Thursday, November 12. 2009

TomTom iPhone App Update

This is probably a good time for an update considering Google's new Android-based free Google Maps Navigation and the talk it may come to other platforms, include the iPhone.

Among the goodies in a new free update, now pending approval in the AppStore:

- ext-to-speech (TTS) for spoken street names and POIs as part of the device's directions
- graphic lane guidance
- links to emergency services
- an iPod inside the app to play and manage music (thus getting around the challenge of running but one app at a time)
- map update
- dataset of "safety cameras"

- C|net Cartech Blog

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation, Apple at 08:44 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, November 10. 2009

Podcast: Windows 7, a Netbook and/or the Cloud?

Windows 7 is out and getting good reviews. But, the Mac continues to rule in customer satisfaction. And what of those cheap, lightweight netbooks? What role should the cloud play in picking your next hardware and software, both for general productivity and geospatial production work? Our editors (one Mac and one PC) explore the options.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Microsoft, Directions on the News Podcast, Apple, Cloud Computing at 01:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Friday, November 6. 2009

iPhone augmented reality parked car finder

I'm thinking Car Finder will be many people's first augmented reality app purchase. For 99 cents you get an app that allows you to "save the location" of your car into your iPhone. Then, when it's time to leave the concert or mall, you pop open your iPhone and it shows you on the scene in what direction and how far away the car is! Brilliant! I wonder why this is only coming out now? Perhaps it's being timed for the holiday shopping season?

- AutoBlog

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Apple at 08:44 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, October 15. 2009

NYT Reviews iPhone Nav Apps: Not all Rosy

Erica Taub writes the review and notes:

Of the four GPS apps I tested — from major navigation companies — each crashed several times, jolting my iPhone back to the home screen. Occasionally, the iPhone did not seem to recognize that I was even using the GPS feature, and the phone simply shut off. None of the apps could keep up with my driving. I often made a turn or reached an intersection before the map redrew to indicate that I had. At other times, the app showed me making a turn before I actually had.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Satellite Navigation, Apple at 09:39 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Update: Coming for the iPhone: Old Map App

Update: Just got the good word that the app has been renamed Historic Earth and is now available. Further, it's now a partnership with Historic Map Works, and accesses that organization's "exclusive collection of more than 30,000 geo-referenced maps."

[Marketing comment] Martin did his social media homework! His e-mail reminding me that I wrote about the app earlier was key in getting me to provide this update. A generic "we launched e-mail" may not have caught my attention.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Open Source, Apple at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Monday, October 12. 2009

iPhone Users More Likely to Use Nav, but few Use Anything Other than GMaps

Recent research from Compete found that 55% of iPhone owners use navigation and/or GPS at least a few times a week, compared with just 31% of the total smartphone population. But while people are using navigation on their phones, they're not downloading many apps (only 22% use something other than the preloaded Google Maps) and they're not willing to pay much more than $5 for them, said Danielle Nohe, director-consumer technologies at Compete.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Google, Apple at 06:00 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |