The software of GPS-navigators can be conditionally divided into two groups.
Operating system and other (non-navigation) software.
Navigation software and maps.
Operating system and other software
Most modern navigators, in fact, are a small computer, which means, at the heart of everything is an operating system (aka, the platform). The most widespread operating system installed in GPS navigators has been and remains Windows (Windows CE, Windows Mobile). In general, this OS is little different from other Windows operating systems, so we skip its detailed description. In addition to Windows operating system, in GPS-navigators you can find other platforms. For example, since 2012, some manufacturers have started to install in GPS-navigators Android OS, which is gaining popularity in many mobile devices. If we compare Android with the obsolete, but promoted Windows – Android is still losing due to the small number of programs and imperfections of the maps created under this OS. Perhaps in the future the situation will be corrected, but choosing a car GPS navigator today, it is still better to give preference to Windows.
There are manufacturers who have created their own operating systems for their “iron”. Garmin OS is based on the well-known and deserving only the most positive reviews of Linux, so all the OS from Garmin sufficiently reliable, stable in operation and efficient. But in the case of choosing Garmin the user pays for stability extremely limited choice of software.
As for other “non-navigation” software – as a rule, it is possible to find a media player, sometimes an image viewer, an e-book reader, etc. in a car navigator. Accordingly, the navigators can solve a number of tasks, typical of a computer. For example, to act as a multimedia device, which plays audio and video or works with text and image files.
Note. Models of middle and high class, as a rule, have support for TXT and PDF files and all common media formats (AVI, MPEG, WMV, JPG, GIF, BMP, WMA, MP3, WAV), which allows the driver to spend time in a blind traffic jam watching a new film, listening to your favorite music or reading / listening to a book / audio book. At the same time all the necessary content can be recorded on a memory card or USB-flash drive connected via a standard USB-connector.
Navigation software
No matter how advanced the platform of the GPS-navigator is, and no matter what other “non-navigation” software is installed in it, the navigator always has the navigation software. After all, you should agree that people buy these technical devices not to watch movies, listen to music, games or read electronic books – they buy a navigator for one simple reason – to know their location at any time, to be able to track your route, to use the voice prompts and various services. And to know, what navigation software is installed in the purchased navigator is very important. Therefore, when choosing a car GPS navigator be sure to find out from the seller which navigation software is installed in it, to learn the capabilities of this software and, if possible, see how it really works.
Note. Some manufacturers of GPS-navigators implement devices manufactured by them exclusively with pre-installed software (Garmin, TomTom), while others allow the owner to independently choose installed in the navigator navigation software products.
Now we will not do a detailed analysis of all existing navigation software. It is quite a lot and it deserves a separate article. But not to go away from the topic at all, let’s say that most navigation software is designed to work with maps and include a user interface and map databases. In order for the reader who is familiar with the device “car GPS-navigator” for the first time to form an idea of what is a typical navigation program, let’s consider one of them as an example.
In this case, it will be one of the versions of the domestic navigation program, produced under the brand name Navitel. It’s called Navitel Navigator. The choice of this particular navigation software is not an advertisement, and is dictated only by the fact that because of its low cost and availability, it is now installed on most budget navigators and enjoys the greatest popularity among motorists.