Cross Country time zone change

 

I've done two trips cross country with my nuvi360 one to Florida, and one to Georgia both originating in Texas. The nuvi managed the route great but the arrival time is messed up because of the time changes going and coming back. I'm surprised its not smart enough to figure this out??

See also

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Texan Brit
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The clock readout (and thus

The clock readout (and thus the time shown on routing) on your GPSr basically works like a simple wristwatch. It won't change the time without input from you.
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Aren't it supposed to get it

Aren't it supposed to get it from the satellite?

Your GPSr gets the time from

Your GPSr gets the time from the satellites as UT (GMT). The GPSr performs an off-set calculation based up the timezone you select for example GMT minus 4 hours for Eastern Daylight Time.

So, if you don't tell it what timezone you are in, the time will be wrong.
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Time Zones

Yea, They can mess you up unless you stay on top of it. Leaving Las Vegas and crossing the Hoover Dam into Arizona in the summer can freak you out. My cell phone I figured would give me local time but Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time. The clocks at the dam both read 3:00. Each are in a different time zones. Having flown that day from the east coast, I was a little alarmed when it was completely dark @ 8:00 I thought I messed something up. Crossing into Colorado put us back onto the Daylight savings time and it all seemed good. Oh well. you'd think that the programming for keeping you in the correct timezone would be fairly simple.
Maybe not.

timezone programming

I have to agree with you that it cant be that hard to determine both the timezone and DST setting based on your co-ordinates. At the very least take it into account when you calculate a route that crosses timezones.

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Texan Brit

X3....I didnt realize that

X3....I didnt realize that it would not update the time. Heck, the GPS can find things for you based on the coordinates, it should be able to know when you cross a time change line.

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

The Internal Code Runs On UTC/GMT

And it gets that from the satellites...the time displayed on your unit is a user setting, based on your input. As I've mentioned on other threads - the code to do the change automatically as some seem to want would be complex as we've seen with the code to fix the DST issue, and the added cost of the code development, and additional storage and processing ability in the unit to check your current location against the timezone variables would make the units cost a lot more than people would pay. Think of the timezone setting on your GPS to be just like a simple wristwatch - just change it when you need to - it's not like it's a big deal to do.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

I agree

kch50428 wrote:

the added cost of the code development, and additional storage and processing ability in the unit to check your current location against the timezone variables would make the units cost a lot more than people would pay. Think of the timezone setting on your GPS to be just like a simple wristwatch - just change it when you need to - it's not like it's a big deal to do.

I agree. Until processors get a lot faster, I don't want to see any delay in reporting my position. Seems like there would be a lot of constant calculation to determine time change. Then to handle elapsed time, etc.....

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Garmin StreetPilot c530, Mapsource

Time Zone Change

[/quote]
I agree. Until processors get a lot faster, I don't want to see any delay in reporting my position. Seems like there would be a lot of constant calculation to determine time change. Then to handle elapsed time, etc.....[/quote]

I haven't traveled with mine between time zones yet, but I am glad someone explained the way the units display time.

I agree that I don't want any delay in postion readout, but how often do you cross a time zone? Every 800 miles or so if going from coast to coast?

Since the GPS knows where you are all the time, if you plug in your orginal time zone, it would be nice if it would calculate the time changes for you.

I'm not a programmer, but it "seems" like it should be do-able, but how difficult it truly would be, I have no idea.

But I am still SO impressed with everything it does, I am amazed at the complexity of the unit.

I'm sure that sooner or later, the time zone change calculations will be a part of the software.

It's not as easy as one might think

pratzert wrote:

I'm not a programmer, but it "seems" like it should be do-able, but how difficult it truly would be, I have no idea.

Here's one 'for instance' a programmer would ahve to consider: this is in regard to Daylight Saving Time...Arizona does not change their clocks, however, the Navajo Nation does - thus, there would have to be code that compensates for that. And, time zone boundaries don't follow state lines - so the code would have to be county-specific - which would use memory and CPU cycles on the units that I think is better used keeping track of the satellites and fixing your position rather than tweaking a time zone setting that I can fix myself in the event I cross a timezone boundary.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

Time Zone Changes

Wow... much more complicated than I thought. But you certainly bring up many good points which would be roadblocks for a programmer to have to work around.

