Yesterday, Garmin introduced the 2014 Nuvi Advanced Series, the first Nuvi line to come with Foursquare venues designed to help users find and explore new businesses. The new GPS devices also come with Direct Access to help navigate to complexes like malls and airports and traditional advanced Garmin features like Active Lane Guidance, Real Directions, multi-touch displays and Photo Real and Bird’s Eye Junction View.
All the other features aside, the partnership with Foursquare is really what sets these devices apart from other devices in the nuvi line. The Advanced Series comes pre-loaded with millions of places from Foursquare which can be searched from Garmin’s signature “Where To?” menu. The models that support Bluetooth can also connect to your smartphone via Smartphone Link and then search Foursquare for specific categories like best places, trending places, ratings, price ranges, hours of service and more. It doesn’t specify, but such a connection likely requires data.
The Advanced Nuvi line also has Direct Access, a new feature that’s designed to help find locations inside of large complexes like malls or airports. You can, for example, search for a specific store or restaurant and the device will guide you to the nearest door and indicate where it is located inside.
In addition to those features, the devices also have several other standard Garmin features like Active Lane Guidance, Real Directions, Photoreal and Bird’s Eye Junction View. The devices have 5, 6 or 7 inch touch-screens with multi-touch capabilities that support pinching and zooming, much like smartphone maps. The screens also allow for split-views during certain applications to help drivers see the most useful information as they need it.
The devices will retail between $200 and $350 and are available now from Garmin.
I hope they update the “Prestige” line (3597) with these features too.