OnStar today announced the introduction of two new navigation services to supplement its existing Turn-by-Turn service. The first one is OnStar Destination Download, which allows OnStar subscribers with screen-based navigation systems to input destinations by pressing a button in order to tell an advisor. The other new service is OnStar eNav, which lets subscribers with a Turn-by-Turn Navigation-capable vehicle to communicate with MapQuest.com.

The second one, OnStar eNav, sounds pretty useful. Say you're in front of your computer at home or at the office getting ready for a trip. You go to MapQuest.com, input your start and end points, and then save the destination to an account, which can then be sent directly to your vehicle. This way you use the much clearer MapQuest interface instead of fiddling with your car's touch screen while idling.

According to GM, OnStar Destination Download will be available on over 80 percent their screen-based navigation vehicles—that's expected to be about 325,000—in the 2009 model year. Unfortunately, anyone who bought an onboard navigation-equipped GM vehicle in the past two years - the time since OnStar Turn-by-Turn came available - is out of luck. The Destination Download feature can't be made retroactively compatible, GM says.

Meanwhile, OnStar eNav will be available retroactively on 2.7 million current Turn-by-Turn capable GM vehicles, the report said.

(Source: GM / Image Credit: OnStar)