TomTom's map screen is cartoon-like and the 3D angle is too steep (notice how little detail can be seen as the map recedes into the background), and the text is too small to be easily read from the driver's seat. Magellan recently completely redesigned their map screen for the new Maestro series.

Although Magellan's map screen is better than TomTom's, I found the "3D" map more 2D than 3D. Also, the transparent icons are difficult to see overlayed on the map, the text is too small to be easily read from the driver's seat, and the pastel color scheme is hard to see in bright sunlight.

Next let's take a closer look at LG's map screen:

Figure 30: LG's Map Screen

The top half of LG's map screen (the actual map part) looks similar to Garmin's map screen, while the lower portion of the screen looks more like TomTom's screen. LG's map is clean and easy to view, the 3D angle of the map is excellent, and POI icons are nicely displayed on the map (notice how the parking garage POI has a unique icon, as do many other POI categories).

There's a lot to like about LG's map view, which gets a lot more right than it gets wrong. But I did find several issues that would benefit from some revision on LG's part.

I found the Menu icon on the map far too small, and I had a difficult time tapping on the icon while driving (if you tap outside the icon area, the option to save your current location appears instead of the Menu, so I found myself constantly ending up in the "Save location" screen rather than the Menu). I also found it annoying that the TMC traffic icon logo always appears in the lower-left portion of the screen, regardless of whether or not there are traffic alerts along the route. Almost all the text in the lower portion of the map screen is too small to easily be seen from the driver's seat.

I also couldn't help feeling that the color scheme was somewhat "foreign". The muted color palette almost felt like I was navigating with a device manufactured in the former Soviet Union. I also found the white text at the top of the screen more difficult to see compared to Garmin's large, bright green background that closely resembles actual street signs.

Figure 31: Changing the Map's Viewing Angle

Those preferring a 2D map over a 3D map are in luck: tapping on the diamond icon (shown above in figure 31) cycles between the 3D map, and north-up or track-up 2D versions of the map.

Figure 32: Three Different Map Views of the Same Area

From left to right, figure 31 shows the 3D, 2D track-up, and 2D North-up views of the same road. Notice that the map icon (circled in figure 30) changes slightly to reflect the current view.

The ability to quickly cycles between the various map views can be a nice feature to have in complex interactions. For the most part I like using the 3D view, but on occasion the 3D view can make it difficult to see exactly where the next turn is. In those cases, briefly viewing the 2D version can be a great help.

Figure 33: Viewing the Estimated Arrival Time

When navigating to a destination, tapping on the trip information bar (shown above in figure 33) toggles between the displaying the estimated arrival time, and general trip information.

Figure 34: Viewing the Turn0by-Turn List

Tapping on the turn indicator on the map brings up the maneuvering, or "Turn-by-Turn" list, as shown above. From this screen, you can view each turn on the map, avoid a particular road or highway, or force the GPS to reroute.

Figure 35: Detailed Turn View

Tapping on "Turn" in the "Turn-by-Turn" screen brings up a detailed, 2-dimensional view of the turn, as shown here.

Figure 36: Viewing the Entire Route

It's also possible to view the entire route, along with basic statistics about the trip, including total distance and drive time.