GARMIN GPS Devices

I talked with Sam Tlecani, the owner and chief driver of Pyramids Limo, a Denver Limousine Denver Air Transportation, and Denver Car Service. A year ago Sam purchased a Garmin automotive device. The Garmin unit that Sam purchased attaches to his windshield with a special suction device. Before each fare, Sam determines, which limousine he will be using for the job, he transfers the Garmin GPS to the appropriate limousine, and he is good to go.

Sam talked with me and described some of the features his Garmin model has. Before he heads to the next destination, Sam enters the address into the Garmin GPS device. Immediately, an animated projection of the street he is on appears on the screen. A continual readout of the distance to his next turn is displayed to the right of the screen, along with an arrow showing which direction he will need to go in. At every turn Sam receives a voice prompt. As he approaches the turn the voice says, “turn left in 200 feet,” or turn right in 200 feet,” etc. If he should make a wrong turn, or if at the last minute he decides he deliberately wants to take a different turn, the Garmin automatically recalculates the route from the new street, and continues to give him instructions. When Sam arrives at the destination, the voice prompt tells him he has arrived. Sam’s Garmin allows him to download new maps, and keeps him informed about traffic conditions. The display screen can provide a 2D or 3D view of the route.

Even as Sam and fellow users enjoy the features of a recent Garmin model, the company is already introducing new features. What are some of the additional features that the newest Garmin models are offering?

1) The newest models now offer lane guidance as well as street guidance.
2) Newer Garmin models automatically route the driver around congested areas.
3) Garmin and other PBS devices allow the user to purchase and download custom files. One custom file, for example, provides 6,000,000 points of interest, including food and drink, lodging, fuel stops, attractions, entertainment, shopping, transit, bank/ATM, emergency services, post offices, camp grounds, RV parks, movie theaters and more. Custom files offer anything from routing to all the nations airports to distance projections on most of the nations major golf courses.
5) Most PBS devices can only provide compass readings if the vehicle is traveling 2 miles an hour or more. With the electronic compass option, the owner can get instant compass readings even when standing still.
6) Additional features include an altimeter, warning alerts for speed and red light cameras, and the ability to interface with blue tooth and receive

GPS companies continue to develop new features at a rate that challenges the imagination. For a limousine driver, it is almost more challenging to keep up with his GPS device changes, than to keep up with the road conditions.

There are numerous benefits to having a GPS system installed in your automobile. If you have the bad luck to be in an accident and your vehicle is out of view or in a remote location, in this situation rescue crews will be able to find your automobile in a snap. You may also use your GPS car system for finding your way if you get lost. This is especially useful at night, when the difficulty of being lost is compounded by not being able to see clearly around you.

This writer once lived in the woods in England for over 3 years.
Though I still listen to the radio from time to time, I tended to ignore the vast changes happening in real life. I originally heard the alphabet soup term “GPS” while I was still living in America, but always in the field of an army or large law enforcement or rescue agency. If I heard about an automotive GPS in a radio advertisements, I never knew what they were talking about, and failed to care to find out.

Welcome (Back) To America

Moving back to America, I was in for a dreadful culture shock. I evaded watching TV so long as I could, but my mum (who took her wayward child in) loved it, so the TV was on all the time. I would practically pound my head against the floor just because I could not understand the commercials. My mom had to give me an explanation what “bling” meant. That was a tad bit humbling.

At the time, I took computer lessons and attempted to get my head together. I actually required an automotive GPS to figure out what I was doing. As a lark, I joined several online survey groups. I started getting free samples, and learned what a Garmin Nuvi automotive GPS was. I did not have much of a choice I was getting two or three GPS car tracking surveys a week.

Back In The Saddle Again

I realized that instead of being bothered by geeky lingo, automobile GPS dashboard mounted devices were helpful and easily understandable gadgetry that might help improve the quality of life. Imagine if the youngsters of Israel had GPS car tracking units strapped to their donkeys and camels.

They wouldn’t have wandered around in the desert for 40 years. They would’ve found the best path to The promised Land before dinner.

People of my generation and younger get so easily lost because it is just too dangerous to go anywhere. Whenever we plan a trip, we must permit at least 3 hours to get lost and then find our way again. Think of the waste of gas.

But with an automotive GPS unit, you do not have to waste gas or time to get to your destination. I’m wondering how much gas is saved simply by using automotive GPS units.

If I go back to the woods, I suspect I’ll take a Garmin Nuvi automotive GPS device with me. Perhaps then I could make better decisions about my life.

Ask Sam Tlecani the owner and chief driver of Pyramids Limo, a Denver Limo, Denver Airport Limousine and Denver Car Service , and he will tell you that the addition of a GPS automotive guidance system to his limousine fleet has been a great advance. Sam purchased a Garmin GPS system a year ago. Prior to that, he used map quest to plan out his routes. Using mapquest meant he had to go to the Internet and print out a maps quest guide, before each fare. If he was taking a passenger to a distant part of the state he had never seen, this could mean having to stop occasionally, to be sure he had taken the correct turn. Furthermore, if he was driving in traffic or at night, it would be hard to read the instructions. And passengers in the back might be disturbed by the light, if he had to turn on the overhead to read the printout.

Now with the Garman, all those inconveniences are in the past. Sam only has to input a destination and the Garmin gives out driving instructions through a series of voice prompts. Sam never has to take his eyes off the road to know where he’s going. And he never has to ask passengers for directions. The trip is smooth and interruptions are a thing of the past. Suffice it to say that not only the drivers love it , but the passengers love it as well.

The GPS system is based on a network of 24 satellites in continual orbit around the earth. The service is free to use, and the only start up cost is the purchase price of the equipment. Sam, for example, bought his system a year ago, and has used it cost free for a year now. Positioning of the GPS is based on the ancient system of triangulation. Once the GPS is switched on, it quickly locks in to 4 satellites. Each satellite beams a signal to the limousine, which is reflected back to the satellite. The satellites compare the time it takes for the signal to return, and thus calculates the distance of the limousine from the satellites. By comparing the different distances of the limousine to the 4 satellites, the network can extrapolate the exact location of the limousine to within 15 meters. With 4 ships, it is even possible to determine the height of the limousine’s position.

Ask Sam Tlecani, and he will tell you that GPS, is a modern innovation that has made a vast improvement in the quality of limousine service.