Probably not worth the time and effort AND additional cost involved to do it with so many variables.

I did a vacation several years ago to Vegas. We were in Nevada, then to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and into Utah to Mt. Zion Natl. Park.

The time changed back and forth so many times in a few days, my head was spinning.

I finally gave up and figured if the sun was up, it was daytime, and when it got dark..... it was nighttime.

Tim

JM has relatives in Montana

JM has relatives in Montana and when visiting everyone, you switch between time zones a few times a day. It gets very confusing and you have to really focus on which person is going by the same time you are when inquiring about what time it is.

Miss Poi

Montana is all Mountain time

miss poi wrote:

JM has relatives in Montana and when visiting everyone, you switch between time zones a few times a day.

I'd be saying "It's whatever-30" or something similar when in that situation... smile

I guess this is really a perspective thing...I'm out here in the middle of Central time - and rarely go far enough East or West for this to matter, so it's not that big a deal to me. I suppose if I lived close to, and regularly crossed time zone boundaries, having a GPS that adjusted automagically wouldn't be a bad thing.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

Chicken or Egg

kch50428 wrote:

I suppose if I lived close to, and regularly crossed time zone boundaries, having a GPS that adjusted automagically wouldn't be a bad thing.

Of course, then it wouldn't match your watch. smile

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Garmin StreetPilot c530, Mapsource

True

mkahn wrote:

Of course, then it wouldn't match your watch. smile

Very true... smile But I've been out of the habit of wearing a watch - so now when I do wear one, it feels strange.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

My Cheap Cell Phone Does It

I travel to the west coast from Chicago almost weekly. I was very surprised my Nuvi didn't update to PST. When I turned it on just outside of LAX it new I was far from home because it actually asked me via text prompt. Then I programmed it to direct me to a mtg I believed to be only 44 mins away. To my surprise it told me I would be there in 2hrs 44 mins. I figured it didn't update from CST to PST. My cheap cell phone can do this, with it's very minimal processing power, and so should this GPS. Don't get confused or intimidated by the technobabble I've seen posted. And of course the threat of increased cost is always a convienent way to halt the masses, because we already know these devices are overpriced. My bet is this won't be an issue in some upcoming models.

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Garmin Nuvi 360

Things Are what They Are

mambrosia wrote:

My cheap cell phone can do this, with it's very minimal processing power, and so should this GPS.

Your phone is being told what time to display by the cell tower. Your GPS is being told the time by the satellites, which is in UTC/GMT. The GPS' programming uses UTC. The time it displays is a user setting that the satellites nor the units will select for you.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

,

mambrosia wrote:

... My cheap cell phone can do this, with it's very minimal processing power, and so should this GPS. ...

And your cell phone is most likely in the same time zone as the cell tower when it gets the time from the tower.

Time zones

... and the cell phone tower gets it's time from... Yep, you guessed it, GPS satellites!

Perhaps

bkollar wrote:

... and the cell phone tower gets it's time from... Yep, you guessed it, GPS satellites!

More likely than not, each cell tower references their company's primary computer/phone switch using NTP, and those computers in turn synchronize to other time servers that reference back to one of the government's atomic clocks by any of several methods, one of which is GPS satellites, which are ultimately referenced back to the atomic clocks as well.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

Time Zones

bkollar wrote:

... and the cell phone tower gets it's time from... Yep, you guessed it, GPS satellites!

AND THERE IT IS.

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Garmin Nuvi 360

Right, but the tower is not

Right, but the tower is not MOVING! It can perform the offset calculation one time and have the correct time. It doesn't have to adjust each time or calculate its or your position. I bet that if you were getting a cell signal from a tower that was in a different time zone as you, the time would be wrong (not sure this is possible, but say you were right on the edge of the time zone, maybe).

Don't Have to be Sick to Want to get Better

The bottom line is as a frequent traveler this functionality would be very nice. It was one feature I expected my Nuvi to provide and was surprised it didn't. Don't get me wrong. I love this device dearly. It has given me great directions as well as peace of mind while in unfamiliar territory. It gets me where I need to go, tells me if there's heavy traffic ahead and if so will provide an alternative route. I can't say enough. It will also seamlessly sync with my phone, I just wish it would also pull in the current time along with my entire address book.

