The need for such geographical data is readily apparent in applications where the user is mobile including. To meet this demand, handheld devices have been developed to provide the user with the same geographical data provided by legacy GPS systems. Globally positioned satellite system provides the ability to monitor and track movements of persons over geographic areas. Some automobile manufacturers have equipped their vehicles with proprietary GPS devices fixed to the vehicle's dashboard or instrument panel to provide the vehicle occupants with such geographical data as the physical location and street address of the vehicle. By placing such a receiver in a vehicle, a path to be mapped can be driven by the vehicle, with the GPS receiver capturing position information at specified time intervals along the path. GPS systems have been combined with detailed electronic maps to aid in the navigation of automobiles. A GPS mapping system contains a reference base map showing geographical details such as highways, rivers and lakes, with main arterial streets shown in metropolitan areas. Plug-ins can be used for street-level map detail and access to business listings and points of interest in a particular area. Upon entry of a street address or points of interest (such as restaurants, hotels, gas stations, banks, and shopping areas), the navigation tool will display the location on a map along with current vehicle location. The use of computer mapping technology has been growing dramatically in recent years. Mapping software systems with GPS based position determination are now deployed in motor vehicles such that localized maps are readily available to users. GPS mapping systems have map data stored in memory and a display for showing the device position with reference to the map data. Other devices have no underlying map data base for reference. Car navigation systems are equipped with a navigational computer that includes a display screen, an input means such as a keypad or a remote control, and a storage means. GPS receiver devices with map display capability may store the map information on computer diskettes, CD-ROM's, or other computer memory storage devices. Some GPS receiver devices can plot and display a trail of waypoints and store this trail for future retrieval. A present location point is displayed on the map, based on a GPS position fix, such that the user's location is plotted on the map as they move from place to place. Sophisticated devices may compute the device's heading, speed, and other information based on comparisons with previous GPS determined positions. The orientation of the user's movement can be determined by calculating the general direction of movement from position fix to position fix. The map database can have various levels of detail. The map database includes geographical information at the major road level. Additional details that can be included are minor roads, turn restrictions, one-way streets, highway ramp configurations, hotel, restaurant and other business information, traffic history, emergency facility locations and the like. The map databases with routing information are referred to as navigable map data or turn-by-turn data. The levels of detail stored on such databases depend on product and marketing factors, including cost and demand, as well as the physical storage capacity limitations.