Recently in GPS Category

Google Maps for Android 2.0 Beta offers stiff competition to paid GPS navigation services. This free app is loaded with new features and familiar Google Maps features.

The video that follows shows the new Android Map app on a Verizon Moto Droid phone used a on a dash mount in the car. The mount is called a car dock and when the Droid phone is the car dock it automatically goes into car mode. It reminds us of the AT&T's Nuvifone without the added cost of mapping. The Verizon Moto Droid has many high-end features and will be available November 6.

This new Goggle mapping apps comes with everything you'd expect to find in a GPS navigation system, like 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting. But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection. It includes popular Google Maps features including street and satellite views.

When you use Google Maps Navigation, your phone automatically gets the most up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps. If you don't know the address you can put in the business name and still get directions.

With voice search, you can say your destination and hold down the search button to activate voice search, then tell your phone what you want to do (like "Navigate to Pike Place in Seattle"), and navigation will start automatically.

For those times when you're already on the road and need to find a business, Google Maps Navigation searches along your route to give you results that won't take you far from your path. You can search for a specific business by name or by type, or you can turn on popular layers, such as gas stations, restaurants or parking.

Verizon  Family Locator now helps families find each other and stay safely connected. Family Locator, replaces Verizon  Wireless’ Chaperone service, can help find a family member’s location for peace of mind, safety, scheduling or other reasons. This service could means some parents wouldn’t have to ask “Where are you?,” instead they can get a map.

Services offered include: receiving arrival & departure updates for each family member, locating family members and creating scheduled location updates for each family member.

Here are new apps for letting people friends know where you are and sending them directions. It's called zhiing (LBS) mobile location messaging. Zhiing is work across-devices and works via messaging.. Zhiing follows the trend of Bing, and people turn the word into a verb, such as "ping me" or "Google me."

Portable Navigation Devices (PND) are losing ground as worldwide usage of GPS-equipped smar phones in the coming years, according to iSuppli Corp.

After several years of strong sales growth, PNDs will continue to lead the navigation market in 2009, with 114 million sets to be in use by the end of the year, compared to 57.8 million smart phones. However, by 2014, usage of navigation-enabled smart-phones will rise to 305 million units, exceeding the 128 million PNDs that will be around by then.

iSuppli Figure: Worldwide Forecast of PNDs and Navigation-Enabled SmartPhones in Use (Millions of Units)
	2006	2008	2009	2011	2014
PND	20.5	86.5	114	130	128
Smart Phone	11.3	39	57.8	117	305
Source: iSuppli Corp. September 2009

NAVTEQ offers Labor Day drivers five ways to avoid traffic for their last minute summer trips. Here are their suggestions:

1. Go against the grain - The worst Labor Day traffic will be to the most popular summer destinations in the area. If the city empties out as people go the lakes and beaches, think about taking advantage of relatively empty restaurants and attractions in town.
2. Shift your weekend - The worst holiday traffic tends to be on the Friday and Monday evenings, as travelers seek to get the most out of their long weekends. If possible, take one of these days off to travel and take advantage of less-congested roadways.
3. Go early or go late - Beat the worst traffic by driving in the early morning or late at night. Either way, make sure you're well-rested before heading out.
4. Drive with current maps - Want to hit the most popular destinations at the most popular times? You will need every tool at your disposal. Make sure your GPS has current maps, so you will be up-to-date on all available alternate routes. Typically GPS system maps need updating about once a year. Visit www.navteq.com/store to find out more.

5. Check traffic before and during your drive - Check NAVTEQ Traffic.com before you leave the house, to see current conditions and learn about obstacles that may cause traffic later. Hit a problem on the road? Here are some tips to help get around the traffic:

NAVTEQ, revealed insights from a esearch study designed to assess the consumer impact of everyday use of navigation devices. They found that real-time traffic information really saves real time.

Google expanded its traffic layer to cover all U.S. highways and arterials when data is available. The maps show how fast traffic is moving.

