robinsonda1

First I want to say that I love my GT and the Nav system is really cool, however I have noticed some things tht my $150 magellan does that this one doesn't.

1. Icons, Fords shows only 3 different types, Magellan shows all

2. Icons are generic i.e a gas pump or fork and knife, Magellan shows the brand of gas station hotel etc.

3. When you touch the icon it just asks if you want to set as a dest/waypoint, Magellan tells you what it is where and phone #

If I am doing something wrong please let me know also maybe Ford engineer can take these suggetions back with him. Oh and Ford Engineer can you ask them to make the steering wheel smaller? It's bigger than the one in my truck and it's kind of annoying. There I feel better, going to wash the car now!

wilkinda

When you select the gas station you want it shows you the address and phone number in the top right corner

robinsonda1

Mine doesn't

wilkinda

Have you done the 3.0 Upgrade?

robinsonda1

I just did and I don't see any difference I'm not sure what that update does for us nav guys but when I touch an icon on the screen it still doesn't give me any info on that particular place. I just get some options at the bottom of the screen like view traffic, ste as dest or waypoint.

wilkinda

If I get a chance tomorrow I will make a short video clip. I am headed to Argentina in the afternoon but have a few errands to run in the am. I'll try and get a clip then and post before I leave for the airport

FordEngineer

Awesome--I'm glad you like the car. I'll try to address the questions you have.

What do you mean? If you set a favorite destination (e.g. address book), there should be a cornucopia of icons for you to choose from for each entry. Also, for certain landmarks, there are custom icons (they're like hidden easter eggs for those familiar with programming terminology). For Points of Interest (POI) icons (any of the 'categories' you can display), you can display a max of 3 types (I believe) on the map so the screen doesn't get too clogged, and you spend forever zooming, rotating, and scaling the map trying to touch the one you want (enter driver distraction argument).

Depending on if the type of POI is known, when you touch it, it'll show you more detail (see next item). Also, if you do a POI search 'near me', it'll replace the generic icons with more specific ones if known (e.g. for 'Fuel Prices', the actual logo will appear if the station is a larger chain brand. For restaurants, a grill, or a pizza, or a hot dog and fries, hamburger, steak, or flag of the country where the food comes from--China, Italy, France, USA, Mexico, etc. will appear.) This is done when the POIs are in list form, so you know what category you're in (e.g. restaurants), and you can decipher what TYPE of restaurant from there. On the map screen, especially if you have multiple POI categories turned on (or if you're low on fuel and gas stations automatically turn on), we need to go one level higher to avoid the driver distraction argument. We need to show you what TYPE of POI each icon is, and not what sub-type. Like I said earlier, we can only give you sub-type if we're certain you know the main type (e.g. we can only say 'Italian' if we're certain you know we're talking about restaurants). The only way we can be certain of that is if you're viewing the POIs in a list form (because the list shows the category, and individual list items can be sub-categories with appropriate icons).

Similar to the above, and so I don't , if you choose a POI from a list (the list CAN be sorted by distance, type, or in the case of fuel, price), it should give you all the info. When you touch a single list item, it'll give you the location, address, phone number (with a one-touch button to call that location via SYNC--if you have a phone paired), and if it's a special category like fuel stations or movie theaters, it'll give you fuel prices/show times as well (if known). Of course, as you noticed, at the bottom of the map screen (if you view from a list, it'll be split-screen with map on left and 'info' on right), you'll have 'Set as destination', 'set as waypoint' (already have a destination), and so on. However, if you touch a POI icon from a map, it SHOULD give you the same information as well. Just to double-check, which map 'style' do you have? Actually, let me make a separate paragraph for this.

Okay, much better. If you notice, there are actually 3 map styles you can choose from. You can cycle among all 3 by using the compass-looking button in the upper left corner of the map screen. The default one from the factory should be 'birds eye' (a 3D 'heading up'* view). You can also cycle through a 2D heading up* view, and a 2D north up* view. If you're in birds eye/3D view, it's very difficult/impossible to choose a POI icon. What you may end up doing is touching a ground location on the map NEAR the POI (a crosshair point). When you do this, the nav usually asks if you want to go there (set destination), or stop there on the way to your destination (set waypoint). If you want to make sure you're selecting a POI and getting all the relevant information, make sure your map is in one of the 2D modes.

*Heading up means your vehicle avatar/icon stays pointed up, and the map rotates around you. North up means north is always up, and your vehicle avatar/icon rotates based on your heading.

Nope--you're not doing anything wrong. This is exactly the sort of stuff I love to hear. Because I'm involved heavily with the interface design, feedback like this really helps me make things better for future versions, as well as influence updates for current versions. We like to think we train, design properly, and test as many bugs out of the system as we can, but we're not perfect. Customer feedback is great and much appreciated. We really *do* give a damn.

As for the steering wheel, I'll relay the message, but those guys do these super crazy anthropometric measurements and tests with all sorts of people to make sure the wheel fits the driver, the vehicle, the cockpit layout, and can reasonably distribute the forces that can be expected through the steering systems while driving. I'll give them the feedback, but since I don't work too closely with them, I'm not sure I can say with certainty what will come of it.

robinsonda1

Ford Engineer thank you for the detailed and coherent reply (you too Wilkinda)

1. What I meant was that you can only show 3 types of icons at a time such as gas stations, ATM, restaurants etc when driving around not finding or selecting a destination.

2. Again, just driving around not searching for a destination or on a route.

3. I have it on the birds eye view so maybe that's why I don't get the POI info when I touch the icon, again just driving around not doing a search etc.

I think you guys have done a great job with the Nav and I am in no way un-happy with it, like I said these are just observations I have made over the last few weeks of ownership. I appriciate the fact that you do consider customer feedback as well. As for the steeing wheel I realize you don't have anything to do with that, it just seems really big to me especially comming out of a BMW and that is my only real complaint about this otherwise outstanding vehicle.