TomTom Navigator 6 software with street maps for the U.S. and Canada is $99.95 and works on Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian smartphones (refer to the website for a list of compatible phones). Included with this is the ability to download updated maps at no charge for 12 months. Options exist for adding street maps for Europe and other countries. TomTom is for street maps only and does not support NOAA charts.

TomTom is a well-known street navigation program.TomTom is fast, robust, and the perfect solution for navigating in a car. We have it on our smartphone, along with our marine specific software. It comes in handy when you are driving your rental or courtesy car but also any time you go ashore, particularly in more populated areas. A few years ago we were docked in Brooklyn, New York and used it to find a nearby Chinese restaurant.

GARMIN MOBILE XT

Garmin is well known for their all-in-one GPS devices, which they call Personal Travel Assistants. These devices can be pricey, running from a couple hundred dollars up to more than $1,000. Garmin Mobile XT offers a software-only street navigation solution that runs on a smartphone for $99.00.

Garmin Mobile XT will run on many Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian phones. Their website offers a list of all compatible phones. The application is pre-loaded on a microSD card (with a miniSD and standard SD card converter) that includes both Garmin navigation software and street maps for the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. International options are also available. Garmin Mobile XT is for street maps only and does not support NOAA charts.

The program also allows access to Garmin's online service, which lets you access real-time traffic reports, weather updates and fuel and hotel prices for no additional charge. However, some users have found the data sparse, or out of date. For example, hotel data is provided by Hotels.com and it limited to the hotels they cover. The traffic data looks for incidents at the time the route is calculated but does not find traffic slowdowns and does not update the information enroute.

The software and maps come preloaded on a 512MB card. Unfortunately, Garmin prevents you from moving the software and maps to a larger card, which they make plain on their website: "Due to proprietary and security reasons, it is not possible to transfer your Garmin Mobile XT data to a larger card." This seems to be an unnecessarily burdensome restriction. A larger memory card would allow users to store programs and other data on a single card, reducing the need to swap cards in and out.

The software features standard street navigation functions. Enter the address you wish to go to and it will automatically create a route from your present location. Like TomTom, it offers turn-by-turn voice prompts and will automatically redirect you if you miss a turn.

With Garmin's PeerPoints feature, which is included, you can text message your position to any other phone, and view and navigate to the location of Garmin Mobile XT users in your group. If you send your current position via text messaging to your Garmin Mobile XT partner's phone, your location will show up on your partner's map page.

This is just a sample of the navigation programs available for smartphones. It is simply meant to help you understand what is possible on a smartphone. Others exist including Fugawi and O2iExplorer for offroad navigation, as well as many other street navigation programs. You should carefully look at each to determine which will best meet your needs. Turning your smartphone into a powerful onroad and offroad navigation system is just one way to enhance your next outing. We will be looking at other uses in the coming weeks.

NEXT WEEK: Weather applications for a mobile phone.