Tips for Effective Car Navigation
Here’s what I learnt about how to use Google Maps1 on my phone effectively:
⦾ Mount your phone in portrait, so that you see more of your route, and be aware of what you need to do in a few minutes. If you mount it in landscape, you can see what’s far on either side of your route, which is useless.
⦾ Mount it on your windshield so that you can look at the phone while simultaneously being observant of traffic. If you have to move your eyes elsewhere, say if it’s in the center console, the chance of an accident is higher, and it’s more stressful, which is the last thing you want on top of the stress that already comes with driving in poorly designed roads overrun by rule-breakers.
⦾ Mount your phone where you can reach it by hand without stretching or having to take it out of its holder. My car has a deeply sloping windshield, where the bottom is far from me, and I used to mount it at the bottom, which was a mistake. I now mounted it higher, within right, and its’s much more convenient, say when I’m stopped at a red light2 and want to check my route by zooming out, and then back in when I’m done.
⦾ Mount your phone at the extreme right3 of the windshield. Not the center — you might miss something blocked by your phone, and it’s annoying to have your view cluttered.
⦾ Turn off notifications for all apps except phone calls. This is a good thing to do in general, not just for car use.
⦾ Buy a car charger4 that charges your phone at the maximum speed it can handle. For iPhones, it’s 20W. Charge via USB-C, not -A, which is limited to 12W. I no longer have to pre-plan trips and charge my phone in advance. I’ve driven across the city starting with a 5% charge and ending with 55% while having Google Maps with full brightness.
⦾ Before starting a trip, plug in your phone to charge, set both the screen brightness and volume to maximum, and turn on navigation. Make these a habit, instead of thinking, “Do I need to charge?” You can put mute Google Maps if it’s annoying, but having the map helps even when I think I don’t need it. I may know the route, except for one point where I may not be sure which way to turn. Or if there’s a traffic jam or road closure. Making it a habit to charge your phone and turn on navigation solves all these problems. Habits make life easier.
Use Google Maps. I tried Waze, MapMyIndia, Apple Maps, Here Maps and Yandex, but they’re all worse, such as making me take a longer route, or UI glitches, or places you search for not appearing.
Remember not to touch it when driving. Pull over. Yes, it’s a delay of a few seconds, but I’ve had close calls, and it’s not worth it for a few seconds. This is a situation in which we need to just follow the guideline.
For right-hand drive. In general, mount it close to the A pillar, not the center of the windscreen.
I tried a power bank, but I then had to think about keeping it charged. When it ran out, I had to take it to my house to charge it, but after it charged, I forgot to put it back in my car. By contrast, with a charger powered by the car, I recently drove to Mysore for an overnight trip without worrying about charge. I didn’t even have a charger to use in my hotel room! A car charger gives you one less thing to worry about.