You Can't Park There Mate!

Now that wireless has entered a more participatory, social phase, it is expected that shared data collection, storage and collation will expand exponentially.

Think about all the 'wasted' legacy information that text messaging alone loses. And now imagine if just a tiny percentage of that wastage morphs into shared community information, opinion and therefore user-centred change. There is a huge amount of electronic information that's out there stemming from the various forms of static and mobile technology, not least your SatNav.

What's the most popular film at the cinema tonight, which nearby restaurant sells my favourite food, for how much and how is it rated?

This is of course similar territory to what PocketGPSWorld.com is involved in; it is that valuable shared community information that keeps our speed camera warning database so accurate. That kind of quality would be prohibitively expensive to a company that didn't have an enthusiastic network of thousands to rely on.

So what are the implications of shared location aware solutions for business? Take the motor insurance industry for instance. Insurance companies may choose to supply you with (for free)... Click here to read more and discuss...

Posted by robert on Wednesday, July 23 @ 20:41:16 GMT

Reviews: Garmin Mobile for BlackBerry USA review

Garmin Mobile for Blackberry is an innovative navigation system for your Cell Phone which works without needing to install any memory cards or mapping data. Instead a small application is downloaded over the air, with the mapping and route calculation being sent from a central server. This is termed as off-board navigation.

How does this work? Click here to read our review and find out...

Click here to discuss...

Posted by Mike Barrett on Saturday, July 19 @ 16:04:44 GMT

News: GiSTEQ Launch Phototrackr software for Mac

Back in December 2007 I reviewed the GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr and followed up a little later with the new WondeProud datalogger bundled in the package. For me the only thing missing was software to run the applications on the Mac.

Well that has changed now with the release of Mac Software for both the standard and pro versions of the GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr. This is a free download for all current users of PhotoTrackr and has some enhanced features included.

Click here to read more...

Click here to discuss...

Posted by Mike Barrett on Friday, July 18 @ 07:52:03 GMT

News: Press the "Release" Button!

PocketGPSWorld.com is in search of headlines. Big, bold, attention grabbing ones!

Help us spread the word about our Speed Camera Warnings. The more users we have, the more camera spotters we have! We're giving away £100 in Halfords vouchers to all ideas that are picked up and published offline!

It's no secret that editors welcome information provided by companies (press releases). They have a lot of space to fill and only a limited time to fill it. Of course that's all very well, but what if you don't have a story of any interest to them?

We’re sometimes approached by journalists asking for information about PocketGPSWorld.com. We often get asked if there are any interesting angles that they can use about our site. As we're all usually working at full throttle, we're probably not the best ones to ask - we tend not to see the wood for the trees!

We're currently collating the results of PocketGPSWorld.com polls... Click here to read more/see terms...

Posted by robert on Thursday, July 17 @ 19:24:52 GMT

Subscribers: The PocketGPSWorld.com International Speed Camera Database Has Just Been Updated

Version 6.073 - 17 Jul 08

This release sees 151 static and mobile speed cameras added/modified across the various speed camera databases by 63 users. We have also banned 2 users for breach of copyright (as well as another 2 for file sharing dating back to 2006 - take heed if you have ever shared your database!).

Please click here for the full breakdown of country, speed camera type and number. All members submitting qualifying reports of static/mobile speed cameras will be credited with lifetime memberships by 17:00 18 Jul 08.

Please keep submitting all sightings of mobile speed cameras so we can keep our database up to date with active sites. Apparently-inactive sites are regularly removed from the database.

The Garmin GPSR is now up to date (3.12pm, 18th July)
The NavigationMaster database is currently 5.113 (13th Nov 07)
The MapFactor/Directions database is currently 6.054 (21st May 08)

Dont forget our RSS feed which is updated every time we release the speed camera database. Simply right click on the RSS image and select copy shortcut, then post the link into your favourite RSS reader.

The speed camera submission page and download page can be found by clicking here. You can submit new speed cameras in one of two ways - either an OV2 file created by POICapture or individual camera locations.

