Archive for the ‘GPS’ Category
Never got word of GPS? I question it. The word has become so well used as the GPS navigation device revolution continues! In my humble opinion GPS navigators are right up there with fire, the wheel, flight, cell phones, and ATMs as the most useful inventions. And prices are expected to fall further, by 20% in 2008, according to leading manufacturer Garmin.
A grid of thirty-one of the almost 900 participating satellites in space are used for the Global Positioning System. They transmit microwaves that allow GPS Navigation Devices receivers along the ground to find their placement, speed, direction and time.
Cargoes of mobile phones with built-in GPS capability are anticipated to more than quadruple by 2011, according to a account released by research firm iSupply - from 109 million units in 2006 to 444 million units by 2011.
By late 2007 GPS leader Garmin had introduced software that teams with a range of gps-enabled smartphones to turn them into Garmin navigators usable in North America or Europe. The Garmin Mobile XT offers preloaded maps on a microSD card and includes access to dynamic content like premium real-time traffic alerts and fuel prices, but doesn’t require monthly fees or subscriptions of any form. It costs only $99 USD.
Around the same time, telephone company Nokia anted up $8 billion for map data provider NavTeq, a move that will no doubt spur the growth of cell phone-based GPS systems at the probable expense of portable and vehicle mapping devices. This move followed close on the heels of European car navigation maker, TomTom, paying $2.8 billion for digital mapping company teleAtlas. Like Garmin, Nokia is working on a phone that would allow
a user to tag photos with their geographic coordinates, allowing them to position the photos on a map on social networking sites.
Whether you see it as good or bad, GPS Navigation Device manufacturers are apparently able to retrieve data from your GPS unit - information like speed, location, time of day etc and give it to authorities if they are forced to. Interesting fodder for court cases.
Bladerunner even has a children’s GPS jacket which can be used to keep tabs on their whereabouts on, say, a snowboarding, hiking or biking adventure. Parents can even input the GPS devices information into Google Earth and track their child’s location in real time. You can also “geofence” the device to trigger an alert when the child leaves a certain area the parent has established. Could be useful for older citizens with dimentia problems too. Just have $500 ready as well as $20 a month satellite tracking charge.
Despite the negatives, GPS units is truly here to stay with manufacturers laying claim that we users are demanding for more and more uses for the technology. My two favorites have to be the units for blind people that can talk to them and lead them to a nearby bank, coffee shop or other Point Of Interest (POI) and you can use audio guides on your GPS unit to be your personal tour guide as you travel the sights of a city of region.
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- Quality Consumer Electronics and Free Shipping in USA
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Garmin’s nüvi 700 series brings two exciting new features — multi-destination routing and, “Where am I?/Where’s my car?” — to its popular pocket-sized GPS navigator lineup. As with all nüvis, you get Garmin reliability, the fast satellite lock of an integrated high-sensitivity receiver, a slim, pocket-sized design with a gorgeous display, an easy, intuitive interface, and detailed NAVTEQ maps for the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico with more than 6 million name-searchable points of interest. All of the 700-series navigators also feature a rich array of features including spoken directions in real street names, integrated traffic receivers, MP3 player and photo viewer, and an FM transmitter that will play voice prompts, MP3s, audio books, and more, directly through your vehicle’s stereo system. The nüvi 760 and 770 add Bluetooth capability for hands-free calling. The nüvi 770 adds maps for Europe.
More maps and wide ? there’s simply more to see with nüvi 770. This personal travel assistant is packed with preloaded maps for North America and Europe, not to mention advanced navigation features, a widescreen display, an FM transmitter, hands-free calling, traffic alerts and more. Like the rest of the wide nüvi 700-series, its premium navigation capabilities, like route planning and a h Save up to 10 routes, and specify via points and preview simulated turns on the 4.3 widescreen, or enter your via points and let the nuvi 750 automatically sort multiple destinations for an efficient route Hands free calling with Bluetooth phones A trip log of up to 10,000 points keeps a record of where you’ve been on the map for easy reference Speed limits for all major highways and interstates A high-sensitivity internal (non flip-up) antenna keeps the unit sleek and compact while the rechargeable lithium-ion battery allows you to use the unit in and out of the car for up to 5 hours MP3 playback with Audiobook player (subscription to Audible.com required), JPEG picture viewer, and currency converters Built-in FM transmitter allows you to listen to your music, audio books, and gps voice prompts through your car’s stereo] Route avoidance (avoid highways, tolls, etc.), Route setup (choice of faster time, shorter distance, off-road), Auto re-route (fast auto-recalculation when you take a wrong turn or want to avoid traffic), and Custom POIs (ability to add additional points of interest) FM traffic alerts (3 months of service included) Interfaces - USB, Audio line-out (headphone) Unit Dimensions - 4.8w x 3h x. 8d Weight - 6.2 oz
The Magellan Maestro 4250 GPS Navigator offers live traffic info, voice command and control, built-in AAA TourBook and Roadside Assistance information, text-to-speech, bluetooth for hands-free calling, all on a 4.3? wide screen display.
The Magellan Maestro 4250 is the new top of the line auto navigation unit from Magellan. Thinner and lighter than the Magellan 4050 GPS Navigation Device, the 4250 also increases the number of points of interest (POIs) available to 6 million (vs. the 4050’s 4.5 million).
Otherwise, the two units are identical in their key specs. Both offer voice commands, pre-loaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, text-to-speech, Bluetooth and live traffic info.
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With a gorgeous widescreen display, the Garmin nüvi 660 GPS Navigation Device is your answer to the call of adventure. A sleek navigator and a keen travel assistant, the nüvi 660 is preloaded with highly detailed City Navigator NT road maps for the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. This map database features nearly six million points of interest (POIs), including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and attractions, and the data is provided by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping.This preloaded navigator brings all this fantastic map data to your fingertips with a super-bright, 4.3-inch widescreen display for improved map viewing, day or night. Use the touch screen interface to select destinations, look up POIs, and play your favorite MP3s and audio books. The display also helps you control hands-free calling, traffic alerts, and the FM transmitter, all from the screen of your personal travel assistant.
This idea is so obvious, no one thought of it until now. Uniden is launching a line of interoperable GPS devices and radar detectors. Uniden’s Trax line of GPS devices offer standard functionality, such as route guidance, text-to-speech, and either a 3.5- or 4.3-inch screen. The Trax line uses NavTeq maps, and has what Uniden says is the fastest satellite acquisition among its competitors. Uniden’s line of radar detectors is the LRD series, which detects X, K, KA, VG2, Laser, Ultralyte Laser L2, and Pro Laser 3 guns. Apparently, you will be able to plug the radar detectors into the navigation units. The GPS display will show detected radar guns complete with its approximate location in relation to the car.
We can imagine a lot of possibilities with a system like this. Each detected radar gun could be logged by the GPS device, so over time you could build up a database of speed traps. If this data could be shared on a Web site, you would end up with a pretty comprehensive database of speed traps. Maybe put into a Google map application? Kind of like the manually created Speed Trap Exchange.
