Windows Phone Thoughts: Road Trip Reloaded: OCN All in One GPS Reviewed

Itineraries
If you're going to make serious use of any navigation system, support of multiple destination itineraries is a must. This capability is useful for mapping a long trip that spans multiple days. You can split your trip up into multiple legs or "stages", as they're called in OnCourse Navigator's manual. This allows you to set up a stage from home to a hotel or motel for the first night, then a stage from that hotel to the one for the next night, then on to your final destination.

This is the area in which OnCourse Navigator really shines. The strong itinerary support is complemented perfectly by the corridor maps described earlier. The corridor map allows you to create a map that covers your entire route in a single file. You can then set up your exact route with your intermediate stops and your final destination.

Another feature of OnCourse Navigator that sets its itineraries apart is a setting which allows you to specify if it's to proceed automatically to the next destination when you reach an intermediate destination. If your intermediate destination is a hotel, you'll probably want to turn the automatic setting to "no". Then when you leave in the morning, simply tell OnCourse Navigator to proceed to the next destination and you're on your way.

For seamless support of itineraries for long trips, OnCourse Navigator is at the top of its class.

Other Navigation Features
Many details of OnCourse Navigator demonstrate a lot of forethought by the designers. For example, the Mitac is VERY loud at its higher settings, which is an advantage when using it in the car as a navigation device. However, the higher volume settings are too loud for many other uses of the Mitac as a Pocket PC, such as alarms, beeps, clicks when tapping the screen, etc. To address this, OnCourse Navigator provides the ability to set its sound level while navigating independently of the system sound settings. So you can have the volume set high when using OnCourse Navigator, and the volume automatically returns to the "normal" setting when you exit OnCourse Navigator. A minor detail, perhaps, but one that is well considered and appreciated.

"Block road" is another common feature of navigation programs that OnCourse Navigator supports. This deals with closed roads, detours and the like. Let's say construction blocks a road for 5 miles. You specify a distance for the block to OnCourse Navigator and it figures out a route to go around the construction and resume your route further on down.