5. Finding an Address

Figure 27: Main Menu

Begin entering an address by tapping Destination from the Main Menu, shown above.

Figure 28: Destination Type

The Destination menu, shown above, asks if you want to enter a street address (Address), search for a business, such as a restaurant (POI), go to the saved Home address, choose a destination from the saved address book (Favorites), go to the most recently used address (Last Dest.), or use a stored voice command to input a destination.

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

Figure 29: Street or City Name First?

The Strada lets you choose whether you prefer to enter the street name, or city name first. I'll choose City First to continue.

Figure 30: Select the State or Country

The first time you enter an address on the Strada CN-GP50, the device asks what country your destination address is located in.

Using the on-screen keyboard, spell the name of the country (United States, in this case). Strangely, this screen appears to mix countries with States and Cities. Notice the scroll box of names in the upper-right portion of the screen is displaying "UT - Utah" and "NB - New Brunswick" as available selections for the State or Country.

As you spell the Country name, Strada attempts to autocomplete the name, and begins listing possible matches. Once the correct Country name is entered, tap the yellow checkmark to continue.

Figure 31: Entering the City or Zip

Use the on-screen keyboard to spell the city name of your destination. This is one of the most frustrating aspects of using Panasonic's Strada: You can't simply choose a City name, but instead HAVE to choose a specific zip code within a city. For example, it's not possible to choose "New York" as the City. Instead, you have to scroll through an endless list of zip codes in New York and choose one.

Most people probably won't know the zip code of their destination, and this type of address entry is more baffling than helpful. What do you do if you don't know the exact zip code of your destination address? In my testing I was able to choose any zip code in New York, and still enter a street and house number that wasn't actually located in that zip code.

The ability to use zip codes instead of City names could be a handy feature for many drivers. However, the REQUIREMENT to use zip codes is anything but helpful. Even though it's possible to enter an address after choosing an incorrect zip code, it's still a confusing system that adds time and complexity to the address entry process.

Figure 32: Entering the Street Name

Just as with City names, entering Street names requires that you navigate the muddy waters of zip codes. For example, after entering "Central Park West" as the Street name, the Strada presents a long list of all the zip codes that exist on Central Park west, and asks that we choose one of the many "Central Park West" listings.

As long as you know the correct house number, you can actually choose any of the zip codes listed, and Strada will correct the zip code later after you enter the house number. Still, this is an unnecessarily complex method for entering an address, and I quickly grew frustrated with Strada's software.

Figure 33: Entering the House or Building Number

With the City and Street names entered, Strada asks for the house or building number of the destination address. Use the on-screen keypad to input the house number.

Strada doesn't display a list of valid house numbers, as some other GPS units do. Displaying the valid range of house numbers for a given street can be useful if you don't know the exact street address of your destination.

Figure 34: Selecting a House Number

After entering the city, street, and house number, Strada presents a short list of possible destination addresses to choose from. I'll choose the third choice "135 Central Park W" to continue. Notice that the Strada displays the zip codes underneath each possible address, and shows the correct zip code for our destination, 10023.

Figure 35: Address Entry Complete

The address is now fully entered. However, the GPS is still displays "NEW YORK 10007" as the City, despite having chosen 10023 as the correct zip code in the previous step.

I'll tap Start Navigation and hope the destination address is correct, even though the zip code appears to be wrong.

Figure 36: Calculating Route

Route calculation was a little slower than Garmin or Magellan or TomTom, but was still acceptable. On average, routes took between 5 and 15 seconds to calculate.

From this screen you can view a turn-by-turn list of all maneuvers along the route by tapping Route List, or start driving to the destination by tapping Start Navigation.

Figure 37: Viewing the Turn-by-Turn List

The turn-by-turn "Route List" displays a list of all upcoming turns along with the distance between each turn, and the direction of the turn.

Specific roads or segments can be excluded from the route by tapping on the checkmark for that turn.

Figure 38: Navigating to the Destination

Once the route has been calculated, tapping on Start Navigation begins navigating to the destination.

Figure 39: Night View

Strada can automatically switch from day to night mode, adjusting the color scheme and brightness so the map is easier on the eyes when driving at night.

Enabled by default, the Strada switches to night mode based on the time of day.

Figure 40: Trip Options

Tapping the Options button on the Map Screen brings up the trip options screen, shown above. This menu lets you toggle between 2D and 3D map display, insert a stop along the route, exclude a specific road from the route, force the GPS into day or night mode, or find a POI along the current route.