Smarter GPS!

For those of us who have to find our way around unfamiliar cities or trek across rural route after rural route to reach our destination the GPS Navigation device is quite simply the greatest thing since the free weekends of Skin-e-max when you were 13. And now comes word that the GPS is going to get smarter. Great news, but just like Magellan rounding Cape Horn, we've still got aways to go.

I'm the first to admit that my navigation device saved me while driving across the city of Los Angeles. I spent 18 months out there and I still couldn't tell you where Pasadena is in relation to Malibu. But like the article says "“The navigation systems are not intelligent enough today to make this information contextual. Ultimately navigation must become much more ‘situational aware.’ Today it is only ‘locational aware." For example, it will keep you off dirt roads (unless you're in certain parts of the South... then you're stuck back there with the Duke boys.

In the article this refers to the current GPS devices inability to take into account things like road closings and traffic and how the next generation of devices will consider "historical and current traffic conditions." Amen, but we have much work to do.

I'll give you a personal example. On the way back to LAX I'd often have to stop and fill the rental car up before dropping it off. No problem, the GPS lists gas stations within a certain distance of the exits you're passing. What it doesn't tell you is that it might not be the best idea to get gas on Compton Avenue at 10:30 at night. And for those of you who told your kids that listening to rap music would never pay off, you are now proven wrong.

Wouldn't it be great if the GPS could also provide some data on crime rates for specific neighborhoods? It could be like the Doppler radar map for precipitation... green for areas that are a bit seedy but OK for urban pioneering (for all you unfamiliar with the term think Bucktown circa 1995) and red for anything outside of the three block area around Commercia Park and Ford Field in Detroit.

But it's not just crime. Wouldn't it be great to know if that Jack 'n the Box had any health code violations before you throw down that Horse, err Ham, burger? Or that a store/restaurant's Yelp rating before you virtually commit yourself with the request to see the menu? Heck, everyone with an iPhone is doing that already... now we can just get them looking at the road instead of their awesome new toy.