Help The OFFICIAL Google Navigation Thread

[edthesped]

My wife's sister needed to be picked up from the Pitt v. Notre Dame game last weekend so I did a google voice search for Heinz Field (where Pitt and the Steelers play)... took us to a very bad area of the city no where near the stadium... lucky for me the wife said she thought she saw it on the other side of the river a mile or two back... doh!

and my home address shows a picture of the highway

other then that it has worked pretty well for getting around

Funny, I'm looking at Hienz field from my office as I type. I just plugged it into the droid and navigation was spot on. Maybe you didn't type in "Heinz Field" and instead the "Heinz History Center", which is a mile or so away and on the other side of the river.

Only problem I have with it is the voice and it's inability to pronounce spanish names...I live in San Diego where 90% of street names are a spanish words.

Rancho is not RONCO

I can see the results now "did you mean Pocket Fisherman?"

 

[taz55]

as a side note that is directly related.

I have noticed issues with antennas if I turned them off then On with the power widget, Very inaccurate and unstable results. I find leaving the antenna on at this point and powering down then back on the phone resulted in the issue being resolved and much more reliable results followed. I find this happens with both GPS and WIFI

 

[Gunner]

Some gripes / suggestions for Google Nav (hope your reading this Google):

- GMN should automatically turn on the GPS radio, if it isn't already on when it launches. Drives me nuts that it stops and asks me to go into Settings to manually turn on the GPS. I'm launching Navigation, so OBVIOUSLY I want the GPS radio ON.

- Free Roam Mode. We should be able to launch GMN and just have it running while we drive w/out needing to go to a particular destination -- just like every other nav device in existence.

- ETA missing from Nav screen (every other Nav device has this).

- Speed missing from Nav screen (every every other Nav device has this)

- GPS Sat Info - needs indicator or button/option to check GPS status (every every other Nav device has this)

- Multi-point routing -- Given the power of the device, this should easily be doable. It's possible to do multi-point on Google Maps online, so it ought to be possible in GMN.

 

[taz55]

Some gripes / suggestions for Google Nav (hope your reading this Google):

- GMN should automatically turn on the GPS radio, if it isn't already on when it launches. Drives me nuts that it stops and asks me to go into Settings to manually turn on the GPS. I'm launching Navigation, so OBVIOUSLY I want the GPS radio ON.

- Free Roam Mode. We should be able to launch GMN and just have it running while we drive w/out needing to go to a particular destination -- just like every other nav device in existence.

- ETA missing from Nav screen (every other Nav device has this).

- Speed missing from Nav screen (every every other Nav device has this)

- GPS Sat Info - needs indicator or button/option to check GPS status (every every other Nav device has this)

- Multi-point routing -- Given the power of the device, this should easily be doable. It's possible to do multi-point on Google Maps online, so it ought to be possible in GMN.

some good points although the ETA is displayed on the bottom left of the screen if I am not mistaken. I do think the free roam mode would be cool, make it easey to identify nearby gas stations and what not.

 

[JoeFresco]

I'm usually in free roam mode because I don't want the GPS griping at me for choosing a route that it didn't bless. This is really disappointing about Google Navigation. Speed would be nice as would a general info page like Magellan's Locate screen:
Magellan RoadMate 2200T Review (GPSmagazine.com)

It is kind of surprising to me that they didn't try harder to make Google Navigation more like a normal GPS device.

 

[droidism]

I've had my Droid for going on 3 weeks and there are features that I have yet to try. Yesterday I tried the navigation for the first time and although it was highly functional, its beta status is definitely evident. Today I decided to try out the music player. To start I created a music folder and dropped a few of my favorite albums in it...easy enough!

While listening to a song I clicked on the menu button and was given an option to save as ringtone. One clicked and it was saved!

Ok here is the part that impressed me the most.

While listening to a song I noticed a squiggly looking icon in the notification area. I pulled down the shade and there was a notification that said "Now Scrobbling" followed by the name of the artist and song that was currently playing. I clicked on the notification and LastFM, which by the way is much better than Pandora, opened showing a picture of the artist and name of song currently playing. On this screen I was given the option to buy, share, tag, or add song to my Last FM playlist. This process continued with every song played. Pretty neat how LastFM is integrated with the Droid music player.

I know these features may not be new to most but it goes to show the complexity of the phone. I have been consumed with the Droid almost everyday since bringing it home but still I manage to find new features.

Oh and by the way, there were no popping or cracking noises that others have reported when listening to music using headphones.

 

[minyangmao]

I stumbled on this feature; I missed being able to hit one button "Go Home" on my GPS (like on Garmin) and have it automatically route me from where I was to Home =) Now you can!!!

Go to Home screen. Long press. Shortcuts. Directions. Enter your home address and what you want to call it - I call it "Go Home" =). Voila!!! One press and you're on your way home! (or work, or whatever - I'll probably add one for my work cause I go there so often boooo =)

 

[Zoompy]

nice tip! Good to know

 

[taz55]

great tip.. thank you

 

[Don S]

Nice!! Thanks!

