Car Navigation 

Car navigation system is a satellite navigation system designed for use in cars. It typically uses GPS to acquire position data to locate the user on a road in the unit's map database. Using the road database, the unit can give directions to other locations along roads also in its database. Dead reckoning using distance data from sensors attached to the drivetrain, a gyroscope and an accelerometer can be used for greater reliability, as GPS signal loss and/or multipath can occur due to urban canyons or tunnels.

History 

Alpine claims they created the first car navigation system in 1981. Honda claims to have created the first car navigation system starting in 1983, and culminating with general availability in the 1990 Acura Legend. This analog system used an accelerometer to navigate using inertial navigation, as the GPS system was not yet generally available.

Both Mitsubishi Electric and Pioneer claim to be the first with a GPS-based car navigation system, in 1990. Also in 1990, a draft patent application was filed within Digital Equipment Co. Ltd. for a multi-function device called PageLink that had real-time maps for use in a car listed as one of its functions.

Magellan, a GPS car navigation system manufacturer, claims to have created the first GPS-based car navigation system in the U.S. in 1995.

Visualization 

Car navigation systems may (or may not) use a combination of any of the following: top view for the map, top view for the map with the map rotating like the car, bird's-eye view for the map or the next curve, linear gauge for distance, which is redundant if a rotating map is used, numbers for distance, schematic pictograms, voice prompts

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