Electronics show points the way

The Creative Media and Events-owned Digicel Consumer Electronics Show begins tomorrow and will showcase the cutting edge of technology. The event, to be held at the Wyndham hotel (formerly Hilton hotel) beginning at 10 a.m. will have gadgets developed locally.

One such gadget is a GPS navigation system.

The Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI) at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, developed and released the Caribbean's first GPS navigation map data, known as JAMNAV©, offering turn-by-turn voice-assisted navigation across Jamaica, with more than 15,000 km of roads and more than 15,000 points of interest, including gas stations, hotels, eating places, shopping places, and attractions.

The system is designed for tourists and locals alike, with practical applications for local delivery and courier companies, fleet operators, and national security uses.

JAMNAV© is based on the Garmin platform, the worldwide leader for personal navigation devices, and a perennial best-buy and recommended product by Consumer Reports and other reputable magazines.

Superior quality

MGI is a licensed Garmin map developer, and the system reflects the same quality and content that users would be familiar with when using similar systems in the United States, Canada or Europe.

However, MGI, as a local developer, has taken into consideration all the local complexities when delivering such a product to Jamaica.

In addition to ensuring one-way streets and parochial roads are correctly entered and tagged (no easy task when these are not clearly defined in the field or by the numerous road authorities in Jamaica), MGI had to work around the lack of a standard islandwide addressing system, localised crime areas, and informal naming of roads and places. The product of all this meant that JAMNAV© was calibrated specifically for the Jamaican market, complete with all its unique attributes.