also, it's hard to tell if OnCourse Navigator is hung or it's just taking a long time to load. One time, I launched OnCourse Navigator with no maps on the device and no GPS receiver connected. It stayed on the start-up screen indefinitely.  Actually, I left it there for about 20 hours and it still had the little multi-color "busy" icon. Only a soft-reset will make the device re-usable.

     There's also the obvious design flaws in the user interface where as the proprietary input panel actually covers up other buttons. The GUI does take up the entire screen, but there's a Window icon in the bottom right (where the input panel icon should be), which brings back the Windows Mobile title bar and start menu.  I'd rather have the operating system user interface remain accessible when running 3rd party applications.

     The voice prompts are also very loud compared to the normal volume of the Pocket PC audio output. This was done on purpose so that you could hear the instructions better through the PDA's external speaker. However, if you're a multitasker like me, these extra loud voice prompts become very annoying when you're also playing music via Media Player in your car stereo. If you're going to use your Pocket PC ONLY for GPS Navigation, then that's not so much of a problem. Also, the application volume is not independent; it's system wide. That means if you change the volume in OnCourse Navigator, it affects Media Player as well. Furthermore, OnCourse Navigator will change your current settings when it's launched in order to match the settings used when it was last used. So that means your volume and brightness settings will change when OcN is launched.

PURCHASING

    You can purchase OnCourse Navigator 4 directly from BuyGPSnow.com or OnCourseNavigator.com.  The software only version is about $179.95, but if you already have another GPS Navigation program, you can trade it in for a discount bringing the price down to $99.95. You can also purchase the software bundled with any number of other GPS devices.

PROS

• Route-specific Navteq map creation
• Maps are very accurate and look great
• Voice tags for locations
• Voice prompts are timely, accurate, and polite
• Skinable user interface
• Extensive map-set creation tools
• One-handed user interface very easy to use with D-pad

CONS

• Slow boot time
• Volume control is system wide (interferes with other audio)
• Doesn't specify side-of-street for destinations

OVERALL IMPRESSION

   OnCourse Navigator 4 is a great compromise between innovative features, accurate maps, accurate navigation instructions, and a good price. It offers features found nowhere else like Voice tags, corridor-based Navteq mapsets, and a customizable user interface. OnCourse Navigator 4 is a great choice for long distance trips since it's the only GPS Navigation program to offer cross country corridor-based Navteq map navigation sets. If you can tolerate the extremely slow boot-up time, this could be your new favorite Navigation program.