Designers at top technology...

Designers at top technology company Siemens VDO have invented photo-quality 3D pictures for its route-guiding displays, showing fantastic details including the undulations of the road and "solid" buildings.

The aim of the new-look directional equipment is to make the graphics more realistic and easier to recognise, instead of the flat street maps on current models. Drivers will be able to see a road descending down a hill and the buildings either side of the plotted route.

The maker believes this additional information will help motorists identify their location more quickly, and allow them to concentrate on driving. The space-age system will automatically zoom in at the approach to complex junctions, and give a close-up view of the lanes to follow. It will also clearly show the different levels to take at flyovers and underpasses.

Extra data will include the opening hours of petrol stations and the phone numbers of hotels en route. Prototypes of the new sat-nav set-up are currently on test, and production is slated to start in 2007.

But the route to better navigation doesn"t stop there. Boffins at Siemens are already planning their next leap forward by adding a camera to the sat-nav. This will watch out for traffic lights and warning signs, and incorporate them into the on-screen graphics.