Personal Assistant of navigation

A personal assistant of navigation , also indicated under the Initials PND (for the English personal navigation device ), is an electronic apparatus Portable able to locate the place where it is located by means of a Système of positioning by satellites (typically GPS).

First models

The first assistants of navigation, appeared in the middle of the Years 1980, were mobile terminals of pocket used for activities of Loisir such as the sea Transport and the Randonnée. They were able to post their position on a chart, and proposed basic functions of navigation in connection with the course followed and to follow.

For the car

Then systems specifically planned for the Automobile S, able appeared to calculate Itinéraire S by taking account of the Highway network: their growing popularity led to the propagation with large scales of the assistants of navigation.

The user can define in it the place of arrival by his Postal address and more only by his geographical Coordonnées. The instructions are given step by step, with a system of Voice synthesis.

On the most recent versions:

  • the charts are in Three dimensions;
  • the seizure of the address of arrival can be done by Voice recognition;
  • the calculation of the route can take account of constraints in Real-time (congestion S, road works, conditions weather S, etc), the data being provided by a connected Mobile phone in Bluetooth;
  • the system can post the authorized Maximum speed in progress, and possibly emit a warning if the driver does not respect it; it can also announce the presence of a fixed radar.

Convergence

Other apparatuses can propose functions of positioning and navigation by satellite: some mobile phones and PDA.

Moreover, in order to reduce the manufacturing costs and the durations of development, the majority of the modern assistants of navigation are equipped with Logiciel S conceived for PDA, sometimes by third parties: they use operating systems embarked such as Windows CE, and software of navigation such as iGO, Destinator, TomTom Navigator.

This allows the users having the technical skills necessary to modify these apparatuses to carry out other software there, and thus to use them, at less price, with other aims that navigation: like music player and video, following the example Walkman, or like true a PDA.

Certain projects were built around this finality: it is thus the case of OpenTom Project for TomTom GO.

Moreover, the last assistants of navigation propose these functions Multimédia S in series.

Intermodality

The assistants of navigation are generally planned for a Means of transport in particular: excursion, Pedestrian in urban environment, car, Bicycle or Motor cycle, sea transport.

Certain assistants of navigation, following the example Evadeo of the national geographical Institute French, are intermodal, i.e. they propose several operating processes, each one being adapted to means of transport.

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