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1. Saving Your Life
In December 2006, on his way to drive home from Seattle back to San Francisco, a San Francisco online
Tech editor died in Oregon in a heavy snow storm because he made a wrong turn from the coastal Interstate
Highway 5 into a logging road and he drove very far and deep into remote federal land. His car and his family
then got stuck in that remote area in the snow storm for one week. The use of a GPS navigator could have
prevented such tragedy and saved his life. Within a few seconds of his wrong turn, the navigator would have
announced loudly "Off Route! Re-Calculating" and in a few more seconds, the navigator would have started
telling him how to get back to Interstate Highway 5. The navigator would not let him stray too far from the
busy Interstate Highway 5 such that even if his car got stuck on the road in the snow storm: (1) he and his
family could have walked back to the busy Interstate Highway 5 to get help since he and his family would not
have been very far from the busy Interstate Highway 5, or (2) he could have found easily the phone numbers
of nearby gas stations, towing companies, police stations, restaurants, stores, shopping centers, hotels, etc.
from the database of 6-million points of interest in the navigator to call for help since he would not be too far
from the busy Interstate Highway 5.
More benefits of using GPS navigators and their features are described in more details in the following
Sections.
2. Enrichment of Life
2.1 Basic Navigation
From time to time, I hear some friends saying that they cannot go to a concert, a party or a seminar because
of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory and location. Furthermore, sometimes some friends
arrive at a party more than one hour late because they got lost in the night driving into an unfamiliar location of
the party.
I have been enjoying using a GPS navigator to take me anywhere in North America. GPS stands for Global
Positioning System. (See references for GPS at end of Section 2.) The GPS navigator has a speaker that
tells me turn-by-turn driving instructions by Voice while I am driving so that I do not have to worry about how
to get there. For each turn along the route, the navigator speaker tells me three times so that I do not miss
the turn: the first time is a few miles before the turn, the second time is about 0.7 mile before the turn and the
last time is about 300 feet from the turn. The GPS navigator has detailed road map and detailed street map of
the entire North America so that I can use it anywhere in North America.
Usually, there is only one cross street within 300 feet so that I can make the correct turn into the correct
street without having to see clearly the street name sign on the road. This is very helpful in the evening, and
especially in the raining night.
But if I still miss a turn occasionally, no problem, just keep on driving and in a few seconds, the navigator will
detect my mistake and announce "Off Route, Re-Calculating". And in a few more seconds, the navigator is
ready to tell me the new instruction to go from my current wrong position to my destination.
While we are driving, the navigator tells me the instructions mainly by Voice. User can adjust the volume
(loudness) of the voice of navigator to suit his/her preference. While we are driving, we “glance” the
supplemental information on the screen of navigator briefly and occasionally only as a supplement.
The navigator has a touch-sensitive screen and software-defined keyboard on the screen for me to enter the
street address of my destination anywhere in North America. There are several other options to make it even
easier to enter the destination. One of the options is illustrated in the following Section 2.2. Another option is
to use voice command by just saying the name of the destination in smartphone based GPS navigators as
described in Section 5.
2.2 Large Database of 6 Million Points of Interest
The small box of GPS navigator has a database of about 6 million Points Of Interest (POIs) in North America.
What this means is that I have practically all the Yellow Pages of the phone books of all large cities and all
small towns in North America packed inside that small portable box traveling with me. I can find almost
anything (gas stations, restaurants, hotels/motels, stores, airports, schools, supermarkets, train stations,
parks, tourist attractions, etc.) that I may need while traveling anywhere in North America. This large database
includes not only large and famous restaurants, but also practically all the small restaurants, Pizza and fast
food restaurants such as McDonald, Burger King, Wendy, etc. For example, I can ask the navigator to display
all the restaurants in the area near my current position, the distance from my current position and the direction
to each of those items on the list. If I am interested and touch/select any one item on the list, the second level
of display shows the name, the address, and the phone number. Then, if I touch "Go To" icon on the screen,
the navigator will take me to that nearby item (restaurant or gas station, etc.). Or I can call that restaurant,
before I go, to see if they have the particular foods that I want.
On a raining Sunday evening in the City of St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada during our sightseeing driving
trip, we needed to buy some grocery. We stopped at a gas station to ask for information. The gas station
attendant said that practically all stores were closed on Sunday evening. The only one that might be open was
a 24-hour supermarket, which was pretty far away. He began to give me directions in a long sequence of left
turn at street X, right turn at street Y, right turn at Street Z, etc. because the supermarket was pretty far
away. It was impossible for me to remember accurately that long sequence of turns and the associated street
name for each turn, and it was difficult to read street name signs while driving because it was dark and
raining. Therefore, I asked him for the name of the supermarket and the street the supermarket was on. Then
I ask the navigator for the list of all points of interest in that area. Surely, that supermarket was on the list. I
finger-touched the name of that supermarket, then touched "Go To" icon on the navigator screen. The
navigator understood that I wanted to go to that supermarket, and guided me through many turns to reach that
supermarket.
Notice that in using these Points Of Interest, I do not have to know their addresses ahead of time and do not
have to enter the address into the GPS navigator.
2.3 Portable and Usable on Any Car
These navigators are quite small, and portable. I can use it not only in my own car but also in any other car,
including any rental car. The only required connection with the car is the power source by plugging into the
cigarette lighter plug.
2.4 Voice Instruction
Some people are still not interested in GPS navigator because of the following misunderstandings:
(1) The screen on the navigator is too small such that I cannot read the map or the driving instructions on that
small screen, and
(2) I cannot see the street name sign on the road at night such that I cannot turn into the correct street at night
in the dark.
These people miss the key point that the GPS navigator provides driving instructions mainly by "Voice" so that
the user does not have to read the small map or the driving instructions on the small screen and does not need
to read the street name sign on the road at night in the dark. No safe driver will be staring at the map, no
matter how big the screen is, while driving. No GPS navigator is designed to give driving instructions by
requiring the driver to stare at the map on the screen while driving.
There are several different brands, such as Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, etc., of navigators on the market.
They probably all have roughly similar functions and capabilities.
A friend and his wife went for a cruise in South America last year. Their total cost for that single cruise trip
was about $10,000. Without a navigator, many people are uncomfortable to drive on their own in unfamiliar
places for sightseeing tours. Therefore, they have to spend about $10,000 for each of such guided group
tours. On the other hand, the GPS navigator enables me to tour many beautiful places in North America
without incurring such high cost of $10,000 per cruise/trip. Therefore, the cost of about one hundred dollars for
a GPS navigator is quite worthwhile from my viewpoint as a heavy user of the navigator. Furthermore, the
benefit of saving your life, as described in Section 1, is priceless.
