next gen navi system planned..

[Tundrav8yamaha]

Photo-realistic navigation systems

The displays in current GPS navigation systems show the location of a vehicle on a graphical map in a way that's similar to looking straight down at a paper map. Several systems also provide a 3D "bird's eye" view that give more of a driver's perspective with roads stretching out to the horizon. Soon, however, we may view all of these displays in the same way we view old Mickey Mouse cartoons in a Pixar era.

The next wave of nav-system mapping will use actual images of roads and terrain to provide a dramatically realistic perspective. First up will be nav displays that show roads and the surrounding area as they look in satellite photography, complete with a bird's-eye-perspective capability. A company called 3DVU, for example, has developed such a system that is now in use on some portable nav systems in Japan and will be available in the built-in nav systems of some new South Korean cars by the end of the year.

Carmakers are exploring 3DVU and other lifelike navigation options, and the company expects to have this technology available for the U.S. market by 2010. By that time the terrain will also include realistic elevation data, meaning that mountains will really look like mountains instead of a laid-out flat photo. Future plans include adding street-level views of major cities that include realistic images of major buildings and landmarks.

[czechm8]

That would be nice. I'm sure very $$ and will take huge amounts of storage space for the maps/images.