NAVTEQ is giving navigation a human touch
NAVTEQ has decided to aid those of us who really are bad at judging distances. You can say something is X feet or yards away but that just doesn’t help. So for those of us who can’t tell 20 feet from 20 yards, NAVTEQ will be giving us directions in every day terms.
This new system previewed at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, is called NAVTEQ Natural Guidance™ and will be referencing landmarks “like the yellow house on the corner” or “the pharmacy midway down the block”. So instead of hearing “continue 20 feet and then turn left”, you will hear “turn left after the pharmacy” or “turn right at the second traffic light.” For most people hearing landmark directions rather than measures of distance will be a whole lot easier to follow.
“Natural Guidance provides the kind of directions we crave as humans,” said Tiffany Treacy, NAVTEQ senior vice president of product management. “It challenges the man-machine status quo of how navigation systems have worked for years by finally enabling the kind of guidance that sounds like it’s coming from a friend who is riding along with you. This is a revolutionary first step toward more natural and ultimately more personalized experiences.”
Thankfully the human touch will not extend to some of the more bizarre directions I have been given such as: “Your going to turn left onto the old Spartanburg Hwy. It has a new name now but I don’t remember what it is.” Or this gem: “You go down this street aways and when you get to the old Smith house turn left.” Of course since I’m asking directions, I probably won’t know when I get to the old Smith house.
Since the visual on the navigation screen will be showing arrows pointing right or left, mixing those directions up will be much harder. (“No, I meant the other left.”) But that still leaves possible future conundrums. For instance the yellow house gets painted or the pharmacy becomes a dress shop. Until those changes make it into the system, you could still be stuck looking for a landmark that has changed.
There are people in the world that can really follow directions that are stated in distances, but for those of us who never learned what six inches was, we can be grateful for the NAVTEQ Natural Guidance system.
Here’s a too cutesy video NAVTEQ is using to explain the system.
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