Maps More Real Than Virtual

location based services

The bird's eye view offered by a flat paper road map works well enough when spread out on the kitchen table, but Volkswagen thinks it can do better for drivers trying to find their way in unfamiliar settings.
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The company is working with Nvidia, a maker of computer video cards, to bring the satellite images of Google Earth — complete with buildings, terrain and other recognizable landmarks — to the G.P.S. navigation screens of its cars.
"What we're doing here is to prototype an application where we show photorealistic 3D graphics in the vehicle with an online connection," said Daniel Rosario, a senior project engineer at VW's Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, Calif.
While a few automakers have tried to present road maps on their G.P.S. displays from a different perspective, most are little more than colorful electronic versions of two-dimensional maps. Even the addition of turn-by-turn voice instructions is not a complete remedy for a bewildered driver, as messages like "turn right in one-half mile" may be lost among the distractions of heavy city traffic, where drivers must make decisions quickly.
"If you're stuck amongst the massive buildings, how do you orient yourself?" Mr. Rosario said. "Another way you may want to orient yourself is by the tallest or most unique building."
VW is working on ways to display the facade of the destination building on the dashboard navigation screen, and to filter out all other irrelevant information. The company also expects to incorporate into its car systems a Google Earth feature that lets users trace a path on the digital map. A high-speed connection to the Internet would be required in the car to make the Google maps available.
Mr. Rosario said he expected the fruits of his labor to roll out to consumer models within the next five years.
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