What would you like to see integrated into a GPS in 2012?

Selectable
1 auto zooming.
2 Map screen appears on boot-up.
3 Mute sound of keystrokes.

I really miss the MSN Direct feature that gives you the ability to send a GPS location to the GPS wirelessly so you don't have to connect your GPS to your computer. I also miss the weather alerts and real time gas prices.

As far as the user interface goes, I'm used to taking my normal routes. Right now, when it calculates a deviation from my normal route due to traffic conditions, it doesn't indicate this change in any way. Frequently I get caught in the left lane of the interstate taking my normal route when I get an unexpected instruction from the GPS to take the next exit (clearly a deviation from my normal route based on traffic). I'm too far to the left to safely comply, so I get stuck in the traffic anyway. It would be great when then GPS initially calculates the route including a traffic-driven deviation, if it would give you some kind of symbol or indication, then you could preview the route and see where and why it wants you to deviate.

Avoidances. This is needed for example, if the road is closed ahead and you want to route around it.

dobs108

Dear Santa, I want all that metricman requested plus a stock market forecaster and a lotto picker, all in one unit and the price no more than $100

The 2460LMT has that

I would like my GPS to ding, beep or some sound when you go into a different speed zone. It would be nice around town just to let me know, mostly when I go to a lower speed zone. Sent this idea to Garmin a year or so ago, they reply thanking me for suggestion but still am waiting.

There are at least two GPS manufacturers who use Beta Testers. However, as with other products that use beta testers, the testers agree that they will not talk about the pre-production units.

I believe that all of the "standard" (non-subscription) traffic information picked up by a GPS unit comes from data broadcast on FM radio by the local government. If the government does not broadcast the data, no GPS will pick it up. The "premium" (paid subscription) traffic info is another matter. That data is broadcast by the GPS manufacturer or a vendor contracted to them, typically using additional sources for the data. The paid subscription data is relatively new and is improving as we speak, but the marketplace will determine how well it meets your desires in the future.

That is available today from at least one GPS manufacturer as a paid subscription service. The issue is that the free traffic info comes from government sources that update (at least in my area) every 15 minutes. The newer LIVE units from TomTom use additional sources that permit TomTom to update more frequently. (I *believe* that it is about every 2 minutes.)

I believe that this is already available on some units, although I think that it is a paid subscription service.

I *believe* that some units from at least one manufacturer have had this capability for some time, but this is second-hand information, so it may be in error.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Hoursly, or better, radar maps that would be superposed over the route taken at your option so you could see what weather was in store for you along your path of travel.

Fred

I would like the ability for stand alone units to access maps from either the web like google or run from the internal memory

Would like severe weather alerts

includes such things as:
Traffic receiver built into the unit rather than the cord
Ability to receive weather alerts from NOAA broadcasts

very handy to have!

What I would like to see is something that would show what you have selected as the destination. On several occasions I have traveled on a route to find I was going to a different location than what I selected, somehow a location that had a number assigned to it by default.

I'd like to be able to send new favorites - POI - routes to my GPS wirelessly, such as over bluetooth. That way I can look things up on the computer (iphone, or whatever) and send the results to the GPS without having to hook it up, or even drag it out of the car.

I'll add to that request, and say it would be great to pair a BT headset with the nuvi. That would be handy.

While I live in a pretty low congestion city that doesn't need traffic adjusted navigation very much (Albuquerque New Mexico) I think over all that traffic adjusted navigation that really works well would be the single most important improvement.

In order for it to work really well it needs high fidelity data that is very frequently updated, which for real-world conditions I think is only available by crowd sourcing movement information provided by the huge number of cell phones which have a pretty good idea of where they are.

Then the high fidelity information has to actually get to your particular unit, which implies a transmission means which is persistently available almost everywhere. Unless somebody builds a new system that truly blankets the planet, that probably means cell phone network-based reception. Lastly that traffic information needs to be smoothly integrated on one's own GPS receiver with one's own expressed destination desires to give good routing information that is clearly expressed (including the issue raised by previous poster of helping people realize they are being directed to do something different from their normal route on an interstate).

If done really well, I think in high congestion cities that traffic aware navigation is the true killer app. From what I read here and elsewhere, it doesn't seem to be being done really very well on GPS receivers yet. Sadly, I think it may get better sooner on Google Android cell phones than it will for us, what with the advantages of crowd sourcing for the basic data and other general characteristics of Google.

I would like a fold up feature that enables the unit to stand by itself w/o suction cups or bean bag platforms. Good luck!

Better routing algorithms are on my wish list. Seems like the newer Garmin models are absolutely horrible at routing me. It takes me off freeways to city streets to go back onto the freeway (yes I have checked my routing preferences and avoidances).

If you listen to local radio stations or NOAA weather during a storm they always give storm paths by county (or parish). It would be nice to have an option to turn on county names and borders (in addition to weather overlays).

How about a dash cam on the back of the GPSr just like they have in the police cruisers to document accidents.

I still want it under $100

Companies like Garmin giving current users the ability to add on new items i.e. HD Traffic, selectability as to what to boot up.
It is too bad that once you buy their product you can get some things (maps, clear channel traffic, etc.) but not newly developed items that are available only on newer models.

Well, in addition to all the great ideas already given, a high-quality radar detector would be nice. One less additional thing to lug along and hang on the windshield.

It's illegal to use a radar detector in some areas (including 2 near me) so that wouldn't necessarily be a good add.

And the price would get very expensive, very quickly. Plus, it would be bulky.

People would complain about both those things...

