A vehicle information system which includes an in-vehicle system 105 and a centralized server system 120. The in-vehicle system communicates with the server system using a wireless communication link 110, such as over a cellular telephone system. A position system, such as a set of GPS satellites 140, provides positioning signals that are used by the in-vehicle systems, and optionally by the centralized server system to increase the accuracy of position estimates. In one version of the system, an operator specifies a destination to an in-vehicle system which validates the destination. The in-vehicle system transmits specification of the destination to a server system 125 at the centralized server. The server system computes a route to the destination and transmits the computed route to the in-vehicle system. The in-vehicle system guides the operator along the route. If the in-vehicle system detects that the vehicle as deviated from the planned route, it re-plans a new route to the destination using an in-vehicle map database.