Maps More Real Than Virtual
July 9, 2006
The New York Times
By CYRUS FARIVARThe bird’s eye view offered by a flat paper road map works well enough when spread out on the kitchen table, but Volkswagen thinks it can do better for drivers trying to find their way in unfamiliar settings.
The company is working with Nvidia, a maker of computer video cards, to bring the satellite images of Google Earth — complete with buildings, terrain and other recognizable landmarks — to the G.P.S. navigation screens of its cars.
“What we’re doing here is to prototype an application where we show photorealistic 3D graphics in the vehicle with an online connection,” said Daniel Rosario, a senior project engineer at VW’s Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, Calif.
While a few automakers have tried to present road maps on their G.P.S. displays from a different perspective, most are little more than colorful electronic versions of two-dimensional maps. Even the addition of turn-by-turn voice instructions is not a complete remedy for a bewildered driver, as messages like “turn right in one-half mile” may be lost among the distractions of heavy city traffic, where drivers must make decisions quickly.
