So? How many techno geeks do you think it really takes to fix a Sat Nav system and add a new map to it?
Well, Angela (left) is currently visiting Los Angeles from London with little Nolly. Sylvain (right) has been living here for 4 years… Both of them used to be part of the technical team of Disney Internet Group International, one leading the IS group, the other leading the Operations groups. Both of them have now pretty respectable technology related positions in 2 of the largest media groups of the world… Here ends the introductions!
So, Angela on her way to LA decided to buy a little Sat Nav system at one of Heathrow’s duty free shop and has been trying to use it since…
First issue was that the device came without memory card, preventing her to add any new country map to her existing system, e.g. the US map.
Second issue seems to have been a very slow download speed when trying to acquire a 1 MB file from our WiFi network. My network being blamed, US cable speed being blamed…
Finally, after an hour of download, the map is in Angela’s PC and transfer to the GPS system is completed. Sadly, nothing seems to work. The device refuses to use the SD card and the map installed on it… So Sylvain decides to jump in and checks the card, the device and the installed software on the PC, without any changes in the result! The device still refuses to boot with the SD card inserted!
So, it was time for the logical approach to enter. Personal guess: The map and the on-board software are not compatible! A quick check at the application and a quicker check on Google (using the iPhone, obviously) tells me that there is a little version discrepancy and that I should hit the “Software Update” button before anything else…
 This done, I realised that a/ the Sat Nav system was now working and b/ the 1MB map that seemed to have started so many questions and mockeries about my cable connection (I admit, not the usual 8 to 24 MB you can get in Europe but still a steady 5 MB) was in fact close to 1 GB… Yup, 1024 times bigger than thought at first!Â
The last step consisted in installing a couple of Queen’s English voices on the devices and oh surprise, the fix was completed! All of it managed under 10 minutes (not too bad after a couple of weeks of struggle)! My only comment at this precise moment was the one I was given by Mr Cruftbox a couple of days ago: “Do you guys think I got my job without having a minimum of technology skills?”…
So to answer my initial question: It takes 3 geeks to fix a GPS system! There is definitely a future for “Geek Squad”!