2.5 Challenge of New Gadget for Senior People
Many new electronic gadgets are coming on the market rapidly with various new applications. Some senior
people are overwhelmed by such tidal wave of so many new gadgets such that they are not using GPS
navigator even though they can benefit most from the help of a GPS navigator. Even though GPS navigators
are usually very user friendly and easy to use, many senior people are still without GPS navigator and are still
struggling everyday on how to get to their destinations. Then after the party or the meeting in the evening is
over, these senior people also have to struggle very hard on how to get out of that area through many turns of
streets in the dark to go home.
A friend came to a dancing class for the first time recently and he was late by about 30 minutes. When he
came in, he told us about how difficult it was to find this dance class location, how he got lost and how he
struggled this way and that way in order to find this location eventually. I asked him if he was using a GPS
navigator. He said that his daughter has been using one, but nobody showed him how to use it such that he is
not using a GPS navigator.
In another occasion, at the end of a dinner party, a friend could not drive home because of the difficulty to see
street signs in the dark in the evening. She had a printout of the streets map of the area near the party
location such that she could find the way to come to the party location in the daytime. But at night, she could
not depend on the map to drive out of that party area. She had to ask the party host to drive a car to lead her
car in the dark out of that area to reach a major highway so that she could drive home from there.
It is well known that many young people are enjoying the great benefits of using GPS navigator. A simple and
effective way for senior people to over come the barrier of new gadgets is to get a ride in the car of their
children or a friend who has been using a GPS navigator. It is worthwhile to get such a ride for about 30
minutes to see how it works, how easy it is to operate the GPS navigator and how easy it is to connect the
GPS navigator into the cigarette lighter plug in the car. Such a 30-minute ride is sufficient to eliminate the
barrier of new gadget for the senior people to feel comfortable to spend about $100 to buy a GPS navigator.
This will eliminate those miserable daily struggles of how to get there and how to get out of there in the dark in
the evening to go home.
The entire GPS satellite system is owned by the US government, not by any private company. Therefore,
there is no monthly subscription fee to pay in order to use the basic navigation services.
I find that this navigator is very useful to me not only for driving at night to an unfamiliar location for party in
New Jersey, but also for driving tour of many beautiful places for sightseeing and bird watching anywhere in
North America. This is how I have been touring many beautiful places in North America as shown on my
Travelogue website at www.shltrip.com.
By using a GPS navigator, you are no longer limited and bound by the problem of “I cannot go to a concert, a
party or a seminar because of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory”. The navigator
eliminates a lot of anxiety and stress of driving because:
(A) The driver does not have to strain to try to look at the names of many oncoming cross roads/streets in an
unfamiliar area to try to find the correct street to make the next turn.
(B) When the navigator tells me that the next turn is 7 miles or more away, then I do not have to stay on the
outside lane of the highway. I shift into the middle lane of the highway so that I can drive more smoothly and
peacefully without the frequent interference by other cars entering into the highway or other cars slowing down
to prepare to exist the highway.
(C) With the Turn-By-Turn instruction from the GPS navigator, the driver does not have to worry about how to
get there.
The GPS navigator enables you to drive to any place at anytime you want. It will greatly enrich your life by
giving you a lot of new freedom.
Tutorial information on GPS (Global Positioning System) is available at the following websites:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/gps/
http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
3. New Generation of GPS Navigators:
Just like most other consumer electronic devices, the technologies and functional features of GPS navigators
have been advancing very fast while the physical sizes and weights are decreasing year by year. There are
also increasing number of manufacturers competing in this rapidly growing market. Consequently, the prices
have been decreasing rapidly year by year while the new GPS navigators are becoming smarter and easier to
use as compared to the old ones.
Photos of some sample GPS navigators can be seen at the following Amazon website:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=GPS+Navigators
3.1. Re-Routing to Bypass Serious Traffic Jam
In traditional driving on a major highway such as I-95 or New Jersey Turnpike, usually we do not know the
highway traffic condition many miles ahead of us. By the time we run into a serious traffic jam on such major
highway, it is too late, the serious traffic jam may stretch for many miles. There is no highway exit in such
miles of traffic jam such that we are stuck in such serious and frustrating traffic jam for hours.
Some newer versions of GPS navigator have wireless access to real time road traffic conditions over very
large areas. If a serious traffic jam develops on our route many miles ahead of us, the GPS navigator knows
about it, will inform the driver and will take early actions before it is too late. The GPS navigator will re-
calculate to produce a new routing to guide us to get off a suitable highway exit way before the traffic jam and
into a different route to bypass the serious traffic jam entirely. I appreciate very much such benefit from such
capability of newer versions of GPS navigators.
4. Benefits of Supplemental Information on the Screen of GPS Navigator
4.1. Estimated Arrival Time: In September of 2008, a friend-couple and I drove separately to meet at the
Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania in the morning to watch Fall Migration of large number of hawks. The friend
couple arrived at the Hawk Mountain much earlier than I did. They called me on mobile phone while I was still
driving on the highway and they asked me where I was and how long it would take me to arrive. My partner on
the passenger seat answered the mobile phone call. We looked at the screen of our GPS navigator and it
indicated that 20 more minutes for us to arrive at our destination of Hawk Mountain. So, we told that friend
couple 20 more minutes before we arrive. With that key information, the friend couple went up to the first
observation location on the Hawk Mountain and enjoyed watching a large group of many hawks riding a rising
thermal in the air to go up high, then glide out of the thermal to fly south. Then they came back to meet us at
the entrance gate of the Hawk Mountain. It turned out that event of the large kettle of rising hawks was the
best show in that whole day. If we did not have that information of 20 minutes from the GPS navigator, our
friend-couple might have stayed at the entrance gate to wait for us and missed the best show of the day
entirely.
4.2. Estimated Arrival Time Again: I usually go to beautiful national parks to see beautiful sceneries or to
national wildlife refuges for bird watching or wildlife watching and photography. These national parks and
national wildlife refuges are usually in remote rural areas where there is no traffic jam. The estimated arrival
time to destination on the screen of GPS navigator is usually very accurate. Such accurate arrival time has
been very useful and helpful in my sightseeing trip. For example, when we finish touring a remote national park
and want to go to our next motel for the night, if the GPS navigator tells me that our arrival time is before 8
PM, then we will stay hungry and drive to the area of our next motel to enjoy a better dinner because there
are usually better restaurants in the small town near the motel. On the other hand, if the GPS navigator
indicates that our arrival time to next motel is 10 PM or even later in the evening when most restaurants will be
closed, then we will eat first at a small and simple food outfit near the remote national park before taking the
long drive to the next motel. While eating dinner near the remote national park, I will also call the next motel to
tell them that I am coming and my arrival time and make sure that they keep my reserved hotel room for me
even though I usually have a guaranteed reservation for late arrival using my credit card.
We usually have never been to those motels previously and (without the help of the GPS navigator) we usually
do not know how long it will take to drive from a given remote national park to the next motel because we
usually are in a new and unfamiliar territory in the sightseeing trip.
