What's new in iGuidance 4

This is not meant to be a review. iGuidance has been reviewed at www.gpspassion.com on more than one occasion in the past. The following is just a brief outline of only the differences between the previous versions of the product and the newest version 4.

Perhaps the most significant change in this version is the introduction of the software activation procedure. iNav Corp has been resisting implementing this procedure for a long time - longer than their competition. But I think many of us can understand why iNav is adopting this measure, even though this new "feature" is not going to be popular among users.

* A few days ago a user of this forum mentioned info received from one of the iGuidance distributors - apparently the distributor said there would be two separate products sold separately a PPC program and a PC program. This is NOT true. As always a purchased DVD will contain all the available versions of the program - PPC/Laptop/UMPC. But it will be now required to activate the program before the first use.

* For Laptop/UMPC users there will now be a new 14-day evaluation version of the program available only for a small shipping/handling charge directly from iNav or from some distributors. If a user opts to get this evaluation version, s/he may later purchase an activation code (e.g. on-line, via phone, etc). Since this evaluation DVD contains no PPC version of the program, the user will be given a download link if s/he wishes to use the PPC version after purchasing the activation code. There is no evaluation version of the PPC program at this time.

* Map is based on Navteq Q3-2006 data.

Friends of ours bought a new house on Mike Myers Drive in Toronto. It’s nice to see the new streets in iGuidance 4. In fact iGuidance version 4 is today more up-to-date than the on-line map www.live.com by Microsoft :-)

A year ago Alaska was included to iGuidance 3. This year iGuidance 4 adds map coverage of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

* For the sake of simplicity there is no longer MapLoader application included with the program. Now all the map data will be installed on a user PPC and/or PC. This takes about 1.3 GB - not an issue for laptop users these days, but if your PPC has a smaller storage card you may need to go to your local computer store to purchase a larger one. 2GB SD cards sell for around $30, and in many cases they can be found for around $20.

The reduced data (from 2.2GB in pre-v4 versions down to 1.3GB in v4) itself is not due to "compression" but a revamp of the program code itself

* TTS (name of street is part of the voice guidance)

* 6 million POI's, new categories and sub-categories:

• Automotive: Select All, Auto Club, Auto Dealer, Auto Parts, Auto Service, Car Wash, Gas, Motorcycle Dealer, Rental Service, Road Assistance, Truck Stop
   

• Community: Select All, Church, City Hall, Civic Center, Court House, Funeral Home, Government Office, Library, Police Service, Police Station, Post Office, Retirement Home, Synagogue
   

• Education: Select All, Higher Education, School
   

• Entertainment: Select All, Amusement Park, Casino, Cinema, Convention Center, Museum, Nightlife, Performing Arts, Tourist Attraction, Video & Game Rental, Winery
   

• Food & Dining: Select All, Banquet Hall, Bar & Pub, Convenience Store, Grocery Store, Restaurant (v3 had 36 restaurant sub-categories, v4 now has 57 of them!), Speciality Food Store, Wine & Liquor
   

• Health & Medicine: Select All, Dentist, Hospital, Medical Service, Optical, Physician, Veterinarian
   

• Home & Garden: Select All, Floor & Carpet, Furniture, Garden Center, Glass & Window, Home Center, Home Speciality, Other House & Garden, Paint, Realtor, Repair Service
   

• Legal & Financial: Select All, ATM, Attorney, Bank, Check Cashing, Money Transfer, Tax Service
   

• Other Prof Services: Select All, Business, Mover, Photography, Storage, Telecom
   

• Personal Care: Select All, Cleaning & Laundry, Hair & Beauty, Tailor & Alteration
   

• Recreation & Sports: Select All, Boating, Bowling, Camping, Golf Course, Golf Practice, Health Club, Ice Skating, Marina, Park & Recreation, Race Track, Recreation Center, RV Park, Ski Resort, Sports Activities, Sports Complex
   

• Retail: Select All, Clothing, Computer Software, Department Store, Electronics, General Merchandise, Gifts & Arts & Antiques, Shoes, Shopping Center, Specialty, Sporting goods
   

• Travel & Transport: Select All, Airport, Border Crossing, Bus Station, Ferry Terminal, Hotel, Local Transit, Park & Ride, Parking, Rest Area, Train Station, Travel Agent & Ticketing
  
  
  * Some of the categories / sub-categories have no Canadian content.
  
   

The street price is likely going to be again around $99 and it should be soon available at http://www.semsons.com/iguidance.html or from other distributors or directly from http://www.inavcorp.com/