Figure 9: 2D Follow Me Map

The 2D Follow Me map is fairly basic. The highlights route is displayed as a purple line, and your current position is represented as a small circle. A compass is also displayed in the lower right corner.

Most other GPS systems display several vital pieces of information missing from VZ Navigator's map, including the name of the current street, distance to the next turn, the direction of the next turn, speed limit information, and estimated arrival time. Instead, VZ Navigator makes you cycle through various different screens to view this information.

Figure 10: Map Options

Pressing the Options button from the map screen displays the options listed above. This menu lets you hide traffic information, search for Points of Interest, view your current location, or read help documentation.

Figure 11: Traffic

VZ Navigator includes real-time traffic information. If a traffic incident is received that will impact your planned route, the delay is displayed on the Traffic screen, shown above.

This handy feature displays the distance to the traffic problem, the estimated length of the delay, and the ability to detour around the problem (Detour). The severity of the traffic incident is also represented on the tri-color sliding scale. Green represents relatively minor traffic incidents, while yellow and red indicate moderate and severe traffic, respectively.

Figure 12: Viewing Upcoming Turns

A 3D rendering of each upcoming turn can be viewed. Unfortunately, these images are static, and don't change as you drive. The distance to the turn is also displayed in the lower left corner.

Figure 13: Stop Navigation

You can clear the current destination and stop navigating by pressing the CLR button your cell phone, or pressing the END button to exit VZ Navigator completely.

4. Finding A Restaurant

Figure 14: Local Search

Local Search allows you to search for businesses, such as restaurants, gas stations, parking garages, hotels, and more. VZ Navigator has access to a whopping 14 million listing - that's about 3.5 times as many listings as most dedicated GPS devices, and another benefit of cellular connectivity. Since no information is stored on your phone, and everything is downloaded over the network, VZ Navigator can theoretically offer an almost unlimited database of business listings. Standalone GPS devices, however, are typically limited by the physical storage space available on the device.

To begin searching for a restaurant, choose Local Search from VZ Navigator's Main Menu.

Figure 15: Local Search Entry Screen

VZ Navigator allows you to search for businesses by name or by category, and the search area can be set to find places near your current location, along your planned route, or in a specific city.

I'm searching for a restaurant, so I'll need to highlight the Categories box and choose a category, as shown below.

Figure 16: Specifying a Search Category

VZ Navigator includes an extensive list of categories to choose from. The most common search categories are displayed on the first page, as shown above. Choosing All Categories displays the entire list of available categories. In this case, I'm searching for a restaurant, so I'll choose Eating & Drinking to continue.

Figure 17: Choosing A Restaurant Cuisine

Some categories, such as Eating & Drinking, have Sub-Categories available. For example, when searching for a place to eat or drink, a specific cuisine can be selected as a sub category, or all cuisines can be searched by choosing All.

Figure 18: Telling VZ Navigator Where to Search

A common GPS task is to find businesses in an area other than your current location, such as near your destination address. By default VZ Navigator searches for businesses near your current location. To change the default, and specify a specific area to search, highlight the Where: text box and press enter.

Figure 19: Specifying A Search Location

VA Navigator lets you specify where the GPS should search for businesses (places to eat & drink, in this example). Available options include:

• Along My Route - Searches for businesses located along your current route. For example, if you're driving on the highway and want to find a nearby McDonald's, choose this option
• My GPS Location - This is the default setting, and lists search results in order of closeness to your current location
• In My Direction - Slightly different from Along My Route, In My Direction find Points of Interest (such as Restaurants) that are in the same general direction as you are driving, even if they're not directly located along the route
• Recent Searches - Lets you choose a recently used address as a place to search near
• Favorites - Lets you choose a saved favorite address and have VZ Navigator find places near that location
• Address - Enter a specific street address and find places near that address
• Airport - Find places near an airport

Figure 20: Search Results

Search results are sorted by distance from the specified search location. The search results screen displays the business name and street address. Highlighting any of the result entries and pressing enter brings up the details screen, shown below.

You can also bypass the details screen and begin navigating to the search result by pressing Nav in the lower left corner.