Canceling the Current Route

Figure 38: Canceling the Current Route

The Route Menu, shown above, is home to the following options:

• Cancel Route Guidance - cancels the current route
• Address Entry - Enter a street address as a destination
• From Memory - Route to a saved destination in the address book
• From Last Destinations - Route to a previously found destination
• From POIs - Route to a business, such as a restaurant, hotel, or gas station
• Via Map - Pick a spot on the map to navigate to
• Stopover - Add a stop along a planned route
• Save Destination - Save the current destination to the address book (memory)

Setting Route Preferences

Figure 39: Accessing the Route Preferences

Mercedes' navigation system provides four different routing preferences to choose from. Depending on your particular trip and preferences, you may want to adjust the default routing and set additional avoidances (such as avoid highways). To view or change the current settings, activate the on-screen menu and click on "Navi", as shown above.

Figure 40: Mode Menu

The routing preferences are hidden within the cryptically named "Mode" option.

Figure 41: Setting Route Preferences

There are four routing preferences to choose from:

• Minimize Highways - Checking this box will avoid highways whenever possible
• Minimize Toll Roads - Avoid Toll Roads avoids tolls
• Minimize Tunnels
• Minimize Ferries/Motorail

Note that settings any of these avoidance preferences is a persistent setting that will remain in place until it is removed.

Navigating To A Point of Interest (POI)

Figure 42: Choosing "From POIs" from the Map Menu

Like most other GPS units, Mercedes' integrated NAVI system comes pre-loaded with millions of POIs, or Points of Interest. In GPS speak, a "Point of Interest", is a business address saved on the GPS.

Think of the POI database as a pre-loaded yellow pages. Most modern GPS devices come pre-loaded with a Points of Interest database, allowing you to find nearby businesses, such as restaurants, gas stations, hotels, parking garages, and more.

Figure 43: Setting the POI Search Scope

After choosing "From POIs" in the previous menu, the GPS needs to know where we want to search. Three options are available:

• Current Position - Search for POIs near your current location
• Other Town - Enter an address to search near
• Global POI - Search for a worldwide POI

In this example I'll be searching for a restaurant near my current location, so I'll choose "Current Position" and continue.

Figure 44: Choosing a POI Category

The Mercedes system ships with 40 POI categories to choose from, ranging from monuments to gas stations to pharmacies. I'm searching for a restaurant, so I'll scroll down and choose "Restaurant".

Figure 45: Choosing a POI Sub-Category

Some POI types have sub-categories available. For example, when searching for a restaurant, you have the additional option of specifying a cuisine type.

For this test, I want to see a list of all the restaurants near my current location, regardless of cuisine type, so I'll choose "ALL" from the restaurant type sub-category and continue.

Figure 46: Viewing the POI Search Results List

Unfortunately the Mercedes NAVI system displays the POI search results listed alphabetically rather than sorted by distance. So there's virtually no way to see which restaurants are closest to your current location.

Figure 47: Searching for a POI Within the Results List

If you know the name of the restaurant you're looking for, you can filter the results list by typing out the restaurant name. Once enough letters have been input that only a few possible matching restaurants are found, the GPS produces a list of names to choose from, as shown above in figure 47.

Figure 48: Start Navigating to the POI

After choosing the desired restaurant from the POI search results list, NAVI displays the restaurant name, city, and State. We can start navigating to the restaurant by clicking on "Start" in the above menu screen.

One obvious omission from Mercedes-Benz's POI database is the telephone numbers of POIs. For example, if we wanted to call the restaurant and make a reservation, or ask if they're open for business, seeing the restaurant's phone number and being able to dial it using the car's built-in cell phone (or Bluetooth connected phone) would have been a nice touch. This feature is available on most stand-alone GPS devices that support Bluetooth.