map&guide truck navigation with new features

29 September 2009, 5:18am

Bridges too narrow or tunnels too low for trucks? These problems are stressful for truck drivers and costly to businesses. This is where
map&guide software specifically designed for truck navigation comes to the rescue. To make it even safer, PTV, the experts in freight
transport optimisation, has again implemented numerous fresh ideas. The new map&guide versions are now available and provide users with a rich set of functions.

Precise driving instructions with Text2Speech

The Text2Speech application for text recognition for navigation devices can turn text stored in the system into spoken word. Compared to "now turn right", the sat nav now tells the driver the name of every road, such as "now turn right onto Queen Street", which is far more precise. The same applies to directions on motorways, such as "turn right onto A8 towards Munich/Stuttgart". Audio messages provide traffic reports and information on the estimated time of arrival -
everything in five languages (German, English, French, Italian and Dutch). The new feature is suitable for PC systems and CE systems (PNDs) with sufficient system resources.

Precise routing thanks to Guided Navigation

The new Guided Navigation feature is of particular interest to transport operators whose truck drivers must take a specific route.
The external server will then transmit navigation data on a specific route to the mobile device compared to individual route points which are normally used for the navigation process. Therefore, routing is broadly identical to the original route without having to store identical maps on the client and the server. The mobile device navigates the driver along the desired route as precisely as possible.

This means that the planned route corresponds to the navigated route and transports can be planned, optimised and monitored in a more
precise manner. The new feature opens up a wide range of applications, particularly in the field of route optimisation, geofencing and
transport security.

Editing and applying truck attributes

Users who require a greater coverage of truck attributes than provided by the system can edit them in map&guide professional or map&guide calculate by means of the Road Editor. Each user can therefore close
or open street or road segments for trucks. Road closures can then be applied to the truck navigation system using the add-on module
RoadEditor2RRY. RRY is a typical data format hich can be read by navigation devices.

Integrating individual addresses

With the new releases it is possible to integrate individual address data into the navigation system: the POI-Importer converts geocoded CSV address data and the GeoDB-Importer is particularly suitable for the integration of individual addresses using map&guide desktop software. Users can easily collect and manage address data in map&guide. The add-on module creates address data for the navigation system directly from the map&guide format.

Further extras

New features include a speed alert for trucks and a radar warning which is available as an optional extra. The visual and acoustic warning applies to the direction of travel. Due to differing laws in different European countries, radar warning is available for France, Spain, Great Britain, Austria, Andorra, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia and Poland.

As an alternative to street names, users can now also enter coordinates for the navigation process as an alternative to street names. Additionally, they can search for all available POIs as opposed to the previous option with a limited search radius around a city.

Moreover, turning manoeuvres on undivided roads, so-called U-turns, can now be avoided. PTV has completely revised the documentation for the RI programming interface designed for navigation control at the control centre. The remote interface is particularly advantageous for applications with additional stop-off points which have to be transferred from the server to the mobile device during the trip.

map&guide truck navigator for truck navigation, map&guide fleet navigator for vehicle fleets (both in version 5.5) and the developer components map&guide navigation SDK 5 belong to the map&guide software product family.

Geo: International