With a candidates ability to follow directions from a Sat Nav being considered for the revised driving test in 2017, I wondered which system would work best for me and my pupils during training. For the 'new' test the examiner will provide a stand alone unit like a Tom Tom or Garmin with a pre programmed route for the candidate to follow during the now extended 20 minute independent driving part of the test. But in the real world I believe most people would use their beloved smart phone's built-in map facility, ie Google maps on Android or Apple maps on the iPhone. With this in mind I have recently been testing all the main contenders to find the best way of teaching this valuable life skill to my pupils.
I borrowed a Tom Tom and a Garmin Sat Nav unit and tried driving some routes around Scarborough with mostly pretty good results, apart from some very strange street name pronunciations. I found these units easy enough to use but some of my pupils struggled a bit at first but then soon had their routes programmed in. Then I moved to the smart phones and their Apple and Google maps, which for some reason I assumed would be inferior to the dedicated units, but I was in for a surprise. Apple maps was clean and precise with a nice screen presentation but even at full volume was difficult to hear directions clearly in the car. Google maps also had a clean and easy to read screen but more importantly the audio was much clearer and gave a lot more driver information including properly pronounced street names. After all the testing I think it's right to assume that the majority of my pupils will take the easy route (excuse the pun) and turn to their smart phone to get directions after passing their test, so am planning on using Google maps on an iPhone as my in-car training tool and offering Apple maps to those that would prefer it. The Tom Tom and Garmin have gone back and I have a sneaking suspicion that like a lot of 'old tech' their day's maybe numbered as smart phones take over as source of all knowledge!
Anybody remember map books?
I borrowed a Tom Tom and a Garmin Sat Nav unit and tried driving some routes around Scarborough with mostly pretty good results, apart from some very strange street name pronunciations. I found these units easy enough to use but some of my pupils struggled a bit at first but then soon had their routes programmed in. Then I moved to the smart phones and their Apple and Google maps, which for some reason I assumed would be inferior to the dedicated units, but I was in for a surprise. Apple maps was clean and precise with a nice screen presentation but even at full volume was difficult to hear directions clearly in the car. Google maps also had a clean and easy to read screen but more importantly the audio was much clearer and gave a lot more driver information including properly pronounced street names. After all the testing I think it's right to assume that the majority of my pupils will take the easy route (excuse the pun) and turn to their smart phone to get directions after passing their test, so am planning on using Google maps on an iPhone as my in-car training tool and offering Apple maps to those that would prefer it. The Tom Tom and Garmin have gone back and I have a sneaking suspicion that like a lot of 'old tech' their day's maybe numbered as smart phones take over as source of all knowledge!
Anybody remember map books?
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