Dash Navigation, Inc.™

Qt increases development efficiency for Dash Navigation

Dash Express by Dash Navigation, Inc.™  is the first two-way, Internet-connected GPS navigation system. Dash delivers traffic and destination information in exciting new ways, and offers a wide range of new capabilities available from the car, making a typical GPS practically obsolete. Dash is the smartest way to get from A to B, and find everything in between. Two-way connectivity and the power of the network of Dash Express devices provide up-to-date, dynamic traffic and destination information to help you make smart choices from behind the wheel.

The Challenge 

It was important for Dash to get new versions of the device to market quickly and saw a strong potential in porting beyond a single platform. Dash saw an opportunity in the untouched embedded market and wanted an application framework that would mold to their business objectives.

The Solution

Dash selected Qt to develop the UI for its navigation device, which came into the market in early 2008.Qt provided Dash with modern tools that had cross-platform application capabilities. With Qt, the Dash development team was confident that they could port beyond Linux in the future. In addition, Qt's signals and slots capabilities allowed parts of the Qt application to talk to other parts in a very safe and controlled way.

 The Benefit 

The Dash development team noticed great efficiencies when working with Qt. They took the existing codebase and ported it to the new application in Qt and converted the graphic OS formats and threads easily. Within a couple of weeks, the team was easily able to get Qt running on the Dash hardware. Currently, ten developers are working full-time on applications using Qt and are keen to continue further development with Qt based on its ease of use and low learning curve.

For optimal testing of their device, Dash Navigation, Inc. chose Qt Partner froglogic's Squish for Qt. Squish offered Dash excellent Qt GUI testing features as well as support for embedded platforms running and testing Qt Embedded. Learn more here.

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