For storing the maps for the entire New York Metropolitan area, including Connecticut, Northern New Jersey, and Long Island, we were supplied with an 85MB card. Eventually, the PNA will be able to use IBM's 340MB Microdrive for storing the entire road map of the United States. It'll also be able to use a PC Card radio receiver for highway traffic updates in the near future -- this feature is expected to be available by Q2 2000.

Setting the unit up in your car is easy -- an optional mounting kit allows you to securely set the unit on top of your dash, but it's also small enough to sit on the passenger seat or on the top of your car's center armrest. The unit is powered using the cigarette-lighter adapter (or optional rechargeable battery) and receives the GPS signal with a detachable wire antenna that you feed through the rear window and magnetically mount on the roof of the car.

Interacting with the PNA
The PNA uses a 320 x 240 grayscale screen similar to those used on palm-sized PC units, but instead of a stylus for user input, it uses a telephone-style alphanumeric keypad and a set of four function keys that change their mode depending on what's displayed on the screen. This layout bears a striking resemblance to the Multi-Function Display (MFD) units in the cockpits of advanced jet aircraft -- military and civilian airline pilots should feel right at home. When you switch the PNA on, it takes about 15 seconds to boot the Windows CE OS and navigation software, after which the disclaimer screen appears. Press the Enter key to agree to the disclaimer that Datus, Inc. isn't responsible if you get lost or have an accident while using their product, and you're ready to go.

After passing the disclaimer screen, the PNA greets you with the current time using its voice synthesis capabilities (shades of Knight Rider and KITT!) and presents you with an options screen. Here you're presented with four choices, as shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B

After passing the disclaimer screen, the PNA greets you with the current time using its voice synthesis capabilities and presents you with four options. Click picture for a larger image.

Pressing the New Route key from any screen displayed on the PNA gets you back to this list of choices.

If you know the address of your destination, you can press F4, where you're prompted, as shown in Figure C, to enter the destination address.

FIGURE C

If you know the address of your destination, you can select F4, where you're prompted to enter the destination address. Click picture for a larger image.

You can enter the first few letters of the city name on the keypad using Tegic's T9 system, after which you choose the destination city from a narrowed list by using the multifunction keys and pressing Enter. Next, you enter the street number and press the Enter key to confirm, after which you enter the street name using the same T9 input method, select from the resulting list, then press the Enter key.

Before calculating a route to your destination, confirm the start address that the PNA displays at the top of the screen by pressing the Enter key. This screen can be seen in Figure D. Your location is automatically determined using the GPS system and the map database installed in the unit.