Help Google navigation issues.

[bluenik25]

I just completed a 10 hour road trip back and forth from Chattanooga to Norfolk, VA and have some issues with the Google GPS software.

The GPS itself was spot on in doing its job showing me the route and even showed me a better route than my Garmin Nuvi 760.

The issues I ran into:

No automatic night mode. While driving at night this thing is blinding.

A lack of integration with other Android apps. I think there should be better integration with the music player and phone at the very least. My Garmin will pause an audiobook while it gives voice directions and restart it when it is done.

The phone doesn't go to speaker while navigating. I would think this would be a preset at least while its in the car dock.

The Phone stays in portrait mode while the phone is in the dock and you cant see the GPS navigation while your talking. I think it should display the caller ID in landscape and then hide the call info while showing the navigation screen. then they could put a small icon in the corner so you could get back to the phone easily.

Is there a location we can make suggestions to Google about the beta? I know not all of these are just GPS issues but they are issues I have while navigating.

P.S. I know this app is in beta these are just observations.

 

[bluenik25]

I would also like to see the speed limit for major roads.

 

[DrDude]

Bluenik25: Agree with all of your obs, especially the blinding brightness at night.

 

[bprutzman]

I agree with all this and would add a couple more issues.

0) Poor traffic information. The traffic information from Google is not nearly as good as it is for my Garmin. I'm not even sure my Droid tries to change the route automatically due to traffic. I don't think it adjusts the ETA due to traffic. It defnitely doesn't show me how long I will be delayed due to traffic in a nice icon.

1) Poor estimation of duration of travel before arrival. The time estimates are consisently way to long. It takes me 35 minutes to get to work. The navigation system on my Droid claims it will take 50 mins.

2) Lack of speed limits. I loved seeing the speed limit at nearly all times on my Garmin. I suspect the lack of this information is actually probably the base reason for the issue above this one.

3) No "via" points supported. I like to program my full trip into my GPS including mutiple via points. In fact my Garmin used to actually optimize my trip for me telling me which via points I should hit in which order! Again I miss this from my Garmin.

4) Poor integration of the Navigator to the Contacts list. I see no reason I shouldn't be able to do a Voice Search and just say "Navigate to contact Home" or "Navigate to contact John Smith". I can vocally ask it to navigate to anything on the interwebs... why not my own contact list?

If it IS actually possible to do any of these things please tell me! I'm very interested in dumping my Garmin for good... but for now it remains always nearby in case I need it.

 

[FitchVA]

3) No "via" points supported. I like to program my full trip into my GPS including mutiple via points.

x2. whenever i visit my folks, i like to take a route that's not interstate. the alternate route selection will select the route i'd like to take until about the midway mark, then shoot me onto an interstate. none of the alternate routes are the route i'd like to take. the "via" option would solve this.

 

[FitchVA]

bprutzman, as a quick followup on our shared desire for the route via functionality, i think i have found a quick workaround until they hopefully add it as a feature. You can create a map via google maps on a pc and access the saved routes on the phone. then use the nav to navigate the routes that are saved in your googlemaps account.

 

[bprutzman]

Thank you for this tip. Indeed I will use it if I ever REALLY need it. Of course it's a pain in the neck to have to access a computer first and I certainly won't do it on a regular basis. And so we await an update or something to improve google navigation to include some of these well-desired features.

By the way, I think I have a 5th point to add.

5) Navigation doesn't mute when talking on phone through car mount. How absurd is this!?! I was talking on the phone in my car the other day and my navigation broke in to give me directions? This is totally backwards. The phone call should have precedence and the navigation should be muted. Not the other way around.

bprutzman, as a quick followup on our shared desire for the route via functionality, i think i have found a quick workaround until they hopefully add it as a feature. You can create a map via google maps on a pc and access the saved routes on the phone. then use the nav to navigate the routes that are saved in your googlemaps account.