NaviGadget

GPS navigation on buses in Lisbon

Apr 25, 2009 gps navigation

Some city buses in Lisbon, Portugal are now equipped with GPS navigation systems. This particular one takes you from the airport to the city center has two displays; one near the front and another towards the middle. We really doubt a bus driver needs such an aid so it must be designed for the passengers in mind. It does have a somewhat custom interface which lists the next stop near the top of the screen, and a list of hotels in the area on the right sidebar.

The system however is not very solid as it loses satellite reception in narrow roads with buildings on each side and other areas where there was no view of the sky. Also according to our source the interface wasn’t quite perfected yet:

The shallow interface of this GPS display. The map itself is highly limited as shown by the crude representation of blocks. So far, the information printed there (apart from the list of bus stops) is mostly targeted at a driver (who would need to look for information about the street he/she has to take) and not at the passengers.

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