A beginner's guide to the speed camera database can be found here, and some installation instructions for most units can be found here.

Please watch for further announcements on the homepage or sign up to our occasional newsletter alerts which carry full details of future speed camera database releases. The newsletter signup box is located on the top left of all site pages. Your privacy is important to us, we do not sell on your email details.

Posted by maft on Thursday, July 17 @ 09:50:02 GMT

Events: Americas Com 2008 (formerly GSM 3G) Announced

Formerly known as GSM 3G, The Com World Series are holding their Americas Com 2008 annual telecoms conference and exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil over the two days of the 9th and 10th of September. PocketGPSWorld.com are proud to have been chosen as media partners for the event.

This event attracts a very high level of participation from leading network operators and vendors from across the region with 29% board/director level attendance in 2007. This year it is bringing together the whole communications value chain: mobile and fixed-line operators, Internet service providers, regulators, investors, telecoms solution vendors, content providers and more.

Click here to read more...

Posted by robert on Wednesday, July 16 @ 16:45:47 GMT

News: ViewRanger announce extended European map coverage

Augmentra, creator of the ViewRanger product range of topographic software for smartphones have announced they have expanded topographical map coverage and for the first time now feature detailed mapping from National Mapping Agencies which can be downloaded over the GPRS network.

Coverage now includes Great Britain, Finland and Slovenia with an additional five European countries to follow.

This latest version of ViewRanger includes many features to help outdoor enthusiasts maximise their activity and share their experience:

• Over-the-air delivery of maps and POIs
• Integration with Yahoo GeoPlanet with extended gazetteer and Postcode search
• BuddyBeacon friend tracking
• Enhanced try-before-you-buy experience with “One Tile Trial”
• Enhanced integration of the smartphone camera
• More efficient publishing of photos to ViewRanger's TravelLog and to Facebook
• Refinement to ViewRanger’s location-based alarms
• Night Vision mode

News: Satmap release v1.2 System Software

Satmap have released v1.2 of their system software along with v10.23 of their desktop PC Planning Software - SatSYNC. Unlike earlier releases, the latest version is available for download direct from Satmap's website here although you must have a minimum of v1.16 before you can take advantage of this upgrade.

It is not yet clear what improvements are part of the latest SatSYNC beta but the v1.2 release of the system software contains a number of new features including:

• Charger Control
• SDHC Support
• Improved map zoom handling
• UTM and MRGS Coordinate schemes
• Improved memory handling

News: German Courts Rule Phone Nav Units Illegal

This is sure to cause a stir. A German court has ruled that a navigation application running on a Smartphone cannot be used whilst driving.

Because the use of phones whilst driving is illegal, a court in Cologne has ruled that drivers using a satellite navigation system installed on a phone are infringing Section 23, Paragraph 1 of the German Highway Code.

The full text can be read here (in German) and here translated although you should be aware that Google's translator misinterprets the German for driving as 'tax' because the German for 'steering wheel' and 'tax' are the same.

Click here to discuss...

Posted by Darren Griffin on Monday, July 14 @ 16:36:25 GMT

News: Apple launch the GPS enabled iPhone 3G

The long awaited Apple iPhone 3G with integrated GPS capabilities has been launched and at PocketGPSWorld.com we were lucky enough to get our hands on one on launch day. Rumours of a GPS enabled iPhone started almost immediately after the launch of the original iPhone, and these were confirmed just over a month ago in San Francisco by Steve Jobs Apple's CEO.

Applications are delivered by 3rd Party developers via Apple's ITunes App Store allowing Apple full control of what is and is not allowed to run on the iPhone. At launch there were a number of GPS apps in the Navigation, Social Networking and Photography sections of the iTunes App Store.

Click here to read my thoughts on a selection of the launch day GPS apps.

Click here to discuss...

Posted by Mike Barrett on Saturday, July 12 @ 15:53:42 GMT

News: Community Call: Help Make Pocket GPS Even Better!



We have introduced the PocketGPSWorld.com Suggestion Box to help further improve our service to you.

