By David Braue
It’s a classic family moment. In the passenger’s seat, the navigator wrestles with a road map as wide as the car, while the driver complains that they cannot see past the map and are not being given adequate warning of the next turn.
Hours later, tense and tired, you arrive at your destination. Thankfully, paper maps are no longer the only way to find your way from point A to point B. Electronic mapping services can now make navigation easy and will even tell you where to go, to make sure you don’t get lost!
Maps in a phone
One way to use electronic maps is with a Next G phone and the Whereis service.
Access to this service is easy: select the BigPond menu on your Next G phone, scroll down to the Whereis maps and you will be offered the chance to enter your current location and the address you want to reach.
Within a few seconds, the phone will offer you written directions, complete with maps of the intersections you will pass through en route.
Whereis can also help you to locate other nearby services. Need an ATM, newsagent or convenience store? Whereis can tell you where the nearest facilities are located and bring the information about their location and how to find them into a Next G phone.
Looking for local inspiration? Click ‘What’s Nearby?’ and Whereis will return a list of nearby places for going out, restaurants, shops, services, accommodation. With ‘Get Directions’, you specify an address to go to, including a stop-off along the way, and the service gives you turn-by-turn directions showing how to get there.
Source: Australian Go magazine
