Text to speech

william

What is this all about and is it a must have?

Buffer

Without text-to-speech, a GPS system has a limited number of phrases (e.g. "after X metres", "turn left") that are recorded by an actor and are strung together to form instructions.

With text-to-speech, a computer-generated voice is used, so the system can speak arbitrary sentences.

In practice, text-to-speech means that the system can include street names in instructions, e.g. "turn left onto O'Connell Street". Obviously a system using a recorded voice can't do this.

I'd rate it as nice to have rather than essential; perhaps a bit safer when you're driving somewhere new so you don't have to read the street name on screen to make sure you're making the correct turn.

eirman

It's a very useful feature and well worth having. It gets the pronunciation mostly right most of the time. Here is an example of an error on the Nuvi....

Navan Road ................ The Nav is pronounced as it is in the word Navy