I was thinking about this the other day. What if NAV systems weren’t burned on DVD but rather delivered, in real-time via satellite, much like XM satellite radio? It could be a subscription service that you pay for either per month for unlimited use or per day for the occasional need. Knowing that satellite signals are often disrupted or confused when driving in large cites and in underground areas, the data could be received and stored into a relatively small storage device. I can think of only positives to this idea. Probably because I want to (thank you Freud). Is anyone aware of such a system? I have to believe that if I can think of this idea, a few hundred much smarter people have already began developing it.
That is a good idea, BUT would be quite hard to implement . Each satellite has quite a large area to cover, resulting in enormous chunks of data having to be sent. Your car depends on at least three satellites to know where it is. Those three (or eight or whatever) satellites would have to be synchronized in some way. Each satellite would need to send data relevant to its position above mother earth. How would the poor satellites know which data to send to Priapus (and when to do it)? And how should Priapus know which satellite has the most relevant information. And, if you got a signal from just one, very distant satellite (over Mexico?) your maps would be interresting to. Wow, almost a rant ! /Paj
I wasn't thinking that the satellites would, themselves, have the data. They would act merely as a communicatino hub, of sorts. If each car were established as a unique LAN point, identified through VIN, for example, there could be a communication between Priapus and Mapquest.com, for example. Depending on the zoom factor of my display, varying amounts of information would be transmitted. In that case, the satellites, which have already proved capable of transmitting gigs of info for phone, television, and data, would simply act as the go-between. Using the comparison of XM radio, the satellites themselves are not the radio stations, merely the "mirrors" reflecting the station's signal back down to Earth.
I see... Possibly if you at least had a DVD with a base map to reduce bandwidth. It would also be a convinient way for Big Brother (George W?) to track you. /Paj
I think the problem is bandwidth. XM radio sends out the same few hundred channels to all the hundreds of thousands of cars listening. And though I'm not sure, I don't think you have 2-way communication with the GPS satellites. What I would expect to see before your scenario would be a solid-state memory card that could be updated daily or monthly via the internet, and then plugged into your car. It would contain a list of corrections to the DVD. Then when there were too many corrections to fit on the card, a new DVD could be issued. You could save space by only downloading corrections in your region. Something along those lines is likely to come along before too long. Haven't I read about after-market NAV systems where you download the data into memory? On the other hand, maybe they could build a NAV that had its data constantly updated from a dedicated subscription data channel on XM Radio. Even if it took a week or a month to update the whole DVD you'd be ahead of the game. Switch from DVD-based to HD-based and it would be theoretically possible. Next question is how much would it cost, and would people pay that much? As memory density improves, and bandwidth increases, information will become easier to distribute.
2-way communication with satellites is probably not realistic, but cellular wireless service could be used for this purpose.
Have you guys heard about the new 2005 Acura RL. It is the first car in the world to have real-time traffic information incorporated into its NAV system. XM Satellites beam real-time traffic info to the car so that the car knows construction/accident/jammed up area and can re-route you accordingly. Also, if you have a bluetooth cell phone, the car can link up to Acura via the cell phone to have two way communications for error lookups or to even get software updates. They call it AcuraLink. This is amazing stuff... I'm sure next year Toyota will have something similar in its Lexus lineup, but for now Acura rules in this area!
Well its sort like that in Japan, Its not upgrading Nav map but, Toyota Sub-division called G-Book. G-Book is like OnStar in U.S G-Book able to do pin point your locaiton in case of accident, Uploading trip information to your car, live operator will answer local information, downlading your e-mail, pin point your car when got stole via GPS if Car alarm is activated will inform you to your cellphone. If subscribe G-book option service, G-Book will dispatch police if you desire to. Subscription of G-book is 100buck a year and plus what option you choose to. Also you need to by like transponder/modem 140buck or you can connect the cellphone via adaptor.
