I’m a huge GPS fan, and have wondered how I got through two decades of driving without electronic navigation help.
Recently, the innovation rate in navigation applications seems slow. TomTom raised the bar a few years back, but nearly everyone’s caught up: most units are quite good.
I’m wishing someone would “iphone” this market, with a great design that delivers a new level of innovation and blows everyone else away. To that end, I’ve started collecting design elements and features I’d love to see, on this Wiki page.
Please feel free to comment and contribute.
That’s a good list on the Wiki Andy. You’re right; someone will have to “iPhone” this market, because there’s no evidence that the existing players know how to do it.
When I talked with the people at TomTom, it was clear that they were too bound by the limitations of their existing platform to innovate quickly. Also, they are very focused on “convergence” — MP3 and other extraneous capabilities features, rather than making navigation simple and fun. And the convergence is happening in the other direction, i.e. away from them and towards the smartphone as the primary device.