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Garmin Nuvi 360

surprisingly hot topic

As a software project manager for an oil service company, i can say confidently that this is achievable, and it should be an option, i repeat an option. If you dont want it to update let it stay in the same zone, but it should do it, and its not that difficult in comparison to other tasks.

Thanks for all the great input to this topic!!

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Texan Brit

If it were me...

mantsimj wrote:

I've done two trips cross country with my nuvi360 one to Florida, and one to Georgia both originating in Texas. The nuvi managed the route great but the arrival time is messed up because of the time changes going and coming back.

If it were me, I would just set my GPS to the timezone of my destination. I would need to know at what time I will arrive from the point of view of my destination, not my point of origin.

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Garmin nuvi 265WT - Garmin c330 (RIP)- Garmin eMap - Valentine 1 - Beltronics Vector 995 - Kenwood TM-V7A - Icom 706 - Outbacker Perth Plus

Being software...

mantsimj wrote:

As a software project manager for an oil service company, i can say confidently that this is achievable, and it should be an option, i repeat an option. If you dont want it to update let it stay in the same zone, but it should do it, and its not that difficult in comparison to other tasks.

Thanks for all the great input to this topic!!

X2 on that! I work for a company that develops software and I agree that it is achieveable.

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

Good Idea

Eric wrote:

If it were me, I would just set my GPS to the timezone of my destination. I would need to know at what time I will arrive from the point of view of my destination, not my point of origin.

That is a good idea!

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

It's complicated if automated

If it was automated to give the the time where you were located, that could further complicate usage. Do you want to know what time the arrival is based upon where you are or where you are going? Especially if you have a stop over. Then, in the elapsed time, and time to destination, what would it show.
Not saying it isn't do able, but just that the interpretation might make it very complicated.

Sometimes manual is better.

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Garmin StreetPilot c530, Mapsource

When in Rome...

mkahn wrote:

If it was automated to give the the time where you were located, that could further complicate usage. Do you want to know what time the arrival is based upon where you are or where you are going? Especially if you have a stop over. Then, in the elapsed time, and time to destination, what would it show.
Not saying it isn't do able, but just that the interpretation might make it very complicated.

Sometimes manual is better.

Am I missing something? I thought the whole idea was to automate, otherwise I'd carry an Atlas. Anyone who travels knows the answer is simple. You want to know the arrival time based on your destinations time zone. Just book some travel online and you'll see the arrival is ALWAYS based on the destinations time zone. This makes sense because you want to know the time it is where you are at all times "When in Rome...". Being the GPS is in the business of knowing exactly where you are it should also know what time it is there. I really don't understand why some folks seemed determined to vehemently defend this glaring limitation in the device. Obviously those folks either don't travel outside their time zone on a regular basis or have some other agenda. When this does become a more standard feature. Watch and see how it becomes a BIG selling point like text to voice is now.

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Garmin Nuvi 360

Well, here is my whole thing

Well, here is my whole thing about this. If the GPS can determine where you are, then it should (just like alerts from POIs) be able to say, "Oh ok, I am now in a different time zone" and adjust the time accordingly.

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

GPS Units operate UTC

mambrosia wrote:

Being the GPS is in the business of knowing exactly where you are it should also know what time it is there.

The GPS does know what time it is, anywhere you are - all the time, and you can choose to display that if you want to - it's called UTC...which is the abbreviation for the French terminology that means Coordinated Universal Time. Any other time displayed on the unit is a user setting.

mambrosia wrote:

I really don't understand why some folks seemed determined to vehemently defend this glaring limitation in the device.

And I don't see why some people get so bent because their GPS does not do something it was never designed or programmed to do in the first place, and use the specious argument that their cell phone does it. I do have an agenda - that is to point out facts. To me, it's no big deal to change the time zone in the event I cross into another time zone, just like I have to do with my watch, and my vehicle...and my laptop when I arrive at my destination and turn it on...

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

Yeah, but none of those

Yeah, but none of those things have the capability of changing time based on where you are, the GPS does. So my thing is, use that ability!

