Adding Understanding

We've been road-tripping in the Prius. The posts about the trip will resume shortly now that the computer is back online. In the meantime I have several observations about the lackluster GPS and navigation system in the Toyota Prius. As far as I know it is the same system in all Toyotas. For some things it is great. In other ways it is horrible.

Seeing the country

This is our first trip into new country with the GPS. Actually I was in many places we're visiting twenty years ago but I haven't driven the area at all. The navigation system has an interesting effect. On one hand it knows the destination and is good about getting you there. Since I put in an address each morning marking that night's resting place I don't spend as much time with a map and thinking about the directions along the way. The Toyota system has a few options such as allowing you to choose from two quick routes or one short route. The short route choice nearly always results in seeing parts of a route that one wouldn't choose when looking at a map. Ironically at the same time because one doesn't need to study the map before getting to town to know where to find the night's lodging I don't have the same sense of many towns as I otherwise would.