Nuvi 1690 is coming

Multiple reports on the Internet have leaked the FCC documentation for an upcoming Garmin Nuvi 1690. Are we excited? Yes - I hope for good reason.

I believe in connected navigation. But no one has nailed it yet. Dash had the best concept, but their execution was horrible. They forgot to build a good GPS before they added all their fancy stuff. However, I still use the Dash today. Why? One word: GeoRSS.

No other manufacturer has gone down the GeoRSS feed road. Why, I am not sure. A PND or navigation software with the ability to subscribe to GeoRSS feeds is a home run in my mind. With GeoRSS feeds, I can maintain an unlimited amount of waypoints online using Google Maps or Bing. In Google Maps, this is known as the MyMaps feature. Each Google MyMap has a GeoRSS feed URL associated with it. I simply subscribe to this GeoRSS feed on the Dash and my entire Google MyMap collection is available to me in (near) real-time, right on my GPS, with full routing ability to each of them. Now I can find my location on Google Maps, get it really accurate using satellite view, save it to MyMaps and it automatically shows up on my GPS a few minutes later, without me doing a thing.

Yes, Garmin or others have the ability to "send" a location to the GPS using Google Maps, Mapquest and others. However, the key difference is that the location is SENT to the GPS and it is STORED on the GPS. GeoRSS feeds allow one central location (Google Maps, Bing, Platial) for storing all waypoints and any connected GPS should support it in my opinion.

TomTom has the Go 740 Live. I don't own it yet and the single and only reason is the lack of support for GeoRSS feeds. With GeoRSS support, it would replace my Dash.

Will I buy the Garmin Nuvi 1690? Sure. But, will I use it? Not sure. It depends on the feature set. Without GeoRSS feed support, it will not replace my Dash. Now that Google Maps Mobile supports MyMaps overlays, I can continue to use Google Maps Mobile to see my waypoint collection anywhere on my mobile phone, then speak those addresses into my 885T using voice command. What is the point? The point is to store your waypoints in ONE PLACE and have access to them anywhere on any device. I refuse to re-enter an entire collection of waypoints into a GPS anymore after experiencing GeoRSS feeds on the Dash.

One thing that I notice with my Nuvi 885T is that it is more aggressive on ETA's than past Garmin units. I attribute this not to the Nuvi itself, but to the newest Navteq maps. It seems as though the latest Navteq maps are really good at getting the speed limits right. However, the problem, I think, is that the Garmin routing uses the speed limits, which doesn't necessarily reflect the actual speed of the road segment either because of general city street traffic flow, stoplights, etc. Early Garmin units, I believe, used road classification speed limits - so all city streets of the same classification used the same speed class for routing. Now, with speed limits known on individual roads, the ETA have gotten more aggressive as Garmin uses the 40 mph speed limit rather than the older 35 mpg road class speed. My point? TomTom is onto something with IQ Routes. I'd like to see something from Garmin that matches the IQ Route functionality to improve the ETA's.

I want to see two-way traffic on the Nuvi 1690, meaning, I want my travel to update speeds and traffic conditions for future use (i.e., like with IQ Routes, or like the Dash traffic). If Garmin simply uses the GSM service to push one-way traffic conditions to the unit, that isn't enough. The 740 Live will be a better solution if Garmin does this because of IQ Routes and two-way traffic feedback. I could just stay with my TeleNav or Networks In Motion GPS application if the Garmin GSM implementation is used for just one-way traffic condition delivery.

Why the likes of TeleNav and NIM don't support GeoRSS, I will never know. That seems like a weekend coding exercise that would significantly increase the functionality of the software over a PND.

That is our opinion for today. The first connected device that does GeoRSS feeds, IQ Route-type functionality, and two way traffic content has a homerun!