I’ve been a GPS user since the system was first available and one thing I have always wanted was the ability for navigation software to take additional factors into account when planning a route. Most systems just offer you the ability to build routes based upon road speeds, road types (highways, toll-roads, off-road, etc.), and a choice of speed or distance goals. That’s OK, but any seasoned travel knows there’s more to it than that.

What about avoiding known traffic bottlenecks? Some navigation systems started adding that a few years ago. But one that I’ve been waiting for forever is the ability for a navigation system to route you around bad sections of town. If you are from out of town, you likely have no idea what sections of town to avoid. All the data a navigation system needs for that are already out there - crime rates by ZIP code, for example.

Honda now has a navigation system that does exactly this. Unfortunately, it is available only in Japan at the moment.

I’m sure in the overly PC society that the Western world has become it will never find its way here, which is a damn shame.