Driving has become a lot easier with the introduction of automotive navigation system. Now you do not have to worry while you drive because this system makes sure that you reach your desired destination without wandering aimlessly. It was first designed by Honda in 1983 but an accelerometer was used along with to judge locations as GPS was not available then. The commonly used navigation systems today are Garmin Street Pilot, Navman iCN Series, Etak, Gizmondo, Hertz Neverlost, Nextel TeleNav, Tom Tom and Pioneer.



It is a navigation system which is used especially in automobiles and help in determining their position with the help of signals from satellites. Automotive navigation system uses the technology on GPS, though it differs from other GPS systems in using position data to locate the vehicle on the units map database.

The essential components of a navigation system are top view for the map with the map rotating like the automobile (the most important component), next curves birds eye-view, to ensure your safety; linear distance gauge, and distance numbers.

The navigation system uses a road data base that contains all the names and addresses of the particular area encoded as geographical coordinates. The information gets updated via the internet as one move from one place to another. Basically it contains a vector map of the area with the help of which it becomes easy to locate someone just by their name or address.

The database used in this system can be stored easily on a magnetic media like hard disk, on a read only memory which comes programmed form the factory or an optical media like CD or DVD. Mostly base map is stored permanently in the ROM and it is accordingly used to extract detailed information about the region in which the user is interested. A combination of all these can also be used.

The first GPS based automotive navigation system was claimed to be developed by Pioneer in 1990.This navigation system helps in finding the location of the vehicle, but in addition to that they offer several other advantages like they give information regarding nearby restaurants, gas stations or cash machine. They can be used to view your favorite TV show or DVD since they use LCD screens. SMS messaging and hands free talking is also possible on some of the advanced systems. These systems also keep one updated about the traffic jams and suggest alternative routes to avoid these jams.

The base maps are created by map vendors like Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ in a standard format GDF. But later they are changed in an optimized format by the electronics manufacturer, which are then used in the navigation system. The format used is uniformly proprietary; as there is no standard for satellite navigation maps.

The automotive navigation system provides excellent services and that is the reason that its demand is increasing all over the world.