SatNav for Windows Mobile

Its been a long time since my last update and this one is going to be a little bit of a review post for a new SatNav I am now using on my HTC Touch HD – a Windows Mobile phone that is not easy to get a working SatNav solution as it uses an unusual WVGA (480X800) resolution. The program in question is called McGuider 2009 from TeleAtlas which uses Sygic Drive as its core application and comes with maps from Summer 2008. Unusually it not only runs on Windows Mobile devices but also has programs to run on Symbian devices. Costs for McGuider start from £39 for a DVD and £59.99 for a 4GB micro SDHC card with full European maps. I have also created a user support site for the product here since I experienced virtually none existent support from TeleAtlas and sporadic support from Sygic themselves.

The first thing most people will notice about the application is how similar some of the functions are to TomTom Navigator, which has been largely abandoned for the aftermarket. This helps people migrate from the aging TTN6 with its very out of date maps without a steep learning curve. Since TomTom also own TeleAtlas it can also be assumed that TomTom are probably going to be using McGuider as the replacement. Navigating using McGuider is simple and routes can be chosen from postal addresses, post codes (in supported countries) , points of interest (custom ones are supported as well as the built in ones), points on a map and full co-ordinates. Route calculation speed is not the fastest and long distances can take 2-4 minutes to calculate, but once calculated there is no noticeable lag between current position and listed map position. McGuider gives a highest priority to major roads meaning many minor road shortcuts are missed.  This is good for local residents but does mean you sometimes drive further following McGuider routes than you would with other satnavs. The eta timings are also very ambitious as they appear to use the speed limit of the road instead of more realistic speeds. From experience I now add about 15% to the listed times to get a more accurate eta.

McGuider fully supports custom Point of Interest files using its own proprietary UPI format and a converter is available from Sygic to convert tab delimited text files into this format. There are also a number of third party converters available to convert from other formats like TomTom’s OV2 files. Care needs to be taken with these though as Sygic changed the UPI format slightly when they released McGuider 2009, and older files no longer work. The Sygic converter does have an option to change these older UPI files into the newer UPI format though. For users of PocketGPSWorld speed camera database it is now possible to download newer releases in correctly formatted txt files to be converted easily using Sygics converter. Care does need to be taken with the icons to display on the maps as the only supported formats are 8bit (256 colour) and 32bit bmp files – most graphics applications save as 24bit by default. It is also possible to add custom voice/sound alerts to points of interest, using files in ogg format. PocketGPSWorld have a number available for their speed camera database.

To keep the application up to date there is a McGuider Assistant application provided on the SD card. This requires the card to be inserted into a card reader or the phone to be set to use a mass storage driver. Simply using ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center will not work as the device does not show in MGA. TeleAtlas have recently released both a free map update and application update which should be run as they improve both post code lookups and application usability. For Symbian devices the application update is actually a necessity as it fixes a program crash when using custom POIs.

To conclude McGuider 2009 should be high on the list of potential sat nav software for Windows Mobile and Symbian based devices. It is not only cheap but also well featured. My mgsupport.co.uk is also available for answering any support questions you may have.