4.3. 6-Million Points of Interest: There are other benefits of several other helpful supplemental information
on the GPS navigator. The benefits of 6-million Points of Interest in the small GPS navigator have been
described Sections 1 and 2.2.
4.4 Via Points: One more example: we can look at the route planned by the GPS navigator for us. If we do
not like that route, we can enter one or two Via-Points which will force the GPS navigator to plan to new route
going through those Via-Points to reach our destination. Then the new route planned by the GPS navigator Via
those Points may be much closer to our preferred route.
For example, if we are going from Queens-Flushing in New York metropolitan area back to mid New Jersey,
the route planned by GPS navigator may take us through Midtown Tunnel, Manhattan and Lincoln Tunnel as
the shorter route. But such shorter route can be horrible because we will run into terrible traffic jams at
Midtown Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln Tunnel. On the other hand, if we specify Verrazano Bridge as a
Via Point, then the new route planned by the GPS navigator will go through Verrazano Bridge to come back to
mid New Jersey, thereby avoiding all those terrible traffic jams at Midtown Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln
Tunnel. Such new route is certainly much better as my preferred route to avoid all those heavy traffic jams
even though the new route may not be the shorter route.
4.4.1. Elimination of Driving Stress: You may wonder if I know the preferred route, why do I still need the
GPS navigator to drive from Quuens/Flushing back to New Jersey? The reason is that this long driving route
has multiple lanes with heavy traffic and several tricky Y-Splits along the way. Sometimes the correct lane is
on right side whereas other times the correct lane is on left side. If I do not shift to the correct lane at the right
section of the road, it is very easy to be forced by the heavy traffic flow onto the wrong side of the Y-Split to
go over a bridge into Manhattan against my will to run into all the terrible traffic jams. Sometimes a big truck in
front of me blocks my view of the overhead road signs such that I end up in the wrong side of the Y-Split into
Manhattan or a street in downtown Brooklyn. I do not drive this route frequently such that I do not remember
the correct lanes for all these tricky Y-Splits. Such driving to try to avoid all these potential troubles and traps
is quite stressful.
On the other hand, the GPS navigator knows about all these tricky Y-Splits and will tell me ahead of time to
shift to the correct lane to get ready for each on-coming Y-Split no matter whether I can see the overhead
road sign or not. Therefore, GPS navigator can eliminate a lot of stress of driving on such tricky route with
heavy traffic and guide me back to New Jersey smoothly. It is a much more comfortable, relaxed and smooth
driving with the help of the GPS navigator.
4.4.2. How to Add a Via Point
In Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator, after we finished entering the destination and the navigator has finished
calculation for the route and is ready to guide us to our destination, if we enter one more new destination, the
GPS navigator will ask us if this new destination is a Via Point on the original route to go to the first destination
or is this a totally new destination for a new route unrelated to the first destination and the associated first
route. If you press the Yes (It is a Via Point) option at this point, then GPS navigator will keep the first
destination, add this new, second destination as a Via Point and will recalculate a new route that will go
through this Via Point to reach the first destination.
5. Smartphones with GPS Navigation Function
The free Google Maps in smartphones comes with a free, smart and user friendly GPS navigator. Unlike
traditional GPS navigators where the maps need to be updated periodically, there is no need to update the
map in the free Google Maps GPS navigator because the free Google Maps are always up-to-date.
The GPS Navigator on Google Maps in smartphone is communicating with the mainframe computer in the
network server through 3G/4G high speed wireless network such that the GPS Navigator in smartphone is
supported by the huge data base and the massive computing power of mainframe computer. With such
support, the GPS navigator in smartphone is smarter and much more user friendly as compared to the
traditional GPS navigators which usually have very limited data base and very limited computing power.
The details are described on my web page at:
http://www.shltrip.com/GPS_Navigator_On_Google_Maps.html
6. Avoid Buying New Car with Built-In GPS Navigator
It is not wise to buy a new car that comes with a built-in GPS navigator because of the following
disadvantages:
6.1. The initial cost of built-in GPS navigator in a car is usually much more expensive than those of portable
GPS navigators by many hundreds percent. Furthermore, some GPS navigators on smartphone, such as
Google Maps GPS navigator, are free.
6.2. You cannot take the built-in GPS navigator in a car and use it on a rental car when you are traveling out
of town.
6.3. The cost of annual update of the map in the built-in GPS navigator is very expensive in the order of
US$200 or more for each map update whereas many portable GPS navigators have FREE life-time updates
of the map. Furthermore, the free map on the free Google Maps GPS navigator on smartphones is always up-
to-date such there is no need to update.
Some people may think that some rental cars are equipped with GPS navigator. But the disadvantages for
such option are (A) You have to pay for the use of such GPS navigator in a rental car whereas there is no
additional cost if you bring your own compact and portable GPS navigator or your smartphone and (B) you are
confronted with combined severe challenges of dealing with the operations of an unfamiliar GPS navigator in
an unfamiliar rental car and driving in an unfamiliar territories. The effects of such combined unfamiliarities can
be a horrible experience to struggle with. It is much more comfortable to use your own familiar portable GPS
navigator or your own familiar smartphone GPS navigator in a rental car.
7. Important Safety Considerations - Caution on Unpaved Roads or Roads with Deep Snow
7.1. Potential Risks for Driving on Unfamiliar and Unpaved Roads
In GPS navigator, there is an option for user to check or un-check so that the user can allow or disallow the
GPS navigator to use low quality, unpaved roads as part of the calculated and recommended route to reach
user's destination. For traveling in unfamiliar territory, it is safer for the user to disallow the GPS navigator to
use the unpaved roads, and to force the GPS navigator to use only the well travelled, higher quality, paved
highway for the calculated and recommended route to reach the destination.
One may consider using an unpaved road only in the familiar territory that one already knows that it is safe.
Otherwise, one should not drive onto an unpaved road in an unfamiliar territory even if the GPS navigator tells
you to go into an unpaved road because (1) it is a big unknown, (2) it may be dangerous: the car may get
stuck in mud, or loose sand, or deep rut, or water crossing where the water level may swell in a raining day,
or deep snow on unpaved and unplowed road (getting stuck in deep snow in the winter in a remote area for
several days can be life threatening), etc., (3) very few other travelers on those low quality, unpaved roads
such that one may get stuck in there for many days, and (4) the commercial towing trucks usually will help you
only on paved highways and will refuge to come to unpaved road to help you because the regular towing truck
may also get stuck on such unpaved road. Please read the real life news stories of such danger at the
following website:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_re_us/us_stranded_motorists
One must not follow the GPS navigator blindly and must exercise common sense for safety. For example, the
GPS navigator does not know the weather condition and does not know if the heavy snow on a road is plowed
or not.
