OnCourse: Back on Course (1/2)
OnCourse Navigator 6 GPS
INTRODUCTION
iGo is a road navigation program that has been gaining popularity in Europe since its release in 2005. Its quick, smooth interface has garnered a lot of attention. It’s been customized by Mio for use in their line of devices. Until now, however, the program has not been easily available as a stand-alone application, especially here in the United States. Enter – the new OnCourse Navigator 6 – essentially iGo 2006 SE bundled with the latest TeleAtlas maps. Does it live up to the hype? Read on to find out!
WHAT'S HOT
OnCourse Navigator 6 has a number of outstanding features including:
- The latest TeleAtlas maps (2007.1)
- Easy Installation
- Extensive POI database for North America (either 3.5 million or 12.5 million points)
- Fast routing / recalculation
- Smooth display graphics and animations
SETUP
Setup was extremely simple: just pop in the SD card (mini and micro SD are also available) and follow the onscreen instructions. This process was extremely quick and easy for me. The program asks if you wish to install. After confirmation, the program installs and then asks you about your location and the voice you wish to use for announcements. You also need to agree to the license. The OCN web site makes reference to the possibility of a slow first-time startup if you have more than about 25 contacts. This occurs only on the first startup. After that, the program starts up in a very reasonable amount of time.
Above you can see the opening options as they appear on a square screen while below is the same display on a standard QVGA display. Note that on the square screen the GPS connection information has been removed in order to accomodate the smaller screen.
At this point, you’re able to use the program, but I recommend you perform one more task first: set your home and work locations. You do this by pressing the Find and Go button in the middle of the opening menu, then pressing either the home or the work button. You are then prompted to enter the address, coordinates, or other for your home (or work) address. Once these are set, you are truly ready to explore the program.
Here are some of the screens you're likely to see the first time you run the program.
This is an example route itinerary (left) and data entry screen (right). The data entry screens are all adaptive and only letters for available entries are active.
Above is an example of a POI detail screen (left) and the POI categories (right).
PRODUCT FEATURES
If you've used OCN 4 or 5, you'll immediately notice that this is definitely not the same program as its predecessors. OCN 4/5 was based on a product from Navigon. OCN 6, as mentioned before, is an entirely different product - this time it's based on iGo 2006SE. This program is definitely faster at both startup and general operation than either OCN 4 or 5. My personal feeling is that the graphics are cleaner and smoother than those of the earlier releases of OCN, but a lot will be subject to your personal taste.
Here is the title screen of the program.
Above is a view of the main cockpit (navigation) display. On the left are the zoom and tilt controls while on the right are the display mode (follow, north-up, and airplane mode) as well as the battery and sound indicators. Below are square screen examples of the map and cockpit displays.
Aside from the easy installation, the other big thing you’ll notice about OCN6 is the extremely smooth flow of the graphics and screen-based functions like panning, and tilting the viewing axis. For example, you can tilt the display viewing perspective anywhere from a flat, 2D map perspective all the way to a deep 3D perspective. This is done in a smooth, nearly continuous flow. The same is true with the zoom feature - you can go all the way from a close in, street-level view all the way up to viewing your position on a representation of the Earth viewed from outer space. Although the pan/zoom features are smoother on faster devices than they are on slower devices, the smoothness was quite nice on all the devices I used in my testing.
This is another example of the map display on a QVGA display.
Above you can see an example QVGA map display that shows the same location with the tilt set to flat 2D (left) and then full 3D tilt (right).
Many items are animated. In map mode, for example, the current point on the map flashes with a sort of beaconing effect. When in cockpit (navigation) mode, as you approach a turn, the turn arrow moves in the direction of the turn you are supposed to make. I’ve read comments from some people who feel that this lends a “cartoonish” feel to the product, but I disagree, I think it draws your attention to what is important on the screen and gives you better sense of what is happening. The animations and other related interface items may owe some their feel to the fact that the original iGo application upon which OCN6 is based, comes from some of the programmers associated with PDAMill (now NavNGo), which is, of course, better known for its games. I think these same techniques lend themselves well to applications like navigation software, much as it would if you were writing a racing simulation or flight simulator. A lot of the same type of visuals would/should apply. The end effect is a program that has a lot of attention to visual detail and to the way that you interact with it.
These are square screen examples of the cockpit display and navigation in action (actually just using the "fly over" route preview option. Note that the default zoom level shown here is almost too close, but don't worry - it's adjustable!
This is another square screen routing display.
One of the nicest features of the program is the fact that it is using the TeleAtlas 2007.1 maps of the U.S. and Canada (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam). In their October 2006 release, TeleAtlas started to incorporate a lot of data it acquired from the acquisition of GDT. Unfortunately, they also incorporated a lot of the mistakes from that other data set as well. This time around, the data appears to have undergone some cleanup. I’ve still found a few errors, but fewer than were in programs using the 2006.10 data set from TeleAtlas. This makes these maps some of the most up-to-date maps available, without many of the data holes that were apparent in products using TeleAtlas maps from just a year ago. Keep in mind, however, your results may vary depending on the specific area your interested in, but overall, it appears to be an improvement over the previous data set.
These two screens, QVGA (left) and square screen (right) are examples of the map screen zoomed out as far as possible. Probably not useful in normal navigation, but an exellent example of the level of detail and thought that appears to have gone into this program.
These two square screen displays and the one that follows are different zoom levels of the same location.
I mentioned before that OCN 6 is faster than its predecessors. I have to say that I've really been pleased with is the speed of the application. The installation was certainly quick and easy, but routing and rerouting are very quick as well. It took less than 10 seconds to calculate a route that was over 1000 miles long on a 520MHz PPC, under 15 seconds on a 200MHz device. I think the thing that surprised me most was the the performance of the program was really acceptable, even on a slower device. That isn't always the case with GPS and navigation applications, so it's nice to see.
OCN 6 also offers support for TMC receivers, although TMC traffic support and coverage is currently somewhat limited in North America. Unfortunately, I wasn't in a position to test this functionality, but it is built in.
Among the other features of the program are multi-point routing, including optimization of that route, road avoidance, route flyover (including all voice instructions), a customizable status bar, and customization of the zoom/auto-zoom levels, and a number of other features.
