Windows Phone Thoughts: Pharos Traveler 525 GPS Part 2 - Ostia 7.5 Navigation Software

Customizing the Interface
Three views of your current position and the map are provided. The first is the normal 2D flat view as if the map were a sheet of paper;


Figure 16: Ostia’s 2D view of the map.

Also provided are 3D views as if you were a bird flying at low altitude (near the top of a four or five storey building)


Figure 17: Ostia’s 3D low view.

Or the 3D High view, with the bird flying at, say 2500 or 3000 feet.


Figure 18: The 3D high view.

You can cycle through these various views by tapping on the sky above the map. When you are actually traveling on a tracked route, information regarding the next turn is shown in the bottom 1/3 of the screen.


Figure 19: Next turn in Text.

Or you can select a more graphical representation of the next turn, taking up the bottom third of the screen.


Figure 20: Graphical version of the next turn. Notice you also get EDA and ETA information as well. For longer distances (over 20km) the ETA is up to three times longer than it should be, but Pharos is working on this.

If you prefer, you can also get just text directions, with a graphical depiction of the next turn.


Figure 21: Text-only version of the directions to your next stop, or of the entire trip.

You can also tell Ostia to show any one of the views in nighttime colours, which are easier on the eyes in lower ambient light situations.


Figure 22: Nighttime view colours.

The interface itself also includes a number of gadgets for changing the look and feel on the fly. For instance, tapping on the map scale switches between metric and imperial measures, and tapping on the compass rose will flip the orientation of the map from North Up to Current Travel Direction Up.