Thursday, April 10. 2008

SatNav: Don't Park Here!

The latest dataset to appear on satnav? High car crime areas. Basically, it's a warning about where NOT to park your car. The feature is currently available from Sanyo one of its Gorilla branded devices. Alas, so far data is only available for Osaka. Interestingly, there almost no car crime in Japan, but elsewhere...

- Tech Radar

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, GNSS, Satellite Navigation at 07:56 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Friday, April 4. 2008

Quote of the Week

PC World has a reasonably useful article on How to Buy a GPS. I give the author much credit for noting at the outset that if you don't go anywhere, you should go cheap, but if you travel to many different places regularly (salesperson) go big.

Which brings me to the quote - it relates to the timeliness of map updates for different units.

If you expect to use your GPS device primarily to find convenient java shops during occasional travels--or retail outlets that you've never visited before--working with less-than-up-to-the-minute mapping data is probably okay. And you can always turn to MapQuest for more-recent information.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, MapQuest, GNSS, Satellite Navigation at 07:28 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, December 24. 2007

Quote of the Week

"When can I buy hardware to equip my dog with so that she won't run away too far?"

Russian President Vladimir Putin in discussing the expansion of GLONASS (the Russian GNSS) with First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. The response: such systems should be available by mid-2008. (Reuters)

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GNSS, Routing, Tracking, Logistics at 07:15 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, December 17. 2007

All Dash, All the Time

The Internet-connected DASH is now available for pre-order. That means all the techies are showing off their reviews and sharing pricing.

Some tidbits:

Compared to your usual, run of the mill GPS, whole connected navigator experience was not dissimilar from the jump between going from a VCR to a TiVo -- which is why we think maybe, just maybe, people might actually want to pay for service with this thing.

The big news today is that the eagerly anticipated Dash Express is available for pre-order for $599 with three months of free two-way GPRS information and traffic service. After that, the service will cost $10 to $13 monthly on top of that. Pricey to be sure, but the newly unveiled features solidify the Dash's reputation as a turn-by-turn GPS navigator unlike anything seen before...

And although it is by no means the most expensive GPS system out there, it is indeed a device that reflects the true spirit of Web 2.0. ...I didn’t necessarily want to do a review of Dash, but it’s allowed me to point out something that is being forgotten in the mad scramble that is Web 2.0: The Internet is not just about the browser, but rather it is about data and how one can use it to build clever products. I think Dash, much like Amazon’s Kindle and RCA’s Small Wonder video camera, is part of a movement that is breaking Web 2.0’s browser shackles.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, Traffic, Local Search, GNSS, Satellite Navigation, Navigation at 06:59 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, November 27. 2007

Podcast: Black Friday and Cyber Monday from a Location Intelligent Perspective

Retailers are reveling in the news that Black Friday saw a better than expected boost in consumer spending with Cyber Monday taking on a life of its own. Directions Magazine editors Joe Francica and Adena Schutzberg try to make sense of the current retailing environment with an eye on the location technologies that are contributing to the way consumers think about getting to the mall or shopping online. The podcast is 12 minutes long and was recorded on November 25, 2007.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in LBS, GPS, Location Intelligence, Traffic, Directions on the News Podcast, Local Search, GNSS, Satellite Navigation, Navigation at 01:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, November 15. 2007

Garmin Settles with TomTom and More on Data Company Acquisitions

While the two are in a bidding war (Garmin is said to still be mulling a second counter offer that'd raise it above TomTom's) the two companies settled all the intellectual property cases pending in the U.K., the Netherlands, Wisconsin and Texas. No details on terms of the agreement.

Bloomberg offers up an analysis of the Tele Atlas bidding war which matches a lot of what I heard at deCarta's devCON over the past few days. PND makers are getting squeezed by in-car systems on one side and cell phones on the other. (deCarta sees the solution as connected PNDs and I think they make a good point.)

Among those quoted was the day two keynoter: Jeff Rath

"They're trying to protect themselves as the whole world goes wireless around them,'' said Jeff Rath, an analyst at Canaccord Adams in Vancouver, who tells clients to hold onto Garmin. The auction for Tele Atlas, based in Den Bosch, Netherlands, is about "self-preservation.''

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GPS, GNSS, Satellite Navigation at 08:23 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |