NavList:

Peter Fogg wrote:

Lu wrote:

While a "traditional" GPS doesn't necessarily have or need a built-in
compass, if one thinks about it for a moment one realizes that
automotive navigational systems DO need a built-in compass.   Else if
you punch in an address while parked, how would they know whether or not
to make the first instruction "make a U-turn?"

Isn't it via reference to the location of the place you want to get to, and the track between them?

But think about it for a moment.   Supposed I simply specify an address a half mile down the street.   My auto navigation system certainly knows where I am (and therefore the track needed to get to my destination), but how does it know whether my car is pointed in the proper direction?   Is the command it will give "proceed 1/2 mile down the street to your destination" or "make a U-turn and then proceed 1/2 mile down the street to your destination?"

I don't have a nav system in my car (I think they're only for boats :-P ), but when I've traveled in friends' cars that have one, I'm pretty sure it tells you what to do before you've even pulled out from the curb (and certainly before it can infer which way one is pointing by a chain of positions)

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