Magellan - Maestro 4040 - Car GPS Navigation Systems

Elegant and simple! Touch the screen and hear turn-by-turn directions with street names as you enjoy your driving experience virtually to any destination in the U.S. and Canada. Customize your navigation method or route to BE THERE™ quickly and stress-free.

Features

• Sophisticated and simple - Streamlined, large 4.3 inch touch-screen and icons minimize steps to locate a destination for stress-free navigation
• Sleek Design - Integrated GPS antenna can't break off and provides excellent satellite reception in a slim and compact design
• Turn-by-turn voice and visual guidance - Enter virtually any address or point of interest to BE THERE™ quickly and safely
• Precision navigation - SiRFstar III chipset and integrated multidirectional antennae offer superior GPS accuracy using the Wide Area Augmentation System
• Graphical interactive maps - Maps and destinations for the entire continental U.S. are built-in so you can travel the country and always know where you are and where you're going
• AAA TourBook® guide travel information - Integrated travel information from AAA TourBook makes it easy to locate AAA approved and rated lodgings and restaurants, recommended attractions, and places to save money.
• AAA member Roadside Assistance details - Touch the tow truck icon to quickly connect to AAA Roadside Assistance1 using your compatible Bluetooth® phone. The screen tells you where you are to quickly direct reliable AAA help to your location.
• SayWhere™ text-to-speech - Hear when to make each turn, including the street name
• Hands-free phone calls - Bluetooth® wireless technology and built-in microphone let you make hands-free phone calls using your compatible Bluetooth-enabled phone
• Traffic-enabled - Add the Magellan TrafficKit™ to your Maestro 4040 to get live traffic incident reports Activation and subscription fees apply. Available Spring 2007
• Voice Command-enabled - Add Voice Command control for hand's-free operation with a simple upgrade from www.MagellanGPS.com (Activation fee applies). Available Summer 2007
• Birds eye 3D view - Clearly see your surroundings in 2D or 3D
• Rechargeable battery - Navigate when you don't have access to power
• Multi-destination Routing - Select up to 20 destinations and choose the order that best fits your needs
• SmartDetour - Automatically prompts you to route around sudden slow freeway traffic (no fee or subscription required)
• Auto Re-route - Never miss a turn and quickly get back on track whenever you take a detour
• Auto night view - Adjusts color and contrast for easy night viewing
• QuickSpell™ - Easily enter addresses with unique auto-complete feature that even corrects spelling
• Complete mobility - Transfer to any vehicle with no installation
• 4.5 million points of interest (POI) - Optimized database of gas stations, restaurants, ATMs, and more with smart location search by name, category and region. We even added a Coffee category so you can quickly find caffeine whenever you need it.
• Interactive POI icons - Touch an onscreen icon for a nearby destination; see name and address and get an instant route
• Customizable route method - Fastest time, shortest distance, least use or most use of freeways, avoid toll roads
• Route exclusion - Select streets and freeways to avoid so you can BE THERE™ your way
• 4 easy views - Map View, 3D map, TrueView™ 3D split screen and Maneuver List
• Address Book - Create and store personal points of interest for easy reoccurring trips
• Instant locate - One touch shows your location; quickly advise roadside assistance or emergency services

Click here....Magellan - Maestro 4040 - GPS Navigation Device

New Car Nav Keeps Heavy Traffic Routes at Bay

There's a new way to steer clear from heavily congested roads. Researchers are soon to finish with the "Congestion Avoidance Dynamic Routing Engine" (CADRE). This navigation system to be implemented on cars allows the driver to see on a screen roads that have high volume of vehicles and also the best route to take by using an AI (artificial intelligence) and a special GPS.

CADRE has sensors to monitor if traffic is getting loose or worse from 5 to about 10 miles away and informs the driver of ways to avoid it. The system is a joint project of University of Portsmouth, ComSine, Smartcom Software, the Transport Research Laboratory, ViaMichelin and Hampshire County Council.

The AI tool, which can mimic human reasoning, is part of University of Portsmouth's Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) project specializing on application of AI technology in industry applications. By interpreting data based on the average speed of traffic for the day and the week, the system can predict the best alternative routes to take and even calculate more exactly the estimated travel time. More data information come from British Highways Agency for the background data needed by the AI system. Cadre continuously modifies and reinvents itself as it adapts to short- and long-term speed predictions and motorists' data. This would be available at the shops in about 18 months' time. It took 2,100 trips on Hampshire routes to provide the right info for analysis.

Daniel Brown, head of IIR, said, "At present routing can be carried out for minimum time or distance, but this can easily be extended to other criteria such as minimum cost or minimum CO2 emissions."

Further commenting on the usage of the tool, Brown opined that it would also help the driver by not helping him not to get confused whether to take an alternative route or not.

The inventing institutions envision this technology to develop further for other means of transportation: planes, boats, and trains. Here the system helps the passengers by giving them info on the right time for travel as well as the route to take.

This project came into fruition with the help of South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA). SEEDA has a role to play for the government's Innovation Platform in Intelligent Transport Systems.



Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com

About the Author

Daniel Lamb is an avid fan of prototype vehicles and likes to read about the latest cars in the market. Find out more about best car lease deals on Car Leasing Secrets