When is Garmin going to include Advance Lane Guidance to its software.

I had never heard of Advance Lane Guidance before so I went to TomTom's site. For anyone else that's never heard of it:

I looked up that feature on Tom-Tom's site and must say, that is pretty slick. I saw a sample that had something similiar to that with another vender once before too - I want that feature on my Garmin!!

Perhaps the garmins already have this?

What is described above sound remarkably similiar to how my 350 and 660's already work.

For instance, when coming to an intersection with a split or merge, the nuvi will announce, and state 'keep left' or 'keep right'.
Also notice that breaks in the turn by turn listing (available by pushing the topmost green bar while navigating) include points at which a big split will occur.
Again, for example Where I355 splits to I55 the nuvi displays this info verbosly. Rather than having an entry that describes a 20 mile shot down 355, there is a break at the I55 merge that, again, indicates to stay to the right.

Therefore, I'm of the conclusion that TomTom is using this feature as a marketing point.
On the other hand, Garmin does exactly what the above describes but its just 'part of the package'.

At least thats how I see it...

Getting off of the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey (as a personal example), there are literally ten choices of roads/routes- some shortly after breaking up into a series of others. In otter words- it is a rat's nest of exits. I have followed the Garmin in making a turn only to realize that of the three exit ramps/roads right on top of each other, that I took the wrong one (or was positioned in a lane such that getting over was too precarious at the moment).

Perhaps the Tom Tom further defines how to get through a rat's nest of exits, ramps, roads and intersections?

Again- this is just my assumption about how this feature is described to work. I've only owned and used Garmin products.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks- Rob
Long Beach, NY

You got it right, Rob,

This feature in TomTom and Navigon units offers much more. To understand it, imagine that you and a relative want to know what a long-gone ancestor looked like. You are given an oral description, while your relative is shown a photograph. Makes a difference, doesn't it?

Normally, our brain can absorb much more information, faster, in visual form than audibly, and since your vision is the single most used sense while driving, it is much easier to equate a visual representation of the road ahead than to 'translate' in your head, on the go, what you need to do from what you are hearing.

Another problem with audio-only prompts is that in most cases, there is not enough time to listen to 'stay left, then stay right then take the second right, then left' - by then, you already had to make some of these decisions, or you are in the wrong lane to take the correct ramp.

In addition to the audio prompt, the screen shows a rendered 3D image of the exits and ramps ahead. This means that, at a glance, you can understand and anticipate which lanes to take and which way to go, having the audible directions confirm and queue you in to what you have visualized.

Krieger

wow, if implemented correctly, this looks like a very valuable feature. you think Garmin can do this with only a software update?

I wouldn't count on it....

If I had understood this before I ordered a Nuvi 360 I wonder if I would have made the same decision.

Because I am no good at being in the right lane at the right time. No good at all.

Maybe if a bunch of us call/write Garmin requesting such a feature they will find a way to make it happen?

Every one of the comments are on the right track. Advance Lane Guidance is similar to Navigon's 3d image that appears on the screen when you approach an intersection. It displays a 3d image that has an arrow to guide you on which lane you should take in order to avoid confusion.

I love my Garmin nuvi 850 but I wish Garmin implemented that useful feature. It helps very much when you approach an intersection and have to choose from 4 lanes. There is no time to choose especially on the highway.

Luiguy

Dear Lui,

I have empathy with your words. I left NYC Sunday to drive upstate and thought I would follow Daniel's advice (Daniel is the voice of my Nüvi 650). The problem was that as I exited the ramp off Routes 1 & 9 in NJ, there was a fork about which Daniel had not warned me and I chose the wrong one. This look me on a little excursion.

I hope GARMIN will provide Advance Lane Guidance soon.

david

David, thanks for the responce. I have experienced similar situations in the past. Dont get me wrong, I am happy with my current GPS device (Garmin 850) but I feel that users can greatly benefit from this added(ALG)feature.

