Satellite navigation has been around for years and is a godsend for the foreign traveller but because the nature of our complex ‘network’ of boreens and back roads coupled with our relatively small market we have been pretty much last in the queue for comprehensive mapping.
It wasn’t so long ago ‘Sat Nav’ was a €5,000 option but now portable units can be bought for a tenth of that price, even the smart phone in your pocket can be programmed to act as an ‘in-car’ Sat Nav unit for even less!
So who do we have to thank for putting Ireland on the map? NAVTEQ is a leader in satellite navigation technology and from its Newry HQ specially equipped cars have been racking up the kilometres, logging every road in the country for the last couple of years. The cars are manned with a driver and computer technician who uses voice, video and GPS satellite tracking to input all the relevant data into a laptop. Roads are categorized 1-5 with 1 being a motorway and 5 being something you wouldn’t send a sheep down, okay a slight exaggeration but you know what I mean. Speed limits are noted as are all road/junction idiosyncrasies.
In fact while I was on a test drive with a NAVTEQ team we spotted a change to the speed restriction on the N7 between Newlands Cross and the approach to the M50. It used to be a 60 zone and has now been raised to 80km/h and this was noted by voice and stored onto the laptop for future updates. A camera mounted to the windscreen of the car provided real time data on the road when needed.
NAVTEQ is continually updating its mapping software, which is released quarterly to the companies which actually make the various devices on the market. In the case of new roads or housing estates not yet opened the team take a note of the building going on and mark the area for a return visit within a year. NAVTEQ even hired local drivers to gain their expertise and to speed up the process of putting our little island on the map. Little is maybe not the right word when you think of the 95,369 kilometres of road now mapped not to mention the 44,000-plus towns and cities.
A word of caution, make sure that your new car or gadget has the latest maps stored so look for Q4 (quarter 4) 2005 data or later.
Sat Nav at times can be frustrating especially if you know a better route and let’s face it every male driver throughout the world does! But for most people the ability to input an address and be guided there by a calm voice is a brilliant advance.
Sat Nav is a ‘win win’ situation for all road users and is set to banish two well known, if not always accurate, gender-based driver traits, namely that men would rather drive around lost before asking directions while women will never again feel their sense of direction is in doubt. Jokes aside Sat Nav will save people time on the road plus make journeys safer for lone motorists who would otherwise have to stop where they mightn’t feel safe doing so to ask for directions.
Michael Sheridan