After the GPS navigator finished calculating a recommended route for you, you can check it to see if you like
the route or not. One method to check is to zoom out the map on the GPS screen so that you can see the
entire recommended route (with special color). The second method is to use the menu to see the route in text
form and scroll through several pages to see all sections of the route. Most of the time, the recommended
route is good and you can follow it. But occasionally, you do not like the recommended route, then there are
several methods that you can use to force the GPS navigator to recalculate to produce a new and different
recommended route. These methods (A), (B) and (C) are described in the following two paragraphs.
If you forget to check the safe option and the GPS navigator tells you to go into an unpaved road in an
unfamiliar territory or into a remote forest logging road with unplowed deep snow, you (A) should have a big
warning red alert in your mind to reject such potentially dangerous navigation, should stay on the high quality
paved highway and should keep driving on the paved highway with frequent travellers and with snow plow
clearing away the heavy snow from the highway. Such rejection will force the GPS navigator to detect your
deviation from its recommended "dangerous" route and to re-calculate to produce a new and better route from
your current position to reach your destination.
In case if the navigator is still stubbornly guiding you back to that unpaved road or that road with unplowed
deep snow, you may (B) choose one or more Via Points on higher quality, paved highway to force the GPS
navigator to recalculate a new route that goes through your specified Via Points to reach your destination.
(The method to set Via Points is described in Section 4.4.2 above,) or (C) change the route selection criterion
from Shorter-Distance Route to Shorter-Time Route or vice versa such that the new route selection criterion
may force the GPS navigator to select a new route without using the unpaved road or the road with unplowed
deep snow.
7.2. Need for Safety Design Against Risk of Unpaved Roads
GPS navigator has become very popular and many users are relying heavily on GPS navigators for their
driving guidance. They assume that the GPS navigator will always guide them safely. To meet such users'
expectation for safe navigation, the GPS navigator should be designed with the following safeguards:
7.2.1. When the GPS navigator is about to guide the user to go into a low quality, unpaved road, the GPS
navigator has a responsibility and obligation to give user a strong warning by both voice and screen display
about the potential danger and risk of driving on an unpaved road.
7.2.2. Many users do not know the option buried in the complex menu structure to allow or to disallow the
GPS navigator to include the unpaved roads in its calculated and recommended route. For safety
consideration, the default setting in the GPS navigator should be to disallow the GPS navigator to use the
unpaved roads.
If a more knowledgeable user digs through the complex menu structure to find this option and to change the
default setting to allow the GPS navigator to use the unpaved road, then such more knowledgeable user bears
more responsibility for the potential danger and risk of entering the lower quality, unpaved roads because of
his/her deliberate action to change the default setting in the GPS navigator. However, some curious users may
change this safe default setting accidentally. Therefore, the warning in 7.2.1 is still necessary even if the safe
default setting is changed by the user.
When a user checked a box to change this safe default setting, the GPS navigator should respond with a
warning of the potential risk of driving on unpaved roads and should ask the user for a confirmation that the
user understands the risk and really wants to change the safe default setting. It should be only after such
confirmation before the change is accepted and implemented by the GPS navigator.
8. Problems Caused by Map Update and Their Solutions
In December 2014, I connected my Garmin Nuvi 1300 LMT through my computer to Garmin website to try to
update the map. The Garmin website indicated that my Nuvi 1300 LMT did not have enough memory space
for the map update and told me to buy and install a micro SD memory card to increase the memory. So, I
went to BestBuy and bought a new 8-GB micro SD memory card and inserted it into the Nuvi 1300 LMT. But I
ran into two problems as described in the following:
8.1. Garmin Express Cannot See the Micro-SD Card in my PC Running Windows Vista
After I inserted the 8-GB micro-SD memory card into my Nvui 1300 LMT and plugged the Nuvi 1300 LMT into
my PC running Windows Vista, my PC could see both the Nuvi 1300 LMT and the additional 8-GB micro-SD
card, but Garmin Express could not see the additional 8-GB micro-SD card and kept on telling me to insert a
micro-SD card. I called Garmin for help and the solution is to use my other PCs running Windows 7 or
Windows 8.1. Garmin Express on these PCs running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can see the additional micro-
SD card and can download the updated map into the micro-SD card properly.
8.2. Frozen Screen on GPS Navigator
Then I was able to update the map plus the update of other information in my GPS navigator, Nvui 1300 LMT.
However, when I used the Nuvi 1300 LMT with the new micro SD card and after such map update for a few
minutes, the screen of the navigator became frozen and could not provide navigation properly. Then I looked
into Garmin website for solution.
This Garmin solution web page provides the following instructions to solve this problem by performing a simple
master reset.
Warning: A master reset will erase all favorites and will restore your device to the default factory settings. If
you would like to back up your favorites to your computer, you can find instructions to do so here.
1. Start with the unit OFF and unplugged from power
2. Touch and hold the lower right corner of the screen (not the frame) with an index finger or the eraser
end of a pencil
3. Continue touching and holding the lower right hand corner of the screen then power the unit ON
4. Release the power button when the device powers ON
5. Remove your finger from the touchscreen when the message 'Do you really want to erase all user
data?' appears
6. Touch Yes
The device will now be reset and you should no longer experience the freezing issue.
However, after the master reset, my Nuvi 1300 LMT still froze up. So, I did the master reset one more time.
Then the problem is gone and my Nuvi 1300 LMT works well again with the new micro SD card and the new
updated map.
8.3. Strange Problems with Micro-SD memory Card
My son and I are using the same kind of smartphone: Samsung Galaxy S5. He inserted a 64-GB micro-SD
card into his Samsung Galaxy S5 but it worked only for couple weeks, then it would crash the smartphone.
We tried that 64-GB micro-SD card on my Samsung Galaxy S5 and ran into similar problem. So, my son is
using another brand of 64-GB micro-SD card and it works well in his smartphone. So, there are some strange
problems in using micro-SD card in smartphones and in GPS navigators.
9. More Associated Information Age Technologies to make Driving Tour easier, less stressful and
safer.
GPS navigator is part of a package of information age technologies, including smartphone, tablet, smarter car,
DropBox, etc., that I am using to enhance greatly my enjoyment of sightseeing driving tour of many interesting
and beautiful places. Detailed descriptions are in my web page at:
Sightseeing Driving Tour in Information Age
Original appeared in 2006, Most recent update on November 25, 2015
In December 2006, on his way to drive home from Seattle back to San Francisco, a San Francisco online
Tech editor died in Oregon in a heavy snow storm because he made a wrong turn from the coastal Interstate
Highway 5 into a logging road and he drove very far and deep into remote federal land. His car and his family
then got stuck in that remote area in the snow storm for one week. The use of a GPS navigator could have
prevented such tragedy and saved his life. Within a few seconds of his wrong turn, the navigator would have
announced loudly "Off Route! Re-Calculating" and in a few more seconds, the navigator would have started
telling him how to get back to Interstate Highway 5. The navigator would not let him stray too far from the
busy Interstate Highway 5 such that even if his car got stuck on the road in the snow storm: (1) he and his
family could have walked back to the busy Interstate Highway 5 to get help since he and his family would not
have been very far from the busy Interstate Highway 5, or (2) he could have found easily the phone numbers
of nearby gas stations, towing companies, police stations, restaurants, stores, shopping centers, hotels, etc.
from the database of 6-million points of interest in the navigator to call for help since he would not be too far
from the busy Interstate Highway 5.
