You can get there from here

Telling 'em where to go: GPS directions by voice

With Ed Curran, Technogadgets

(CNN) -- The Global Positioning System tells you where you are on Earth, and this new portable unit truly tellsyou where you are.

GPS is a great tool. When you're on the road for your business, there's nothing like getting to an appointment late because you didn't know where it was.

In my travels, I've gotten bad directions from service station attendants, hotel doormen and local people I've accosted on the street. They all meant well but not everyone can communicate directions to visitors like me, who have no idea where they are or where they're headed.

QUICK VOTE
	What's the best thing about a GPS receiver. It's small and portable. The Garmin one talks to you. No more asking directions. View Results

The military -- which has good reason to be sure where its personnel are and where they're headed -- spent about a gazillion dollars to put 24 satellites into orbit that do just that. Your GPS receiver looks for these satellites and, using a sophisticated method of triangulation and timing, determines precisely where you are.

I've tested a variety of portable units over the years and I just love GPS. Early portable models would show you your location, but not on a map. For fans of latitude and longitude, this was great, but most of us need to know where Fifth and Main is.

Great steps were taken in the right direction when maps started showing up in these units. I've used Garmin's and Magellan's tiny portable units in the past and enjoyed them. The only problem was that they wouldn't route you to your destination -- they'd show you where you were and they'd show your destination, but the route was up to you.

The newest Garmin Color StreetPilot III routes you to your location and it helps you navigate the roads by actually speaking to you. My wife found the unit very impressive and was particularly amused that it's a female voice telling me how to drive.

ED LEADS THE WAY
	Perhaps thanks to his GPS, Ed Curran was able to find CNN Center and give viewers a look at the "talking" GPS directional systems he likes. You are here (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

We tried a prototype of this new Garmin unit during the Consumer Electronics Show. When it becomes available, this talking StreetPilot won't be cheap. But it's a one-time $1,200 insurance policy that may help you to get to your next meeting on time and not blow that $14 million contract you're trying to land.

You can buy a more expensive speaking portable from from Magellan. It will route and guide you, and it's a great unit, but this new Garmin is the smallest and cheapest package we've seen.

Finally, a speaking GPS unit is great but you still have to keep paying attention. Recent studies have shown that people can have a problem driving if they're listening to car navigation directions, while on the wireless phone,with the radio turned down in the background and the radar detector going off.

I remember using a talking navigation system in a Hertz car years ago. I listened carefully and turned exactly where it told me to ... as I sailed through a red light.

So, use this fantastic technology wisely. At least if you do have an accident, you'll know where you are.

Ed Curran has covered the world of high-tech for more than a dozen years and is the publisher of Technogadgets® -- www.technogadgets.com. In addition to his weekly column here at CNN.com/career, watch for Curran's reports on CNN television.

Gadgets and games light up Demo 2001
February 14, 2001
'Geocaching' offers high-tech treasure hunt
February 1, 2001
Portable GPS receivers: The way home
November 8, 2000

Garmin, the StreetPilot III
See related sites about CAREER

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.