We're looking for ideas for the future development of both the speed camera database and website covering things such as:

• camera database quality
• increasing new camera reports
• increasing database usage
• site layout
• new site sections
• partnerships

News: Apple open the iPhone App Store on iTunes

With less than 24 hours to go before the launch of the GPS enabled iPhone Apple have opened the App Store on iTunes. Already there are 15 applications available in the Navigation section of the App Store mainly based around Public Transport in the USA. The price of these does seem to be a little extortionate £9 for an map of the San Francisco BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) system does seem somewhat high with little explanation to justify this price.

The app that caught my eye though was Where this is a FREE Social Networking app showing Local Based places and people. There is no truth in the rumour that I am a coffee junkie and the Starbucks icons were like a magnet to my eyes... Actually I will be in San Francisco at the Moscone Center later this year...

Click here to visit the Apple iTunes Navigation App Store. You need to have iTunes loaded on your computer.

Click here to discuss...

Posted by Mike Barrett on Thursday, July 10 @ 14:51:21 GMT

News: iGuidance 2009 Laptop announced

iNav have recently announced iGuidance 2009 Laptop and UMPC/Car PC. Laptop software solutions are much more popular in the US (no doubt because their larger cars are more able to accommodate them than ours!) and iGuidance has always been one of the top selling solutions in that market.

Although iGuidance is only available with US mapping it's worthy of a mention because of its huge popularity and any new version is sure to be of great interest. The 2009 version is currently undergoing final testing ahead of a scheduled release in week 3/4 of July and it's feature list includes:

• New Navteq 2008 map date
• 3D realistic junction view
• Traffic pattern (incl ETA & ETD calculation based on historic traffic for accuracy improvement)
• On-screen help for option menus

News: Garmin Sponsor the T3 Gadget awards

This year’s T3 Awards have been rebranded as the Garmin T3 Awards for 2008 and they're bigger and better than ever. The ‘Oscars for Gadgets’ will provoke some discussions across the country as the Awards give you the chance to speak up and vote for the hottest technology of 2008.

There are loads of voting categories - from the Best Gadget Award to the greenest eco-gadget of the year - and if you register your votes for your favourites (i.e Garmin) we have a great opportunity of claiming the top prizes in the categories we feature in – Gadget of the Year & Commuter Gadget of the Year.

Also, don’t forget to suggest any other Garmin products that aren’t featured in the listings as award winners – i.e. Forerunner 405 and nüvi 860

Simply click here and vote, plus don’t forget to refer as many of your contacts, friends and relatives.

Click here to discuss...

Posted by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 09 @ 15:42:45 GMT

News: Qstarz announce ultra small BT GPS and BT GPS Dataloggers

Qstarz recently announced the addition of 2 new GPS devices to their product lineup. These are the BT-Q890 Bluetooth GPS receiver nano and the BT-Q1300 Bluetooth GPS Travel Recorder nano. (Now where have I heard the name nano used before... I recall it is a Unix text editor :D )

These devices are promoted as "Ultra beautiful! Ultra thin! Ultra portable!". Well in size they are quite small, measuring just 38mm x 62mm x 7mm and at just over 20g they are light as well, but the most interesting thing about these devices is that they will use the latest MTK GPS Chipset. This has a sensitivity level of -165dBm and 66 channels whereas the previous MTK GPS is -159dBm and 51 channels. This may not sound a lot but the measurement is based on a logarithmic scale so the -6 represents a very significant improvement in sensitivity.

Not only are these new devices small and sensitive, they also have a hint of style about them, gone are the bland black boxes. The new BT GPS devices have a stunning design on a nicely designed casing. It will be interesting to get my hands on one to determine what they feel like and more importantly what the extra sensitivity means in real life usage.

The new devices priced at £70 for the Datalogger nano and £50 for the BT GPS nano should be available now. In the UK the Qstarz products can be purchased from SuperGPSTrader and in the USA from BuyGPSNow.

Click here to read more including the Qstarz press release and discuss...

Posted by Mike Barrett on Wednesday, July 09 @ 10:32:37 GMT