More benefits of using GPS navigators and their features are described in more details in the following
Sections.
2. Enrichment of Life
2.1 Basic Navigation
From time to time, I hear some friends saying that they cannot go to a concert, a party or a seminar because
of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory and location. Furthermore, sometimes some friends
arrive at a party more than one hour late because they got lost in the night driving into an unfamiliar location of
the party.
I have been enjoying using a GPS navigator to take me anywhere in North America. GPS stands for Global
Positioning System. (See references for GPS at end of Section 2.) The GPS navigator has a speaker that
tells me turn-by-turn driving instructions by Voice while I am driving so that I do not have to worry about how
to get there. For each turn along the route, the navigator speaker tells me three times so that I do not miss
the turn: the first time is a few miles before the turn, the second time is about 0.7 mile before the turn and the
last time is about 300 feet from the turn. The GPS navigator has detailed road map and detailed street map of
the entire North America so that I can use it anywhere in North America.
Usually, there is only one cross street within 300 feet so that I can make the correct turn into the correct
street without having to see clearly the street name sign on the road. This is very helpful in the evening, and
especially in the raining night.
But if I still miss a turn occasionally, no problem, just keep on driving and in a few seconds, the navigator will
detect my mistake and announce "Off Route, Re-Calculating". And in a few more seconds, the navigator is
ready to tell me the new instruction to go from my current wrong position to my destination.
While we are driving, the navigator tells me the instructions mainly by Voice. User can adjust the volume
(loudness) of the voice of navigator to suit his/her preference. While we are driving, we “glance” the
supplemental information on the screen of navigator briefly and occasionally only as a supplement.
The navigator has a touch-sensitive screen and software-defined keyboard on the screen for me to enter the
street address of my destination anywhere in North America. There are several other options to make it even
easier to enter the destination. One of the options is illustrated in the following Section 2.2. Another option is
to use voice command by just saying the name of the destination in smartphone based GPS navigators as
described in Section 5.
2.2 Large Database of 6 Million Points of Interest
The small box of GPS navigator has a database of about 6 million Points Of Interest (POIs) in North America.
What this means is that I have practically all the Yellow Pages of the phone books of all large cities and all
small towns in North America packed inside that small portable box traveling with me. I can find almost
anything (gas stations, restaurants, hotels/motels, stores, airports, schools, supermarkets, train stations,
parks, tourist attractions, etc.) that I may need while traveling anywhere in North America. This large database
includes not only large and famous restaurants, but also practically all the small restaurants, Pizza and fast
food restaurants such as McDonald, Burger King, Wendy, etc. For example, I can ask the navigator to display
all the restaurants in the area near my current position, the distance from my current position and the direction
to each of those items on the list. If I am interested and touch/select any one item on the list, the second level
of display shows the name, the address, and the phone number. Then, if I touch "Go To" icon on the screen,
the navigator will take me to that nearby item (restaurant or gas station, etc.). Or I can call that restaurant,
before I go, to see if they have the particular foods that I want.
On a raining Sunday evening in the City of St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada during our sightseeing driving
trip, we needed to buy some grocery. We stopped at a gas station to ask for information. The gas station
attendant said that practically all stores were closed on Sunday evening. The only one that might be open was
a 24-hour supermarket, which was pretty far away. He began to give me directions in a long sequence of left
turn at street X, right turn at street Y, right turn at Street Z, etc. because the supermarket was pretty far
away. It was impossible for me to remember accurately that long sequence of turns and the associated street
name for each turn, and it was difficult to read street name signs while driving because it was dark and
raining. Therefore, I asked him for the name of the supermarket and the street the supermarket was on. Then
I ask the navigator for the list of all points of interest in that area. Surely, that supermarket was on the list. I
finger-touched the name of that supermarket, then touched "Go To" icon on the navigator screen. The
navigator understood that I wanted to go to that supermarket, and guided me through many turns to reach that
supermarket.
Notice that in using these Points Of Interest, I do not have to know their addresses ahead of time and do not
have to enter the address into the GPS navigator.
2.3 Portable and Usable on Any Car
These navigators are quite small, and portable. I can use it not only in my own car but also in any other car,
including any rental car. The only required connection with the car is the power source by plugging into the
cigarette lighter plug.
2.4 Voice Instruction
Some people are still not interested in GPS navigator because of the following misunderstandings:
(1) The screen on the navigator is too small such that I cannot read the map or the driving instructions on that
small screen, and
(2) I cannot see the street name sign on the road at night such that I cannot turn into the correct street at night
in the dark.
These people miss the key point that the GPS navigator provides driving instructions mainly by "Voice" so that
the user does not have to read the small map or the driving instructions on the small screen and does not need
to read the street name sign on the road at night in the dark. No safe driver will be staring at the map, no
matter how big the screen is, while driving. No GPS navigator is designed to give driving instructions by
requiring the driver to stare at the map on the screen while driving.
There are several different brands, such as Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan, etc., of navigators on the market.
They probably all have roughly similar functions and capabilities.
A friend and his wife went for a cruise in South America last year. Their total cost for that single cruise trip
was about $10,000. Without a navigator, many people are uncomfortable to drive on their own in unfamiliar
places for sightseeing tours. Therefore, they have to spend about $10,000 for each of such guided group
tours. On the other hand, the GPS navigator enables me to tour many beautiful places in North America
without incurring such high cost of $10,000 per cruise/trip. Therefore, the cost of about one hundred dollars for
a GPS navigator is quite worthwhile from my viewpoint as a heavy user of the navigator. Furthermore, the
benefit of saving your life, as described in Section 1, is priceless.
2.5 Challenge of New Gadget for Senior People
Many new electronic gadgets are coming on the market rapidly with various new applications. Some senior
people are overwhelmed by such tidal wave of so many new gadgets such that they are not using GPS
navigator even though they can benefit most from the help of a GPS navigator. Even though GPS navigators
are usually very user friendly and easy to use, many senior people are still without GPS navigator and are still
struggling everyday on how to get to their destinations. Then after the party or the meeting in the evening is
over, these senior people also have to struggle very hard on how to get out of that area through many turns of
streets in the dark to go home.
