Is there a GPS Altitude Readout?

Yup. Not only possible, it's the fact, Jack.

Lot's of discussion on this and other FAQ if you click on the search button up there near the top of the page.

 

Unlike in an aircraft, navigation in a car rarely presents alternatives that differ primarily in altitude only. There is just little use for the information. GPS-only vertical uncertainty is typically several times the horizontal; it would require a database that correlates horizontal position to a lookup table of altitude.

 

To me this makes no sense. If engineering would catch up with technology or visa versa.

For instance, using the navigation system, if the Prius knew the terrain on your road, then it could use the EV more on an uphill section of a particular road while knowing it will re-generate on the other side going downhill on the road. That would make the Prius more efficient, wouldn’t it?

Not to mention that I really like to know how high mountain passes are and most navigation systems don't provide that information which stinks.

 

Uh... Don't confuse the GPS position with the GPS maps. To do what you suggest would mean they would have to put topographical information for the entire USA on the DVD -- along with all the other data now on it. Sure it'll happen someday -- after we have HD-DVD or BluRay DVD drives in our nav systems.

 

Google maps is your friend

 

I don't know about the 2006 but on the 2005 you can get to screens that provide more information than what the MFD's normal display contains. It has satellite info and detailed location data etc. I didn't look for elevation, but it wouldn't surprise me to find that it is there...

 

One problem with integrating road incline information into the HSD control programs, is that it would require entirely separate software for NAV-equipped cars and non-NAV-equipped cars. Plus, it would have to guess at what direction you're going to go. And it would need topo information for every place you might drive, or a backup program for times when that information is not available.

As someone else said, this kind of stuff may come some day, but the databases and the software probably aren't ready yet.

The EV switch at least provides some flexibility to those that have it. A useful thing to have would be a button that tells the car "I'm coming up to a big downhill; drain the battery in anticipation," and another that tells the car, "I'm approaching a big uphill; charge up the battery in anticipation." But before we get that, the general driving population will have to be prepared to accept it, because Toyota won't include a feature that might scare off potential drivers who want to "just drive" their car. And that's probably 99.9% of Prius drivers and 99.999% of drivers in general.

 

I do not know about aviation GPS, but in my experience, hand held GPS is terrible for altitude measurements. Any dysfunctional barometer is better. I remember one beach hike we took with my sons Boy Scout Troop, we spent much of the hike well under water! I don't seem to remember the need for SCUBA. In fact what I remember is all the hills we climbed. If I had it I would not trust it!

 

ALtitude accuracy for a GPS-only device will not be any better than about 100 meters. What use did you make of this inaccurate information in your other cars? It certainly isn't accurate enough to use for route selection.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 3 2006, 11:24 PM) [snapback]234354[/snapback]</div>

But it's not rocket science, certainly compared to the amount of engineering and programming that was required just to get the HSD system to balance itself and run smoothly.

Guessing where you're going isn't that hard - just trace forward the major roads in your direction of travel. Refine that with a memory of which roads you travel on most often. And obviously, if you're using the nav system, use the programmed route. And an error in that guess isn't going to be that significant - a slightly different route is usually going to be largely in the same vertical direction. And if totally uncertain, just revert to default behaviour.

The whole programme might be fairly sophisticated in itself, but all it needs as an input is the existing GPS setup with added topography data, and all it outputs is a general hint to the HSD system - an "upcoming terrain" variable ranging from say, -10 to +10.

0 would give the existing behaviour, and the extremes would adjust the target charge level. (A similar technique I believe has been used by the existing plug-in modifications to persuade the system to drain the add-on pack, rather than keep it mid-charge). It certainly wouldn't be "an entirely different programme" - the non-NAV Prius just wouldn't get that bit of info.

It seems so simple to me, that I'd be quite surprised if it wasn't included in the next-gen Prius (which will also allegedly have 9 mile plug-in range). Toyota and Denso already have patents on it.

Of course, living in East Anglia, this is somewhat irrelevant to me. I only ever see a hill when visiting relatives... I wonder though if maybe even on the level, something could be done with knowledge of upcoming road type - eg when transitioning from urban streets to motorway or vice versa.

I don't think any of the fuel efficiency standards I've seen address such a system though - any benefit from it would not be included in official fuel efficiency figures, which might make marketing tricky.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KMO @ Apr 4 2006, 09:33 PM) [snapback]234622[/snapback]</div>

I agree.
It looks Toyota and Denso requested to patent it, Wayne reported.
http://privatenrg.com/#terrainfollowing

Ken@Japan