RACO Industries, Cincinnati, Ohio, has introduced an off-the-shelf, GPS-based portable navigation system called the Destinator.

Designed to work with a Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC handheld computer, Destinator provides an on-screen map of a vehicle’s actual position and turn-by-turn voice directions along the route to any chosen destination. According to RACO, the system is easily moved from one vehicle to another.
A video demonstration available at www.trackmyvehicle.com shows the iPAQ Pocket PC mounted on a dashboard where the driver can hear instructions and see the vehicle’s progress on the screen in real time.
According to the video, the on-screen map can be displayed so that the direction of the vehicle is always shown as straight up. In that case, the orientation of the map changes with the direction of the vehicle. Users can also have the map displayed with due north always at the top.
The demo shows the map display also adjusts to speed. As the vehicle goes faster, the map zooms outward, revealing more of the mapped road ahead. At slower speeds, the map zooms inward for better detail recognition.
Any failure to stay on course prompts an instant recalculation of route. If the driver misses a turn, for example, the program immediately re-plots a route to the destination from the new location.
According to RACO, the bundled packages consists of a 12-channel GPS antenna-receiver, cigarette lighter adapter, Destinator software and NavTech maps of the U.S. and Canada. Optional mounting brackets are available. A package that includes the iPAQ handheld costs $1,095. The package without the handheld costs $329.