Is done through “crowdsourcing,” using data from Google Map users and how fast they are traveling on roads.

When you choose to enable Google Maps with My Location, your phone sends anonymous bits of data back to Google describing how fast you’re moving. Google combines your speed with the speed of other phones on the road, across thousands of phones moving around a city at any given time, then they can get a pretty good picture of live traffic conditions.

They continuously combine this data and send it back to you for free in the Google Maps traffic layers.

Worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009, reports the latest research from Strategy Analytics

GPS adoption in smartphones is being fueled by widespread consumer acceptance of portable navigation devices in Europe and the United States, and the increasing presence of mapping applications among mobile vendors such as Nokia, Apple and Blackberry.

Joanne Blight, Navigation Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "We forecast worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow a healthy 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009. GPS smartphones, such as the Nokia N97 and Apple iPhone, are a high-growth segment that continues to expand even during the current, tough economic times."

Searching for local information on your BlackBerry Tour is easier with Poynt.  Poynt is a feature-packed 411 that uses the BlackBerry GPS, cell-site-location and input to find businesses, and events near where you are.

Poynt has been pointed out to be a favorite of readers for local search especially on the BlackBery Storm because you can call or map listings and browse websites with the click of a button.

The Poynt app lets you customize your search settings with favorite and frequently searched locations. The Poynt movie guide offers complete with show times, theater listings, plot summaries and trailers. You can buy tickets and these features;

• Search by title, theatre and genre.
• Listings include showtimes, ratings and genre.
• Listed in order of theaters closest to your seach location.
• Maps and driving directions available.
• Watch the movie trailer without leaving Poynt.
• Add movie time/location to your calendar.
  

When you find a listings that you like you can add the listings to your BlackBerry Address Book to retreive later.

We have confirmed that Poynt works on the BlackBerry Tour. Poynt is available directly from the BlackBerry Browser at http://m.mypoynt.com/ or via BlackBery App World.

There have been a few reports of some BlackBerry Tour users not getting a GPS. Poynt will have a patch/fix shortly.

Verizon Wireless and AirSage have entered into an agreement where non-identifying data from Verizon Wireless' network will be used to help AirSage provide real-time traffic information.

Verizon Wireless' network data will be made anonymous and integrated into AirSage's patented Wireless Signal Extraction Technology platform to enable live traffic monitoring on major interstates, highways and arterials.

The claim the deal will enhance AirSage's traffic coverage and accuracy by quadrupling the number of signaling messages; when the data is fully integrated, more than 12 billion signaling messages across more than 200,000 centerline miles of roadway will power applications for government agencies, businesses and consumers.

NAVTEQ is now offering a new version of its free NAVTEQ Traffic.com mobile website at http://mobi.traffic.com.  It could be very helpful this holiday weekend. The mobile website will let you know the traffic Jam Factor and real-time traffic information.

The website can be accessed from any cell phone or PDA with a mobile web browser is free and  loaded with new features to help drivers take the latest traffic information with them on the road

The mobile website was enhanced to display traffic content for easy navigation on mobile phones and devices. It features accurate, up-to-the-minute traffic information including travel times, vehicle speeds, delay times, accident reports and NAVTEQ's unique Jam Factor, a numerical traffic measurement scale that offers a look at a route's current traffic conditions with color coded indications of worsening or improving trends. Drivers across the U.S. can access city area traffic information or their own personalized updates about current conditions and congestion trends.

Drivers can access the site by entering http://mobi.traffic.com into their mobile web browser or via their carrier portals, within information categories that help deliver content to customers such as: "Maps/Traffic," and "Travel."

The latest version of Ovi Maps App has just been released for Nokia devices and the web. The service offers high resolution satellite and terrain maps - both in 2D and 3D views - 3D landmarks for over 200 cities, rotation, tilting, night view, and fly-overs and fly-throughs.

One good thing about the Ovi Map service is if you don't have an unlimited data plan you can download and save maps on your phone. Another nice feature of the mapping service is that you can get it in night mode to make viewing maps easier at night.To use the Ovi Maps app you don't have to pay any extra service fees.