But as you state, it really isn't that big of a deal.

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

Garmin Firmware Update Fixes Time Zone Issue

kch50428 wrote:

And I don't see why some people get so bent because their GPS does not do something it was never designed or programmed to do in the first place, and use the specious argument that their cell phone does it.

I thought the point was to try and improve things? I believe at this point we KNOW it wasn't programmed to do this, but thanks for pointing out that fact. Another fact is it would be a very useful feature. Features sell product because they're useful. That's probably why some GPS units have a language guide, picture viewer, currency converter, MP3 player, measurement converter, calculator etc. I know these weren't features GPS units were "designed to do in the first place" but aren't they nice to have?

Question? If/when Garmin releases a firmware update that resolves this issue. Will you install it?

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Garmin Nuvi 360

Sure.

mambrosia wrote:

Question? If/when Garmin releases a firmware update that resolves this issue. Will you install it?

Sure. But I won't complain that it's not there and I think it should be either smile

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

It's not difficult to solve

It's not difficult to solve the issue, but it takes more than firmware. Timezone is just another dotted line on the map, all you need is to compare your position with the lines. But guess is not on the priority list.

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mambrosia wrote:

... I really don't understand why some folks seemed determined to vehemently defend this glaring limitation in the device. Obviously those folks either don't travel outside their time zone on a regular basis or have some other agenda. ...

I don't think that personal attacks are at all necessary. You (and everyone else) is certainly entitled to have and to voice an opinion about this subject (or any other subject), but attacking people who disagree or have another opinion seems inappropriate.

You happen to think that this is a "glaring limitation in the device". Other people may not think that it is.

No agenda.

They may or may not travel outside their timezone, but they are still entitled to have and to voice an opinion without being accused of having "an agenda".

Sweeping generalizations for which there is no basis in fact can create trouble.

X2 what she said!

X2 what she said!

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

English / French thing...Freedom Fries for all!!

The International Telecommunication Union wanted Coordinated Universal Time to have a single abbreviation for all languages. English speakers and French speakers each wanted the initials of their respective languages' terms to be used internationally: "CUT" for "coordinated universal time" and "TUC" for "temps universel coordonné". This resulted in the final compromise of using UTC

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Texan Brit

I am surprised that the US

I am surprised that the US didn't want it to be "USA"

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Charley - Nuvi 350 - Bel STI Driver - Cobra 29 w/ wilson 1000 - AIM: asianfire -

How do you change the Time Zone on a Nuvi 660

Ok, I read all the post above but I still did not get my question answered I was looking for. LOL
I have a Nuvi 660 and I am currently on a cross country trip. I cannot find anything in the manual on how to change the time zone to the time zone I am currently in. If anyone could help me to find the way to change my settings I would be forever greatful.

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Garmin DriveSmart 61

Hit the wrench on the main screen...

Then hit "Locale", then hit the time next to the clock, then hit OK at the bottom, and then select your time zone.

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*Keith* MacBook Pro *wifi iPad(2012) w/BadElf GPS & iPhone6 + Navigon*

Changing TimeZone

On the nuvi 200 you just tap the time and the time setting page pops up.

I too was surprised that the nuvi didn't automatically adjust the time when I travelled from EDT to CDT. I thought that would have been an obvious feature of a GPS. How is a traveller to know when to make the change? I'm thankful I passed a road sign that said "Entering Central Time Zone".

I am sure glad I don't happen to live on a timezone boundary that what cause me to have to constantly change the timezone manually!!

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><> Glenn <>< Garmin nüvi 2598

Thanks

Thanks,
That did the trick

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Garmin DriveSmart 61

Time Zone Changes

I recently flew from PA to Idaho and took my nuvi680. When I turned it on there I got a screen that said I was in a new state and timezone and asked if I wanted to change the timezone. It did it for me. While there, I drove into PDT but it didn't do anything about the timezone. When I flew back it didn't seem to recognize the timezone change and I eventually had to do so manually.

I don't particularly care how timezones are handled as long as it's consistent.

I agree.