A friend came to a dancing class for the first time recently and he was late by about 30 minutes. When he
came in, he told us about how difficult it was to find this dance class location, how he got lost and how he
struggled this way and that way in order to find this location eventually. I asked him if he was using a GPS
navigator. He said that his daughter has been using one, but nobody showed him how to use it such that he is
not using a GPS navigator.
In another occasion, at the end of a dinner party, a friend could not drive home because of the difficulty to see
street signs in the dark in the evening. She had a printout of the streets map of the area near the party
location such that she could find the way to come to the party location in the daytime. But at night, she could
not depend on the map to drive out of that party area. She had to ask the party host to drive a car to lead her
car in the dark out of that area to reach a major highway so that she could drive home from there.
It is well known that many young people are enjoying the great benefits of using GPS navigator. A simple and
effective way for senior people to over come the barrier of new gadgets is to get a ride in the car of their
children or a friend who has been using a GPS navigator. It is worthwhile to get such a ride for about 30
minutes to see how it works, how easy it is to operate the GPS navigator and how easy it is to connect the
GPS navigator into the cigarette lighter plug in the car. Such a 30-minute ride is sufficient to eliminate the
barrier of new gadget for the senior people to feel comfortable to spend about $100 to buy a GPS navigator.
This will eliminate those miserable daily struggles of how to get there and how to get out of there in the dark in
the evening to go home.
The entire GPS satellite system is owned by the US government, not by any private company. Therefore,
there is no monthly subscription fee to pay in order to use the basic navigation services.
I find that this navigator is very useful to me not only for driving at night to an unfamiliar location for party in
New Jersey, but also for driving tour of many beautiful places for sightseeing and bird watching anywhere in
North America. This is how I have been touring many beautiful places in North America as shown on my
Travelogue website at www.shltrip.com.
By using a GPS navigator, you are no longer limited and bound by the problem of “I cannot go to a concert, a
party or a seminar because of the required driving at night into an unfamiliar territory”. The navigator
eliminates a lot of anxiety and stress of driving because:
(A) The driver does not have to strain to try to look at the names of many oncoming cross roads/streets in an
unfamiliar area to try to find the correct street to make the next turn.
(B) When the navigator tells me that the next turn is 7 miles or more away, then I do not have to stay on the
outside lane of the highway. I shift into the middle lane of the highway so that I can drive more smoothly and
peacefully without the frequent interference by other cars entering into the highway or other cars slowing down
to prepare to exist the highway.
(C) With the Turn-By-Turn instruction from the GPS navigator, the driver does not have to worry about how to
get there.
The GPS navigator enables you to drive to any place at anytime you want. It will greatly enrich your life by
giving you a lot of new freedom.
Tutorial information on GPS (Global Positioning System) is available at the following websites:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/gps/
http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
3. New Generation of GPS Navigators:
Just like most other consumer electronic devices, the technologies and functional features of GPS navigators
have been advancing very fast while the physical sizes and weights are decreasing year by year. There are
also increasing number of manufacturers competing in this rapidly growing market. Consequently, the prices
have been decreasing rapidly year by year while the new GPS navigators are becoming smarter and easier to
use as compared to the old ones.
Photos of some sample GPS navigators can be seen at the following Amazon website:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=GPS+Navigators
3.1. Re-Routing to Bypass Serious Traffic Jam
In traditional driving on a major highway such as I-95 or New Jersey Turnpike, usually we do not know the
highway traffic condition many miles ahead of us. By the time we run into a serious traffic jam on such major
highway, it is too late, the serious traffic jam may stretch for many miles. There is no highway exit in such
miles of traffic jam such that we are stuck in such serious and frustrating traffic jam for hours.
Some newer versions of GPS navigator have wireless access to real time road traffic conditions over very
large areas. If a serious traffic jam develops on our route many miles ahead of us, the GPS navigator knows
about it, will inform the driver and will take early actions before it is too late. The GPS navigator will re-
calculate to produce a new routing to guide us to get off a suitable highway exit way before the traffic jam and
into a different route to bypass the serious traffic jam entirely. I appreciate very much such benefit from such
capability of newer versions of GPS navigators.
4. Benefits of Supplemental Information on the Screen of GPS Navigator
4.1. Estimated Arrival Time: In September of 2008, a friend-couple and I drove separately to meet at the
Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania in the morning to watch Fall Migration of large number of hawks. The friend
couple arrived at the Hawk Mountain much earlier than I did. They called me on mobile phone while I was still
driving on the highway and they asked me where I was and how long it would take me to arrive. My partner on
the passenger seat answered the mobile phone call. We looked at the screen of our GPS navigator and it
indicated that 20 more minutes for us to arrive at our destination of Hawk Mountain. So, we told that friend
couple 20 more minutes before we arrive. With that key information, the friend couple went up to the first
observation location on the Hawk Mountain and enjoyed watching a large group of many hawks riding a rising
thermal in the air to go up high, then glide out of the thermal to fly south. Then they came back to meet us at
the entrance gate of the Hawk Mountain. It turned out that event of the large kettle of rising hawks was the
best show in that whole day. If we did not have that information of 20 minutes from the GPS navigator, our
friend-couple might have stayed at the entrance gate to wait for us and missed the best show of the day
entirely.
4.2. Estimated Arrival Time Again: I usually go to beautiful national parks to see beautiful sceneries or to
national wildlife refuges for bird watching or wildlife watching and photography. These national parks and
national wildlife refuges are usually in remote rural areas where there is no traffic jam. The estimated arrival
time to destination on the screen of GPS navigator is usually very accurate. Such accurate arrival time has
been very useful and helpful in my sightseeing trip. For example, when we finish touring a remote national park
and want to go to our next motel for the night, if the GPS navigator tells me that our arrival time is before 8
PM, then we will stay hungry and drive to the area of our next motel to enjoy a better dinner because there
are usually better restaurants in the small town near the motel. On the other hand, if the GPS navigator
indicates that our arrival time to next motel is 10 PM or even later in the evening when most restaurants will be
closed, then we will eat first at a small and simple food outfit near the remote national park before taking the
long drive to the next motel. While eating dinner near the remote national park, I will also call the next motel to
tell them that I am coming and my arrival time and make sure that they keep my reserved hotel room for me
even though I usually have a guaranteed reservation for late arrival using my credit card.
We usually have never been to those motels previously and (without the help of the GPS navigator) we usually
do not know how long it will take to drive from a given remote national park to the next motel because we
usually are in a new and unfamiliar territory in the sightseeing trip.
4.3. 6-Million Points of Interest: There are other benefits of several other helpful supplemental information
on the GPS navigator. The benefits of 6-million Points of Interest in the small GPS navigator have been
described Sections 1 and 2.2.
