acura ITX

expeditions in mobile computing

24 November 2007

iGuidance v4 Embedded into RoadRunner

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on November 24th, 2007 @ 10:23:11 am, using 988 words, 15696 views

It was long past due getting rid of Microsoft Streets and Trips and replacing it with iGuidance on the car computer. Don’t get me wrong, S&T is a more-than-decent GPS mapping application, but it falls short in two very important areas when it comes to being used in a mobile computing environment. Specifically, it has very small navigational controls and poor rerouting functionality. Streets and Trips is a great application when running on a small 12- or 13- or 14-inch laptop screen, but when running on the small 7in or 8in touchscreen typical of most carPC installations, the navigational controls are very difficult to manage, especially considering the fact that you’re behind the wheel of a ton of moving steel while trying to navigate the GPS screen. It’s bad enough some of us engage in cellphone conversations or eat breakfast while driving. We don’t need the additional distraction of hunting down minutely-sized buttons on a dashboard mounted touchscreen…

…so I decided, at long last, to integrate iGuidance v4.0 into the Acura ITX mobile computer…

iGuidance embedded GPS mapping software

The iGuidance v4.0 application comes with three versions of the program on the installation DVD (PocketPC, Laptop, & UMPC/Car PC). For use in the carPC system I chose, obviously enough, the UMPC/CarPC version. Installation is fairly simple, finishing quickly and requiring a reboot of the computer prior to first-use.

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07 April 2005

Testing Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on April 7th, 2005 @ 07:35:06 pm, using 422 words, 1675 views

I had a chance to try out Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005, which my mom got for me off a deal I found. (Thanks mom!) I tested it this past weekend when I drove up to North Jersey. Since I'm still in the development stage on this thing, I hooked up the Rikaline GPS to my laptop, had S&T handle the mapping, and off I went...

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The GPS Side of Things

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on April 7th, 2005 @ 06:59:04 pm, using 274 words, 2766 views

I've already bought the Rikaline GPS unit (model 6010) and it seems to be functioning properly. The initial satellite lock took approx 20 minutes the first time I ran it out of the box, which was somewhat disconcerting, but in subsequent tests while driving, the unit gets a lock on multiple satellites within about 30 seconds. This is more than acceptable since the computer will take about that long to boot up anyway, and the GPS unit will be powered during the boot process.

Here's a list of featureset requirements and "would be nice" items for the GPS mapping side of the project.

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acura ITX

A journal outlining my project to hard-wire a mini-ITX car computer into the ignition of a 2001 Acura 3.2CL. The site covers such topics as wiring and power, touch screens, navigation and GPS, embedded applications, etc...




Mobile Computing Highlights

  • Removing the dashboard and stock stereo from a 2001 Acura CL
  • Initial stages of installation of the Acura-ITX mini-ITX carputer system
  • Custom touch screen front-end design for RoadRunner
  • Building on-the-fly music playlists in RoadRunner
  • Completed Acura CL custom dashboard installation
  • Acura mini-ITX touch screen interface design
  • Series of photos which show the Acura mini-ITX dashboard headunit chassis
  • Embedding iGuidance into the RoadRunner carPC front-end
  • Car computer system testing in open testbed

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  • 35 posts written between 15 February, 2005 and 12 December, 2007
  • 48,572 total words
  • 731,416 total views since 30 July, 2007
  • 191 comments left by readers

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