Navigation
on a motorbike: it sounds like a real gadget for a freak. Yes and No. Just try to
drive on a unfamiliar road and find the right route in a fast way. Even with a C.D.P. (=
Certified Duo Passenger, red.;) itīs pretty hard to have the roadmap in your hand
properly or read it at a nice speed. Tankbags with a transparent window are not ideal to
me either. The distance from the map to your eyes is too far, thus it is difficult to
read. Besides, youīre (of course) on a road, that is exactly positioned on a fold of the
roadmap. Or you only have a map that just shows the highways.
Thatīs
why I chose to build a navigation system, with minor adjustments of the bike and/or the
parts. This works great to me: not looking for a road, never asking the right way. With a
navigation system you get your actual position shown in real-time on an electronic
roadmap. And your average speed is relatively high, because you donīt have to stop
looking around for the right road anymore. The alternative is to drive on a "Rocking Motorcycle": then youīll never get lost
;)
A
short list of the main advantages:
- The system shows your actual position on a land- or roadmap with high accuracy (10-20
meter).
- Independent of the hardware supplier of the (road)maps, so itīs easy to keep your
system up-to-date.
- Not only useable on your motorbike, you can even use it in your car, at your walking
trip, or on a bicycle.
- Mostly built out of standard components.
- With a little bit of patience and a bit of spare time itīs easy to make.
If you follow the "NEXT" icons, all the main aspects will be shown
except the (too detailed) specification pages.
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