4.4 Via Points: One more example: we can look at the route planned by the GPS navigator for us. If we do
not like that route, we can enter one or two Via-Points which will force the GPS navigator to plan to new route
going through those Via-Points to reach our destination. Then the new route planned by the GPS navigator Via
those Points may be much closer to our preferred route.
For example, if we are going from Queens-Flushing in New York metropolitan area back to mid New Jersey,
the route planned by GPS navigator may take us through Midtown Tunnel, Manhattan and Lincoln Tunnel as
the shorter route. But such shorter route can be horrible because we will run into terrible traffic jams at
Midtown Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln Tunnel. On the other hand, if we specify Verrazano Bridge as a
Via Point, then the new route planned by the GPS navigator will go through Verrazano Bridge to come back to
mid New Jersey, thereby avoiding all those terrible traffic jams at Midtown Tunnel, in Manhattan and at Lincoln
Tunnel. Such new route is certainly much better as my preferred route to avoid all those heavy traffic jams
even though the new route may not be the shorter route.
4.4.1. Elimination of Driving Stress: You may wonder if I know the preferred route, why do I still need the
GPS navigator to drive from Quuens/Flushing back to New Jersey? The reason is that this long driving route
has multiple lanes with heavy traffic and several tricky Y-Splits along the way. Sometimes the correct lane is
on right side whereas other times the correct lane is on left side. If I do not shift to the correct lane at the right
section of the road, it is very easy to be forced by the heavy traffic flow onto the wrong side of the Y-Split to
go over a bridge into Manhattan against my will to run into all the terrible traffic jams. Sometimes a big truck in
front of me blocks my view of the overhead road signs such that I end up in the wrong side of the Y-Split into
Manhattan or a street in downtown Brooklyn. I do not drive this route frequently such that I do not remember
the correct lanes for all these tricky Y-Splits. Such driving to try to avoid all these potential troubles and traps
is quite stressful.
On the other hand, the GPS navigator knows about all these tricky Y-Splits and will tell me ahead of time to
shift to the correct lane to get ready for each on-coming Y-Split no matter whether I can see the overhead
road sign or not. Therefore, GPS navigator can eliminate a lot of stress of driving on such tricky route with
heavy traffic and guide me back to New Jersey smoothly. It is a much more comfortable, relaxed and smooth
driving with the help of the GPS navigator.
4.4.2. How to Add a Via Point
In Garmin Nuvi GPS navigator, after we finished entering the destination and the navigator has finished
calculation for the route and is ready to guide us to our destination, if we enter one more new destination, the
GPS navigator will ask us if this new destination is a Via Point on the original route to go to the first destination
or is this a totally new destination for a new route unrelated to the first destination and the associated first
route. If you press the Yes (It is a Via Point) option at this point, then GPS navigator will keep the first
destination, add this new, second destination as a Via Point and will recalculate a new route that will go
through this Via Point to reach the first destination.
5. Smartphones with GPS Navigation Function
The free Google Maps in smartphones comes with a free, smart and user friendly GPS navigator. Unlike
traditional GPS navigators where the maps need to be updated periodically, there is no need to update the
map in the free Google Maps GPS navigator because the free Google Maps are always up-to-date.
The GPS Navigator on Google Maps in smartphone is communicating with the mainframe computer in the
network server through 3G/4G high speed wireless network such that the GPS Navigator in smartphone is
supported by the huge data base and the massive computing power of mainframe computer. With such
support, the GPS navigator in smartphone is smarter and much more user friendly as compared to the
traditional GPS navigators which usually have very limited data base and very limited computing power.
The details are described on my web page at:
http://www.shltrip.com/GPS_Navigator_On_Google_Maps.html
6. Avoid Buying New Car with Built-In GPS Navigator
It is not wise to buy a new car that comes with a built-in GPS navigator because of the following
disadvantages:
6.1. The initial cost of built-in GPS navigator in a car is usually much more expensive than those of portable
GPS navigators by many hundreds percent. Furthermore, some GPS navigators on smartphone, such as
Google Maps GPS navigator, are free.
6.2. You cannot take the built-in GPS navigator in a car and use it on a rental car when you are traveling out
of town.
6.3. The cost of annual update of the map in the built-in GPS navigator is very expensive in the order of
US$200 or more for each map update whereas many portable GPS navigators have FREE life-time updates
of the map. Furthermore, the free map on the free Google Maps GPS navigator on smartphones is always up-
to-date such there is no need to update.
Some people may think that some rental cars are equipped with GPS navigator. But the disadvantages for
such option are (A) You have to pay for the use of such GPS navigator in a rental car whereas there is no
additional cost if you bring your own compact and portable GPS navigator or your smartphone and (B) you are
confronted with combined severe challenges of dealing with the operations of an unfamiliar GPS navigator in
an unfamiliar rental car and driving in an unfamiliar territories. The effects of such combined unfamiliarities can
be a horrible experience to struggle with. It is much more comfortable to use your own familiar portable GPS
navigator or your own familiar smartphone GPS navigator in a rental car.
7. Important Safety Considerations - Caution on Unpaved Roads or Roads with Deep Snow
7.1. Potential Risks for Driving on Unfamiliar and Unpaved Roads
In GPS navigator, there is an option for user to check or un-check so that the user can allow or disallow the
GPS navigator to use low quality, unpaved roads as part of the calculated and recommended route to reach
user's destination. For traveling in unfamiliar territory, it is safer for the user to disallow the GPS navigator to
use the unpaved roads, and to force the GPS navigator to use only the well travelled, higher quality, paved
highway for the calculated and recommended route to reach the destination.
One may consider using an unpaved road only in the familiar territory that one already knows that it is safe.
Otherwise, one should not drive onto an unpaved road in an unfamiliar territory even if the GPS navigator tells
you to go into an unpaved road because (1) it is a big unknown, (2) it may be dangerous: the car may get
stuck in mud, or loose sand, or deep rut, or water crossing where the water level may swell in a raining day,
or deep snow on unpaved and unplowed road (getting stuck in deep snow in the winter in a remote area for
several days can be life threatening), etc., (3) very few other travelers on those low quality, unpaved roads
such that one may get stuck in there for many days, and (4) the commercial towing trucks usually will help you
only on paved highways and will refuge to come to unpaved road to help you because the regular towing truck
may also get stuck on such unpaved road. Please read the real life news stories of such danger at the
following website:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_re_us/us_stranded_motorists
One must not follow the GPS navigator blindly and must exercise common sense for safety. For example, the
GPS navigator does not know the weather condition and does not know if the heavy snow on a road is plowed
or not.
After the GPS navigator finished calculating a recommended route for you, you can check it to see if you like
the route or not. One method to check is to zoom out the map on the GPS screen so that you can see the
entire recommended route (with special color). The second method is to use the menu to see the route in text
form and scroll through several pages to see all sections of the route. Most of the time, the recommended
route is good and you can follow it. But occasionally, you do not like the recommended route, then there are
several methods that you can use to force the GPS navigator to recalculate to produce a new and different
recommended route. These methods (A), (B) and (C) are described in the following two paragraphs.