I agree.

cdarney wrote:

I recently flew from PA to Idaho and took my nuvi680. When I turned it on there I got a screen that said I was in a new state and timezone and asked if I wanted to change the timezone. It did it for me. While there, I drove into PDT but it didn't do anything about the timezone. When I flew back it didn't seem to recognize the timezone change and I eventually had to do so manually.

I don't particularly care how timezones are handled as long as it's consistent.

one of my pet peeves

the main use is driving, the fact that you flew there and it updated doesn't help much really, this bugs me, i think its an oversight for this not to work properly

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Texan Brit

My Idea for Time Zone Time Adjustment

I like to add my 2 cents to this old issue. As other posts suggested, POI cannot be used for time zone, since POI is point based and it will require too many points.

My ideas is to use grids as look up. For instance, create 10 mile by 10 mile square grid (imagine square boxes on a map if you like). For each the grid, specify which time zone this grid in. For sure the time zone can go thru the middle of some grids. So the grid is not pin point accuracy; the accuracy is only as good as the grid size. 10 miles off for time zone (which can be hundreds of miles wide) is not significantly.

This data can be stored as a lookup table. The GPS can compare locations to the look up table. Current location needs to be constantly checked, maybe once a minute. Destination only needs to be checked once. Then the time zone of current location and destination can be obtained.

Just a sanity check. USA has area of 3,793,079 sq mi (from Wikipedia). Using 10x10 mile grids, there will be approximately 37,900+ grids. This is not a large amount of data to use as a look up table.

Depending on the GPS's process power, the accuracy versus speed can be optimized. The 10x10 mile grid is just an example. Since the time zone boundaries run vertically, rectangular grids (longer north-south and shorter east-west) can further reduce the number of grids and increase the east-west accuracy.

I think this is possible. Just depend on implementation.

Could be even more confusing

kch50428 wrote:

I guess this is really a perspective thing...I'm out here in the middle of Central time - and rarely go far enough East or West for this to matter, so it's not that big a deal to me. I suppose if I lived close to, and regularly crossed time zone boundaries, having a GPS that adjusted automagically wouldn't be a bad thing.

Auto-updating the time zone makes sense and seems fairly trivial to me. But if you lived very close to a time zone border, consider the confusion while driving to a destination a few miles away. GPS says arrival at 1:30. Then a few minutes later when you cross the boundary, changes to arrival at 2:30. Your wristwatch would still be set to the previous time so you'd think you still had an hour to go. This is the way the airlines print schedules, though. Departure and Arrival times are always local times. So just doing the math, my flights from Chicago to EST take 3.5 hours and the flight back home from EST to CST takes only 1.5 hours.

A simple way to keep updated on time is

to have a wristwatch that automatically changes for time zone. I don't wear a wrist watch, but I was given one that does this.
So if traveling... I stick the wrist watch in the truck ... and look at it if I need to know the time.

Are you happy?

As a tech, that designs and installs nurse call systems, I can verify that what one person thinks is the greatest - another will hate. That being said - when I work near the mountain time zone in western ks - my cell phone will bounce back and forth an hour. It all depends on which tower has the stronger signal at the time, eventhough I am not running back in forth across the line. My personal preference is to adjust the GPSr manually.

A gps could be set up to "know" if it crosses the line and adjust accordingly. But then you have to create a bunch of menu choices to satisfy everyone. Your display options would be more than what Garmin usually chooses to provide. I appreciate the fact that they keep the interface simple. Does TomTom or Mio adjust automatically?

The change this year to different weekends for DST cost facilities a lot of money. Microsoft no longer supports Win2000 or previous versions. So you had to manually adjust it or change to a new OS (and some old machines don't support the new OS). All of our autosecure timers and security panels have a chip to keep track of the days of the year/weekends and then adjust the time accordingly. All those had to be replaced or manually adjusted. These are considerations that a company also looks at...that current events are not always etched in stone and to change may be too costly.

I would imagine that this information would need to be in the mapping software (is it available from navteq?) so that if say individual cities or counties are different it will take that into account. But if one were to change you would have to buy a whole new map...and we know how long they take to update. Based on these possibilities it is a whole lot easier to let the user set it up and know that you can change it as you wish. smile

Daniel

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Garmin StreetPilot c580 & Nuvi 760 - Member 32160 - Traveling in Kansas
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