Where Ya Goin’? Let the Nav Shout the Way…

By Jeff Zbar 
www.homeofficehighway.com

Which road tracking and map tech to use was always a toss up in our car.

We’d traveled for years with traditional GPS devices, that British lass barking out orders and seemingly venting frustration whenever we’d ignore her suggested turns. She was good and reliable. As the kids always warned, “Trust the technology.”

Then along came the Verizon Wireless and its VZ Navigator Version 4 application. Our “traditional” retail GPS would just tell us, “Make left in 2 miles.” No street name audibly announced (though it’s there in print on the screen). I have to admit, though, the British voice was something last summer when we took an impromptu detour onto the Blue Ridge Parkway — and she couldn’t convince us to “Make the next available turn…” Frustrated, she was.

Nav 4 spoke turn-by-turn directions with actual street names. In Jacksonville, we were to turn left in 2 miles on Lem Turner Road. It gave maps in a 3-D perspective view of maps.

We also found news of traffic incidents, updates for detours, and the Gas Finder was a real find as we hunted for cheap fuel along the way (invariably, gas at the exit you just passed is cheaper than that at the next). Low pricing in real time is a real plus. Weather News is helpful as we plan our days (especially as it’s been soaked in rain from the start). That’s where the Movie & Events Finder steps up and fills the void.

We still have our TripTik, Mapquest and a library full of guide books. Now, if we could get one of these voices to read them aloud, that would be clutch. I can hear it now. “Turn page in 2 paragraphs…”

Since the '80s, Jeff Zbar has been a writer, speaker and spokesman on all facets of working from home and entrepreneurship. His columns and blogs have appeared via Entrepreneur, Success Magazine, Home Office Computing and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and he has been a small business expert on national television and radio.

Jeff Zbar recently went on a three-week voyage with three kids, two adults, one teched-out, Internet-connected RV-turned-home-office – with almost 3,000 miles of America to be explored and a new way to work to be chronicled. Driven by Jeff Zbar, the Chief Home Officer, Home Office Highway shines headlights on a whole new "remote" office. Learn more at www.homeofficehighway.com.