8. Finding an Address

Figure 45: Main Menu

Tapping the Menu button on the top of Dash Express brings up the Main Menu, shown above. From here, you can perform the following tasks:

• Favorites - displays a list of your favorite destinations and searches
• Search (connected) - When the Dash Express is connected to the Internet, the connected search option uses Yahoo! Local search to find a destination.
• Choose a destination - use this option to type in a street address
• Settings - Lets you configure Dash Express' settings

In this example, I'll be entering a street address, so I'll tap "choose a destination" to continue.

Figure 46: Choose A Destination Menu

The "Choose A Destination", shown above, lets you choose from 5 different ways to enter an address:

• Type an address - probably the most common method, this option lets you type in a full street address, just as you would on any other GPS
• Recent destinations - lets you choose a destination from a list of recently found destinations
• Address book - choose a saved destination from the address book
• Browse places to go - Lets you search POIs (Points of Interest) by category. For example, gas stations, movie theaters, food, grocery stores, and more. When connected to the internet via Wi-Fi or GPRS, Dash Express displays gas price information next to each gas station, movie time listings, weather, and more.
• Sent to car - Displays a list of destinations that have been sent to the Dash device via the My Dash website

In this example I'll be entering a new street address as a destination, so I'll tap "type an address" to continue.

Figure 47: Telling Dash Where to Search

If the destination address is near your current location, tap "nearby". If your destination address is in another state or city, tap "in another state or city".

Figure 48: Entering the State Name

Use the on-screen keyboard to input the name of the State.

Figure 49: Choosing a State from the Results List

Once enough letters have been entered that only a few possible matching city names exist, Dash Express will automatically produce to a list of matching States. I'll select "New York" and continue

Figure 50: Entering the City Name

Once the State name has been entered, Dash Express asks you to enter the name of the City your driving to.

While spelling out a city/street name, you can press the enter button at any time to view all the cities that match the letters you have entered so far, or you can wait until enough letters have been entered that the Dash Express will automatically product a list of matching city names to choose from.

Figure 51: Choose the City

Once enough letters have been entered that only a few possible matching city names exist, Dash Express automatically jumps to a list of matching cities. I'll select "New York, NY" and continue.

Figure 52: Entering the House Number

Next we'll need to enter the house/building number of our destination address.

Figure 53: Viewing the Destination Search Results

After entering the State, city, and street names, and house number, Dash Express produces a list of possible matches. This screen may or may not appear, depending on the street address you're driving to.

In this example I'm driving to the third address listed, so I'll tap on "135 Central Park W, New York" to continue.

Figure 54: Address Confirmation Page

The address confirmation page displays the complete street address, along with the following options:

• Routes - calculate up to 3 routes to the destination, showing traffic conditions for each route
• Back - Returns to the previous screen
• Favorite - adds the address to the favorites
• Save - saves the destination to the address book
• map it - displays the address on the map

Touch "routes" to have Dash Express begin calculating the route to the destination.

Figure 55: Calculating Route

Dash Express is slow to calculate routes; after tapping on "routes" in the previous screen, I found it took an average of 45 to 60 seconds to calculate the proposed routes to the destination.

Figure 56: Choosing A Route

Once a destination address or POI has been entered, Dash Express calculates up to three routes to the target:

• The first proposed route is the most direct route, and should be similar to the route a non traffic-enabled GPS would propose
• The second route is an alternate route that shares no more than 75% in common with the first proposed route
• The third suggested route is the same as the first route, but also avoids any adverse traffic conditions along the way, routing your car around the problem areas and then returning you to the original route.

Tapping on each proposed route displays the highlighted route on the map, along with current traffic conditions. It's not always clear which proposed route is the "best" one to choose -- Dash might consider color-coding the results so that the route with the shortest drive time/least amount of traffic is obvious.