If you forget to check the safe option and the GPS navigator tells you to go into an unpaved road in an
unfamiliar territory or into a remote forest logging road with unplowed deep snow, you (A) should have a big
warning red alert in your mind to reject such potentially dangerous navigation, should stay on the high quality
paved highway and should keep driving on the paved highway with frequent travellers and with snow plow
clearing away the heavy snow from the highway. Such rejection will force the GPS navigator to detect your
deviation from its recommended "dangerous" route and to re-calculate to produce a new and better route from
your current position to reach your destination.
In case if the navigator is still stubbornly guiding you back to that unpaved road or that road with unplowed
deep snow, you may (B) choose one or more Via Points on higher quality, paved highway to force the GPS
navigator to recalculate a new route that goes through your specified Via Points to reach your destination.
(The method to set Via Points is described in Section 4.4.2 above,) or (C) change the route selection criterion
from Shorter-Distance Route to Shorter-Time Route or vice versa such that the new route selection criterion
may force the GPS navigator to select a new route without using the unpaved road or the road with unplowed
deep snow.
7.2. Need for Safety Design Against Risk of Unpaved Roads
GPS navigator has become very popular and many users are relying heavily on GPS navigators for their
driving guidance. They assume that the GPS navigator will always guide them safely. To meet such users'
expectation for safe navigation, the GPS navigator should be designed with the following safeguards:
7.2.1. When the GPS navigator is about to guide the user to go into a low quality, unpaved road, the GPS
navigator has a responsibility and obligation to give user a strong warning by both voice and screen display
about the potential danger and risk of driving on an unpaved road.
7.2.2. Many users do not know the option buried in the complex menu structure to allow or to disallow the
GPS navigator to include the unpaved roads in its calculated and recommended route. For safety
consideration, the default setting in the GPS navigator should be to disallow the GPS navigator to use the
unpaved roads.
If a more knowledgeable user digs through the complex menu structure to find this option and to change the
default setting to allow the GPS navigator to use the unpaved road, then such more knowledgeable user bears
more responsibility for the potential danger and risk of entering the lower quality, unpaved roads because of
his/her deliberate action to change the default setting in the GPS navigator. However, some curious users may
change this safe default setting accidentally. Therefore, the warning in 7.2.1 is still necessary even if the safe
default setting is changed by the user.
When a user checked a box to change this safe default setting, the GPS navigator should respond with a
warning of the potential risk of driving on unpaved roads and should ask the user for a confirmation that the
user understands the risk and really wants to change the safe default setting. It should be only after such
confirmation before the change is accepted and implemented by the GPS navigator.
8. Problems Caused by Map Update and Their Solutions
In December 2014, I connected my Garmin Nuvi 1300 LMT through my computer to Garmin website to try to
update the map. The Garmin website indicated that my Nuvi 1300 LMT did not have enough memory space
for the map update and told me to buy and install a micro SD memory card to increase the memory. So, I
went to BestBuy and bought a new 8-GB micro SD memory card and inserted it into the Nuvi 1300 LMT. But I
ran into two problems as described in the following:
8.1. Garmin Express Cannot See the Micro-SD Card in my PC Running Windows Vista
After I inserted the 8-GB micro-SD memory card into my Nvui 1300 LMT and plugged the Nuvi 1300 LMT into
my PC running Windows Vista, my PC could see both the Nuvi 1300 LMT and the additional 8-GB micro-SD
card, but Garmin Express could not see the additional 8-GB micro-SD card and kept on telling me to insert a
micro-SD card. I called Garmin for help and the solution is to use my other PCs running Windows 7 or
Windows 8.1. Garmin Express on these PCs running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can see the additional micro-
SD card and can download the updated map into the micro-SD card properly.
8.2. Frozen Screen on GPS Navigator
Then I was able to update the map plus the update of other information in my GPS navigator, Nvui 1300 LMT.
However, when I used the Nuvi 1300 LMT with the new micro SD card and after such map update for a few
minutes, the screen of the navigator became frozen and could not provide navigation properly. Then I looked
into Garmin website for solution.
This Garmin solution web page provides the following instructions to solve this problem by performing a simple
master reset.
Warning: A master reset will erase all favorites and will restore your device to the default factory settings. If
you would like to back up your favorites to your computer, you can find instructions to do so here.
1. Start with the unit OFF and unplugged from power
2. Touch and hold the lower right corner of the screen (not the frame) with an index finger or the eraser
end of a pencil
3. Continue touching and holding the lower right hand corner of the screen then power the unit ON
4. Release the power button when the device powers ON
5. Remove your finger from the touchscreen when the message 'Do you really want to erase all user
data?' appears
6. Touch Yes
The device will now be reset and you should no longer experience the freezing issue.
However, after the master reset, my Nuvi 1300 LMT still froze up. So, I did the master reset one more time.
Then the problem is gone and my Nuvi 1300 LMT works well again with the new micro SD card and the new
updated map.
8.3. Strange Problems with Micro-SD memory Card
My son and I are using the same kind of smartphone: Samsung Galaxy S5. He inserted a 64-GB micro-SD
card into his Samsung Galaxy S5 but it worked only for couple weeks, then it would crash the smartphone.
We tried that 64-GB micro-SD card on my Samsung Galaxy S5 and ran into similar problem. So, my son is
using another brand of 64-GB micro-SD card and it works well in his smartphone. So, there are some strange
problems in using micro-SD card in smartphones and in GPS navigators.
9. More Associated Information Age Technologies to make Driving Tour easier, less stressful and
safer.
GPS navigator is part of a package of information age technologies, including smartphone, tablet, smarter car,
DropBox, etc., that I am using to enhance greatly my enjoyment of sightseeing driving tour of many interesting
and beautiful places. Detailed descriptions are in my web page at:
Sightseeing Driving Tour in Information Age
Original appeared in 2006, Most recent update on November 25, 2015
| Saving and Enrichment of Life by using GPS Navigator |
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obstructed text lines.
Please press the F11 key (Fn key and F11 key on laptop PC) on your keyboard to get full-screen view of
photos and web page. Pressing F11 key again will return to your normal screen with various tool bars.
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In case if you see overlapped lines of text or some lines of text become obscured behind a picture on this web
page, please change the page magnification (zoom) factor to eliminate such problems by pressing these two
keys "Ctrl +" simultaneously or these two keys "Ctrl -" simultaneously. Depending on your PC setting, it may be
necessary to reduce the magnification factor several steps down in order to eliminate the overlap and
obstructed text lines.
Please press the F11 key (Fn key and F11 key on laptop PC) on your keyboard to get full-screen view of
photos and web page. Pressing F11 key again will return to your normal screen with various tool bars.
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