 

[UncleMike]

Now that we're all aware that Google manages their own maps, I have a question for those interested in making local corrections. We have a lot of divided highways in NJ - often requiring you to pass your destination on the left, only to turn around and approach with the destination in your right. Many businesses located at or near a cross street have an access drive on the cross street. When I prepare my own custom POI list for my TomTom, I locate the business at the cross street access drive, allowing my TomTom to guide me there without having to pass, turn around and come back. In general I think this works better than locating the actual front door.

When making corrections to business locations in Google Maps, which would you prefer - the front door or the access drive?

Also, in trying to make local corrections I found quite a few businesses that are incorrectly located, but when I go to correct them, I get a message stating that the business has already been claimed in the local business center, and can only be edited by the business owner. Apparently these people are too stupid/lazy to know/care that their business is incorrectly located, but Google locks out anyone else who might be willing to correct it. Granted, I wouldn't want anyone else "correcting" my business listing, but then again, mine is accurate. Any ideas on how to contact Google about this issue?

 

[bguild]

can someone walk me through this? when I long press on the home screen, I just get the delete icon at the bottom to drag icons to. When I long press the home or menu buttons while on the home screen, I just get the recent applications pop up?

 

[Phases]

I stumbled on this feature; I missed being able to hit one button "Go Home" on my GPS (like on Garmin) and have it automatically route me from where I was to Home =) Now you can!!!

Go to Home screen. Long press. Shortcuts. Directions. Enter your home address and what you want to call it - I call it "Go Home" =). Voila!!! One press and you're on your way home! (or work, or whatever - I'll probably add one for my work cause I go there so often boooo =)

Awesome! Can't believe I missed that..

can someone walk me through this? when I long press on the home screen, I just get the delete icon at the bottom to drag icons to. When I long press the home or menu buttons while on the home screen, I just get the recent applications pop up?

Needs to be a blank spot on your home screen, an empty spot available to put something there. You should get the popup for widgets, etc, on a long press.

 

[JoeC]

Using an actual home address set into your device is a bit dangerous. GPS navigators are targets of thieves that take the device (from vehicles, typically) and then go to the unsuspecting owner's home to rob it. I heard this was a new MO for brazen thieves.

When setting a home location, use an address near your actual home for safety reasons.

 

[Phases]

Using an actual home address set into your device is a bit dangerous. GPS navigators are targets of thieves that take the device (from vehicles, typically) and then go to the unsuspecting owner's home to rob it. I heard this was a new MO for brazen thieves.

When setting a home location, use an address near your actual home for safety reasons.

Hey, good point.

/changes it to his loud obnoxious neighbor's addy.

Spoiler

Just playin'. Kroger.

 

[bguild]

make sure people understand you have to have an open area in your home screen to add the shortcut to. Or you wont get the menus people describe in here. That was my problem. duh.

 

[chefboyardee]

This is one of the most useful tips yet. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[nydrumboy]

How did you get home before you got your Droid???

 

[chefboyardee]

How did you get home before you got your Droid???

Falcor.

 

[nydrumboy]

.

You ever notice how nobody ever needs goggles while they're flying through space? How is that? My eyes water if I walk too fast.

 

[OriginalGeek]

How did you get home before you got your Droid???

I con't speak for OP but I work out of town all over my state at least 5 or 6 times a month. When I've driven four hours to get to a site and worked 8 hours on site and it's dark and I have never been there before, it's nice to just hit "Go Home" and get directions out of an unfamiliar town.

Now if it accidentally shows me "Topless Bars" on my route home, that would be OK too.

 

[hAnKbOt]

Well I suspect he has a Motorola Droid since this is a Droid sub-forum. I'll refrain from asking if you know what forum you're posting in.

 

[minyangmao]

Yeah I use my neighbor's address too =)

 

[robs67]

Don't forget that you can add a folder to the home screen(s) and drop all these nifty new directions in there for easy keeping. Just saying so people don't think you have to clutter a home screen with tons of directions shortcuts.

 

[johnlgalt]

You ever notice how nobody ever needs goggles while they're flying through space? How is that? My eyes water if I walk too fast.

OK, technically if you're flying the space you better not be exposed in any way, shape, or form...but if you were, I can bet you that 'windshear' would be the last of your problems

(j/k - had to throw that in there)

I con't speak for OP but I work out of town all over my state at least 5 or 6 times a month. When I've driven four hours to get to a site and worked 8 hours on site and it's dark and I have never been there before, it's nice to just hit "Go Home" and get directions out of an unfamiliar town.

Now if it accidentally shows me "Topless Bars" on my route home, that would be OK too.

I can see it now: Wife files for divorce: Husband claims "DROID made me do it!"

Don't forget that you can add a folder to the home screen(s) and drop all these nifty new directions in there for easy keeping. Just saying so people don't think you have to clutter a home screen with tons of directions shortcuts.

Always a good trick.