Maps shows nearby ATMs, public transport, parking, hotels, restaurants, and many other places. Walk from one place to another using WALK, the pedestrian navigation with routing optimized for those on foot, providing better orientation in a city or outdoors. Or use DRIVE,the fully fledged car navigation with enhanced safety and real-time traffic information such as safety cameras and speed limits, lane assistance and localized road information like signposts, providing the largest service coverage in the world.

According to the study conducted by Frost & Sullivan of European and Russian consumers, Nokia is the number one choice for mobile navigation over other leading map services.

While PNDs and in-dash navigation device sales continue to suffer from the economic recession, handset-based turn-by-turn navigation is boosted by the rapidly growing smartphone segment. ABI Research expects the number of paying handset-based turn-by-turn navigation users to increase to 26 million by the end of 2010 with the Asia-Pacific region experiencing the strongest growth.

In the wake of a continuous stream of eye-catching touchscreen smartphone launches, navigation software developers are rushing to port their solutions to as many new platforms as possible, such as Android (ALK, Telenav) and the new Palm webOS (Telenav). According to practice director Dominique Bonte, however, “The most significant driver for the uptake of handset navigation is expected to come from the iPhone, following Apple’s decision to finally enable turn-by-turn navigation on its latest 3.0 platform version.” Software from TomTom, Sygic, AT&T (Telenav), and Networks In Motion is already available from the iPhone App Store, with Navigon’s solution expected soon.

While application stores are expected to become an important channel for the distribution of navigation software, many carriers and handset manufacturers prefer to pre-install or bundle navigation software with their phones and offer plans based on strategic partnerships with navigation developers. Examples include Verizon/NIM, AT&T/Telenav, Vodafone/Telmap LG/Appello, HTC/ALK Technologies, and Samsung/Route 66. Market leaders Nokia and Vodafone have respectively opted to acquire navigation providers Gate5 and Wayfinder, allowing tighter integration of navigation and LBS services into their portfolios. Both approaches often coexist.

GPSGolfShot is available exclusively to Verizon Wireless customers and shows golfers the distance.  Using GPS technology, GPSGolfShot helps golfers navigate both new and familiar golf courses, giving them information to improve their games, right on their wireless phones.  
 
GPSGolfShot provides real-time yardage readings on nearly 10,000 professionally-mapped golf courses across the United States, making club selection simple and helping to speed up play by eliminating the need to seek out distance markers or to pace off yardage.  Course layouts are updated constantly and new courses are added frequently.  Many golfers have their wireless phones with them when they play, and GPSGolfShot eliminates the need to carry an additional expensive range finder or other gadget. 
 
GPSGolfShot also speaks distances with the touch of a button so it's always possible to get distance information, even in bright sunlight.  The "Measure My Shot" function allows golfers to accurately measure how far drivers or irons travel, providing information on how to play the next shot.
 
As golf season gets into high gear, GPSGolfShot is available now on many Verizon Wireless phones, including the LG enV3 and LG Versa and the Samsung SCH-u410, SCH-a870 and SCH-a930.  Customers can find GPSGolfShot in the Media Center or Get It Now stores under the Download This! and Sports categories. 
 
GPSGolfShot is available for $1.99 per round or $3.99 per month for unlimited use.  For those who love to golf year-round, an annual subscription is available for $34.99.  Airtime, data usage and messaging fees may apply during download and use of the application.

RIM has confirmed that it has bought Dash Navigation but hasn't revealed many details on the purchase.

Dash's technology turns a  personal navigation device (GPS) into a traffic reporting tool, also called a traffic probe.  Last year, Dash made a device that tracked its users' road speed and location and created traffic reports for other Dash PND users. The device didn't sell well and was pulled from the market.

RIM has not reported if BlackBerry smartphones will in turn become traffic probes to create a traffic service.

NAVTEQ, expanded its travel and leisure guide portfolio with the addition of Lonely Planet for NAVTEQ: Travel Guide.