TomTom and Navigon both offer this feature. I believe that this ALG feature is a software related function. Let's see if Garmin incorporates this feature on the next major update....

Luiguy

The only way to get a new feature from Garmin is to buy a new unit. Even if it can be done with a firmware upgrade.

Most of the time, it is pretty simple to follow the prompts. Rarely is there more than one exit coming up and more than two ways to exit off of the ramp.

I don't think about the efficacy of the audible alerts and big arrow pointing the right way UNLESS I see that rat's nest of intersections. If there are four lanes and you are encouraged to keep right, I might favor the far right lane which may not have been the best choice given the next quick off ramp or exit among the few.

I gave an example of exiting the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey since that is generally the only place that I tend to encounter this. I get a bit nervous about ending up on the wrong route even though I am guided by the GPSr.

Be well,
Rob Long Beach, NY

Garmin should upgrade to include this great feature. I have a Nuvi 760 and it does not have it. My inboard Acura Nav unit does and I like it a lot.

Kb2psm,

Dont get me wrong I am satisfied by the current bells and whistles of my Garmin 850, but while driving, these awkward situations do come up. It would improve the navigation experience if Garmin would implement this ALG feature.

Luiguy

I don't get you wrong. I absolutely agree with you.
I am very satisfied with my 660. The extra specificity offered by the Tom Tom feature would sure come in handy from time to time if available on the Garmin units.

Overall I prefer the Garmins but there are a few standard features on the Tom Tom units that if integrated into the Garmin would be the icing on the cake!

I think you are right. The audio promptps with my c340, and glancing at the 3d diagram display gives me all the information I think is being described by the OP, so I can easily get through most every intersection. I did have a bit of a problem this weekend in Perry County, OH, where some roads in small towns converge closely at very weird angles. That is the only time I felt a bit confused.

And rarely I don't comprehend what I am looking at, because I do tend to watch the road and traffic more than my GPSr, so that can lead to a missed turn.

Still way better than flipping through Mapquest paper pages.

No doubt that feature would also help out here in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota where Interstate mergers and other highway interchanges are referred to as "spaghetti junctions."

Doggone it, it's a good thing I know where I'm goin'... or at least where I wanna go. "Dorothy' does a good job of helping me recover from the missed ramps.

my garmin XT has a feature called "turn preview" I believe. when turned on, it shows an close up, over head view of the intersection with an arrow clearly indicating which turn at the intersection you need to make. It's not a photograph, but it works great. Do other garmin models not have this feature?

Ah, that moniker had left my consciousness, thus my reference to the "rat's nest" of exits/ramps.

Navigon has lane assist, and I must say it's a really nice screen as you make your approach to the interchange.
http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?EDP=37927125

The 2100 max, 5100 and 7100 all have Lane assist, and Reality View.

Bob

I call it Linguini Junction. It looks more like Linguini more than Spaghetti

and I wonder why Garmin did not do this on recent new model. Maybe it takes up too much process resources.

I think that they could, but highly unlikely, unless there was a fee involved...

Only time will tell but I will keep my fingers crossed.

I'd love this feature..in and around the rats nest in DC this would also be a great feature!

I'll have to admit, Garmin's way of warining of splits in the route are good, however from what everyone is mentioning here it looks like this is taking it to the next level. Don't think I would use it often, but seems like it would come in very handy in the few instances when you would need it.

I've been using a TomTom 730 with lane guidance and it seems to come up rather late, like less than a half a mile from the last point you can get into the correct lane. I can see it being handy but not if it's that late and you're doing 70mph. I really don't like the image of the intersection that comes up. I like just the arrows. On the TT you can turn the scree shot off. I hope Garmin implements this better.

The next generation 7xx series will have Advance Lane Guidance, I too wish that we could have a sw update that would put this feature into our older models. Please check this link:
http://www.gpscity.com/topsearch-755t/c=all
Please note that I am not trying to advertise for this retailer.