MSN Direct features:
- send to GPS
- gas prices - without having to shell more money for that
- weather integrated into the main screen without having to wade through layers of menu to reach it

About $650. I have no experience with it, not sure how good the radar or GPS would be on it.

https://www.escortradar.com/store/product.php?productid=1623...

Voice recognition could learn the users pronunciation of saved places. Also allowing voice commands to control more fuctions such as access to the Trip computer or Exit Services that are only accessable from the main menu on Garmin devices.

OK. I'm being silly now.

Don't tell me the people who posted before you were being serious?

If they integrate the whole wish list in one unit there is no space left on the dashboard to mount that sucker.

I guess that's the reason for the tissue holder.

Reliability, that's all I want. That would be a major break through.

I'd love to see two things:

1) A development team that is good! I found the old Streetpilot Series Garmin's to be pretty solid upon release whereas the Nuvi series has been released with several bugs taking 6 months or more to iron out with firmware updates. When they finally get it right, they discontinue it and start all over with another buggy model.

2) A great idea to eliminate all those JCV files would be like what they're doing in Japan with the in-dash Pioneer units. Have a camera on the back of the unit (or in their case the windshield) to shoot live pictures of what's in front of the car and then display that live picture on the GPS with the guidance as an overlay. Have a look:

http://en.akihabaranews.com/93808/gps/pioneer-japan-release-...

Is there a way (if not there should be) to set the GPS to route around a Redlight cam?

Set a waypoint for the RLC, then hit detour...

I have to say, that suggestion would not be a feature I want, nor need. Ever.

Don't you already have things that will eliminate any problem with a Red Light Camera - there called eyes to see the color of the light and a foot to press on the brake pedal.

If someone is colorblind, this could be an issue. Especially here:

N 43° 02.810 W 076° 11.135

I would just like what we have already to work correctly, on my 3760 the trip planer has some small problems, the speed limits do some strange things like when I come into a 70km speed limit the GPS tells me it's still a 100 km area. There are a few other small problems which they are slowly fixing.

From where I sit a feature isn't a feature if isn't working correctly. The reason I keep with Garmin products is the ease of entering data such as POI, addresses, etc. I like the big keys on the touch screen, they suit my fat fingers. Although I have problems with my nuvi, but when I look at the other manufacturers there many things that Garmin have and the others don't.

These were good things but Garmin and MSN didn't see that. It was very handy to plot a map and send it to your GPS, and the weather was a very good feature as was the gasoline. Maybe they can come to terms and re-instate these features.

MSN discontinued the service. Garmin had nothing to do with it other than stopping the shipment of compatible units and traffic receivers.

There is an implication in an earlier post that the Traffic you pay for is different from the lifetime free traffic with adds. I have both and there is no difference in the traffic information. I think the free is provided by NavTeq and the one I bought is Clear Channel so that is a little different but both receivers receive both signals. So if I wanted to pay for ClearChannel on the NavTeq receiver I have, I have that option. Both are getting FM broadcasts provided by these companies. I bought clear channel because they have coverage where I live - and NavTeq doesn't.

Perhaps the OP was trying to refer to the newer traffic I have seen advertised but have no experience with. I think one source calls it 3D traffic or something like that. It might be different, I don't know.

MSD Direct, which I used to have, worked about the same as the Clear Channel and NavTeq I have now. All three will warn you about things if they've been there long enough and will continue to warn you for a half hour or so after they've gone away. I agree with the comments that more timely data would be great. Maybe if there was technology you could enable to let the bluetooth connection to your phone serve as a link back to Garmin or a third party so the car could tell them it is slowed and that could be fed to others? I don't usually use my minutes up anyway nor my data allotment. If it didn't chew up resources too fast I would probably do this.

Jim

I hope that some of the manufacturers are monitoring this website and this thread. In the event they are not, is anyone sharing this thread/info with the manufacturers?

I have an older unit, but really don't need much. However, it woud be nice if the GPS had a faster, more capable processor, and more memory, so I could upgrade my map and still maintain the whole US in memory. I guess most all the newer models satisfy these wishes.

An ash tray please...

A option for "Scenic" under "Route Preferences"

Yep, that would be great. My old 775 has a 333MhZ if I'm not mistaken, but I don't know what the 3790 has for a processor. Heck, even a cheap cell phone has 5-600MhZ or better these days.

I use a Garmin Nuvi 5000 in part because of its ability to use a backup camera -- no current mainline models offer this. But that's kind of a throwback wish.

What I would really like to see in a future model GPS would be smart phone integration through bluetooth. This would open the door to an ever-evolving list of possibilities. For example, your GPS could upload your speed info which, when combined with many other users' information, could indicate slow or blocked traffic. Users could also upload specific traffic info for inclusion in traffic info that would download through the cell phone to all users.

Of course, gas prices, google map info integration, essentially the whole of the internet would be available to be distilled and displayed on the GPS.

I know a lot of this can be done on the smart phone, and some people do use phones as GPS devices, but a dedicated GPS is still superior for driving because it is less of a distraction than a phone and you don't lose its primary function when some other application decides it needs to interrupt or a call comes in.

Yes, I have eyes and feet, but I'm concerned about the person behind me accelerating when they see the yellow light...

I would like to have a way of creating a shortcut on the main map screen, linking to a commonly used POI, setting, or whatever the user wants as a shortcut. For me, I would like to have a shortcut to Rest Stops Combined!

Get a new unit, the 2460 and most of the newer units have customizable main menu

Would be for Garmin to make units that work right without all the problems every new unit has. Just read all the posts on this site and it is very depressing. Problem after problem with every model. They can never seem to get it right. A fix usually includes new problems..

It would be nice if they would take all of the none GPS garbage out of at least one model and put all of the GPS related features back that Garmin has eliminated over the years.