At launch, the travel guide will cover 19 cities in Australia and New Zealand, with expansion planned to other countries such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand soon thereafter.

Offering reviews for thousands of points of interest (POIs) throughout Australia and New Zealand - both of which ranked among the top five travel destinations according to Lonely Planet's 2008 Travellers' Pulse Survey - the content enables navigation applications to provide recommendations about where to stay, eat or spend leisure time.

Lonely Planet for NAVTEQ lends itself to quick and flexible integration into location-aware applications. First, Lonely Planet content is precisely matched to the NAVTEQ map, enabling consumers to navigate to their desired destinations. NAVTEQ also leverages integration-friendly formats and innovative location referencing which will speed integration into customer applications. Plus, NAVTEQ's ongoing relationship with Lonely Planet also allows updates to Lonely Planet's content to be accurately reflected in the product.

NAVTEQ announced that it has signed an agreement to supply NAVTEQ map data and content to Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Electronics will have access to all 76 countries in the NAVTEQ map database.  The agreement also allows Samsung Electronics the rights to utilize NAVTEQ content including Visual Content, Speed Limits, Extended Lanes and NAVTEQ Discover Cities.   

Samsung Electronics will launch the Samsung I8910 HD (also known as the OMNIA HD) with NAVTEQ Map and content in Europe in May.  The GPS-enabled Samsung I8910 HD will offer drivers an enriched navigation experience through enhanced visual content such as 3D landmarks and 3D city models.  It also offers advanced navigation with speed limits and extended lanes.  More uniquely with NAVTEQ Discover Cities on Samsung I8910 HD, urban travelers will be able to take full advantage of their surroundings and help them get from place to place with a variety of routing options.  F

The Samsung I8910 HD is incorporated with a social networking functionality which uses NAVTEQ map data and content.  It allows users to find their friends online and determine the quickest way to route or walk to them.  Users can also use the local POI search capability and find places recommended by their friends.

Networks In Motion announced it will partner with Sony Ericsson, to offer NIM's location-based services (LBS) for GPS-enabled mobile phones to Sony Ericsson customers worldwide.

Carrirers will be able to offer their own branded versions of NIM's  mobile phone navigation service to their customers, including voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions and 3-D "perspective view" maps as well as local search of millions of regularly updated points of interest.

Additional services such as real-time traffic information, local event information, movie show times, weather forecasts, gas prices and more will also be available.

Doug Antone, president and CEO of Networks In Motion, said, "More GPS-enabled handsets will ship this year than personal navigation devices for the first time, pointing to the tremendous acceptance of mobile phone navigation and associated location-based services by consumers and wireless carriers alike.

Beginning February 24, T-Mobile G1 users can get turn-by-turn GPS navigation from TeleNav.
The TeleNav service includes speech recognition, traffic alerts, business listings, gas prices, weather updates and restaurant reviews.

TeleNav GPS Navigator will be available for a free 30-day trial on TeleNav's Web site. After the free period, customers can continue the service for $9.99 per month for unlimited use. TeleNav GPS Navigator is will be available in the Android Market later this year.

TeleNav GPS Navigator includes full-color 3D moving maps along with voice and on-screen turn-by-turn driving directions. Navigation is available in both landscape and portrait mode. If drivers miss a turn, they will automatically be rerouted.

Garmin-Asus, announced the Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20, a  web-browser and premium super navigation  smartphone with a Windows Mobile operating system. The Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 will be on display at  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The nuvifone M20 is powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with enterprise email. The smartphonece combines a dual-band 3.5G/tri-band GSM phone with Wi-Fi connectivity, desktop-like internet browser, push email, document viewing, multi-media capability, Bluetooth and Garmin sat nav.

The nuvifone M20's full QWERTYtouchscree keyboard makes it easy to send and receive SMS, MMS and emails. The nuvifone M20 can also be synched with a computer so that contacts and emails are always available. HSDPA wireless connectivity and enterprise grade Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) ensure messages are sent and received quickly, including those with attachments.