So, Kim was nice enough to send me a copy of his software along with a hunk of the tiger data to try it out. He said I could post some of my comments here since I figure several of you will be interested. So...

I am VERY impressed. He has all the basic features that you would expect in a nav system working. Route calculations, voice prompts, moving maps, direction info, speed info, etc. It can run along with the player software (using a button to toggle between the two menu systems) or all by itself. When it is running with the player it hushes the music when it speaks a voice prompt so that you can hear its driving directions. It even says good evening/good morning to you when you start it up! It is obvious that he has put a lot of work into it and I really hope that he makes it available to everyone once reasonable map data can be found.

As far as the Tiger data goes, I think it is going to be usable. Kim has added the ability to specify an offset to his software to adjust for inaccuracy of the data. At the moment it does loose the road occasionally, but I have not had time to try to adjust the offset properly. Once I calibrate that offset and have a chance to drive around with it for a day or two I will post another message about how it goes. I also think it should be possible to auto-calibrate this offset after the user initially adjusts it. I have sent Kim some ideas on how I though that might work, but obviously he knows more about this than I do.

Anyway, I always thought a nav system would be a killer app for the empeg. Commercial automotive nav systems cost as much or more than most of us spent on our first (pre-discount) empeg. The ability to add this functionality to the empeg with software further validates (for me at least) the purchase of an in car computer rather than one of those cheesy mp3 CD playing devices.

-Mike