Five years ago, in January of 2004, I wrote a review of Pocket Map Navigator, R3, for Aximsite.com. That review can still be found at MobilitySite.com, if you are interested. I liked the software and loved the interface it presented, but had the one criticism that it used TeleAtlas Maps, which were, in my area, less accurate than other databases. Right after that review, Space Machine disappeared from the PDA arena entirely and PMN users were left with no upgrade path. I suspect by now most of them have migrated to other software, other platforms.

Imagine, then, my surprise at getting an email from Space Machine saying they were coming back to the PDA market with the next release, PMN R4, after all this time! They had worked on the interfaces to completely change them, and had moved to NAVTEQ databases. In addition, the system now no longer requires a PC to host the maps, as the software is installed on a microSD card along with the maps.

The packaging is simple, with just the microSD card and an SD adapter inside. When you open the package, don’t throw away the paper labels, for on that label is printed your registration code. The security system used by Space Machine requires that you register your software with them. To do so, you have to use Activesync from your PDA/Smartphone to access the internet, then insert the card and follow the on-screen directions, entering the registration code when told to do so. Space Machine then unlocks the card for use on THAT device. The software is now tied to that one device. I didn’t explore what it might take to move to another device, but if you just pull the card and put it into another machine, it won’t work.

Figure 1. Startup Screen for PocketMap Navigator R4

Once registered, the software is easy to start. You tap on the icon in Programs and after a short time of booting the application it seeks out your GPS. It is looking for a GPS either embedded in the device or on a Serial port. This set of options led to a challenge for me. One of my GPS receivers would tie to my device not as a Serial port, but as a Slave device. I spent some time trying to get it to connect to PMN without success. Eventually I got a different receiver and connected it as a serial device and got PMN working. Before you buy PMN, you might want to make sure your BT receiver can connect as a serial device. I didn’t test with a hard wired GPS as I don’t have one which will work with the HP 211 test machine or the Axim X51v test machine, but I suspect if a wired receiver uses serial ports it will do just fine. I also did not test with software like GPSGate, which may be able to bridge from one type connection to serial connnections.

Once I got the software started I realized right away that PMN is very, very different now than what it was with R3. The interfaces are significantly simplified, probably stemming from the in-dash experience that Space Machine has had over the past 5 years. Menu items are large, finger-friendly, the displays are very simple with large fonts and symbols, and the overall affect is that the system seems very clean. The downside is that the system, having given up complexity, also gives up some functionality. But for in-car use, the system is brilliantly devised and engineered.

 
Figure 2 Main Menu

There are only a few menu screens. That simplicity makes it easy to use. On the first menu you have three buttons, Info, Settings and Go To. Info leads to the next screen where you can get information about the route, GPS status, the Trip Computer and System Info. Settings leads to Map, Guidance, System and User Data setting screens. For the Maps you can select the orientation, colors, style and POI icon options and then on a second settings screen you can set the breadcrumb trail function on or off. It was here that I first noticed a really slow screen transition. At the bottom of the settings screen is a set of left and right pointing arrows, and a “1/2” to show that you are on page 1 of 2 pages of settings. Tapping the arrow has the effect of moving from one menu to another. The new menu appears in a sliding motion from side to side. On both my test machines the transition was very, very slow. I later mentioned it to my contact at Space Machine, who acknowledged the slowness of transition and that they were working on speeding it up. This slowness shows up in all such transitions, an artifact that I was going to see in greater impact later on in the testing.

The following pictures (Figure 3 through Figure 7) show menus, options and some system management screens. There are more examples available at the Space Machine website.

From left to right – Figure 3 Information Menu, Figure 4 GoTo Menu Destination setting screen 1, and igure 5 GoTo Menu Destination Setting 2.

 
From left to right – Figure 6 GoTo Menu Destination Setting 3, Figure 7 GPS Status screen (no GPS connected), and Figure 8 Trip Computer.

Selecting a destination is simple, but requires a LOT of tapping. On the Main Menu you tap “Go To,” then tap “Address.” The next screen shows the current “State” region, and an opportunity to change Regions. If you want a different state/region, you tap that option and are presented with a screen of 5 locations at the top of the alphabetical list. For my maps of North America, that included Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona and Arkansas. There are arrows to tap to move up and down. To get to my home state of Virginia, I tapped down. To my surprise the list scrolled down only ONE region! It took over 50 taps to get to Virginia! And if you want to route from, say, Virginia to Wyoming, it’s going to be over 100 taps to set the two addresses. I live near the border of Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC and West Virginia, so PMN4 needs a LOT of taps to use. Fortunately, you can save addresses as Favorites, which can be accessed through the Go To menu, so if you have a trip to plan you can do all the tapping ahead of time.

Once you have the region set, the rest is pretty straightforward. You start to type in on a non-typewriter keyboard the name of the city and as soon as it has enough letters to eliminate down to a few choices, PMN will pop up a list of cities for you to select, then you repeat for street name and house number. I don’t know why they could not have used the same for region selection, but just be prepared to do a lot of tapping unless you live and travel in Alabama!

In operation PMN4 worked well with a good voice intonation and plenty of advance notice of turns. There is a demo mode that allows you to pre-run the planned route. Figure 9 shows the basic navigation screen. At the top is the next road on which you are to turn, and near the bottom is the current road. In Figure 9, the former is I-495/Capitol Beltway and the latter is Tysons Corner Center. The green arrow shows that in 325 feet I need to turn right and the bars below are filling in from top to bottom as I get closer to that turn. Below that, in the lower left corner is a compass showing my general direction. Across the bottom are the GPS status icons, the checkered flag showing that the distance is to my destination (It changes if the next place is an interim stop), the distance to that location and a button to return to the main menu. Above that, on the bottom right is a scale indicator and the Demo flag showing that I took the shot in demo mode. ON the screen itself the green route is the plan for me to folow, the red triangle is where I am. The triangle turns blue when I actually have a GPS lock. The small blue symbols are locations of POI. Pretty straightforward screen display and it kept up with my location pretty well. There is currently no landscape capability, but the folks at Space Machine say that they are working on landscape for WM devices.

Figure 10 shows another display as you get close to a maneuver. In this display the top shows what the maneuver really is, in this case a turn from I-495 south to I-66 West and that it is really an exit departure not a stop/turn maneuver. As you get closer to the maneuver, the scale automatically changes and the countdown bars appear (see figure 11).

Conclusion.
PMN4 is a totally revised solution with obvious roots in automotive GPS systems where fewer features might do well and where clear, simple screens are preferred over complexity. As such, the system is very successful, with clear directions, pretty good maps, adequate POI coverage and a pretty clean visual display. What I did not like was the slow screen transitions, the inability to use some Bluetooth interfaces and the many, many taps it takes to change regions. But overall, it’s a good solution for someone looking for a simple and easy to use navigation system.

• Pocket Map Navigator, R4
• Vendor: Space Machine
• List Price $89.95
• October 3, 2009

JakeRich (8 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Program Executive for a large international IT company. I've been using PDAs since the Casio Cassiopeia! Currently have an iPhone, HP211, Axim X51v, Axim X50v and an Axim X50. I was a navigator in A-6 Intruders in the Navy, became interested in GPS navigation a few years ago and now do reviews of GPS related products for Chris.