NaviGadget

ALK Technologies just announced recently that their CoPilot Live GPS navigation system is now available for Android phones. You can already grab it from Android Market for your HTC Magic, HTC Dream or the new HTC Hero – for only $35.

With CoPilot the maps are stored locally on the phone, rather than relying on wireless internet which can be quite slow at times. However there are still some “Live” which utilizes the mobile Internet connection such as real-time traffic alerts, 5-day weather forecast information and a new location sharing service called CoPilot LiveLink.

Here are some features of CoPilot Live for Android:

• Scrolling menus and maps supports touch screen gesture recognition
• Turn-by-turn voice directions
• Widescreen portrait or landscape mode
• CoPilot LiveLink location sharing
• Direct dialling to POIs, location sending via text and photo navigation
• Safety camera alerts with free database updates

It’s only been a few weeks since the new iPhone 3.0 operating system has been released and we already have a handful of GPS navigation system applications available/ or soon to be released. Let’s recap what we have so far:

TeleNav
Also known as AT&T Navigator this app is developed by TeleNav. Free to install, $10/month.

Navigon
Only European version of Navigon is out Costs $95. Works with no internet connection (maps are local). No monthly fee.

TomTom
TomTom is the biggest name in Europe when it comes to sat nav. They demoed their app with the release of iPhone 3GS but still no news from them.

Gokivo
Gokivo is from Networks In Motion. They have a lot of experience in this just like the rest of the names up here. $1 to install, $10/month for subscription. Here’s a review that says it doesn’t work so well.

Sygic
Sygic urrently available for South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand) for $80 and Australia + New Zealand for $65. No monthly fee.

Are we forgetting anyone? Also if you’ve been using any of these apps get in touch with us to get your review published here – even if it’s just a paragraph.

Digital map and dynamic content provider Tele Atlas have just announced Tele Atlas HD Traffic.

Tele Atlas HD Traffic contains up-to-the-minute traffic information from multiple data sources which includes GPS readings from personal navigation devices, mobile phone signals, and road sensors. Tele Atlas HD Traffic takes all this data to provide – in real time – latest traffic conditions.

Some of the features Tele Atlas HD Traffic can be delivered to any connected, mobile device and features:

• Delivery of “live” congestion information
• Extremely accurate positioning of traffic jams
• High update frequency, with fresh data delivered every three minutes
• Road speeds, length and location data to deliver the complete picture of the traffic congestion
• Content based on a proven approach to collecting, processing and distributing real-time traffic data

read »

GPS navigation applications for the new iPhone 3.0 are popping up all over the place. After the Navigon and TomTom, the latest is Gokivo Navigator.

Gokivo is made by NIM (networks in motion) and is already available for 99 cents at the App store. Of course that’s not all – if you want the full navigation functionality you’ll have to subscribe to their service for $10/month.

Gokivo does Yahoo local search, can provide voice prompted navigation, and real time traffic information.

It can sync with bluetooth to your car’s audio to and also let you control your music so you can remain using the GPS navigation application while getting directions.

Oh, and one more thing – you can shake your iPhone to get alternate routes. That’s a first :)

Read more about it at Gokivo.

If altitude data is crucial for you, you may want to spend 99 cents on this app. If you’re familiar GPS devices or other high tech sports watches you may already know how inaccurate these maybe.

The way Exact Altitude + GPS works is a bit different though. It uses a built-in elevation database to read your altitude. So if you have the correct latitude and longitude you’ll have the correct altitude.

Here are some more features of the Exact Altitude + GPS iPhone application:

• Built in elevation database
• Ability to request altitude from online service
• Speed measurement and display
• Displaying the name, distance and course of the center of the closest settlement
• Shows your current movement direction
• Current position display
• Imperial or metric system
• Possibility to switch off iPhone’s sleep system which turns off the display
• Customizable display colors

If you’ve been following Navigadget you should have an idea what Viliv X70 is. In case you don’t; Viliv X70 is a communication MID, or a UMPC if you prefer to call it that. The device has a built in GPS, suction cup window mount, and cigarette lighter adapter that makes a suitable to use in your car – as a GPS navigation system.

Well someone at StreetDeck got their hands on a pre-release version of the X70 and posted a short review video – here is that:

GPS navigation part starting at 7′30″.

One of the biggest map makers, Navteq, is starting to promote their new product “Navteq Discover Cities’ which is already shipping on a few on-foot commercially available devices.

It includes certain key attributes such as pedestrian geometry, mass transit stops and lines, neighborhood data, and dynamic events. Just like in full in-vehicle GPS navigation systems, “Discover Cities” allows for functions like proximity search, POI lookup, and even image tagging. It may work on a variety of devices since it can look up your position either using the standard GPS, or other technologies such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, cell phone tower positioning.

NAVTEQ Discover Cities has extensive data that helps navigation devices and applications provide a variety of routing options to users – including those entirely on foot, or with portions on public transit systems. For instance, when a pedestrian consumer wants the option to use public transit, NAVTEQ Discover Cities enables routes that take into consideration the location of bus and rail stations/ stops and their entrances/exits in relation to the pedestrian route as well as the train/bus network information, including transfer locations.

According to some sources the acquisition one of our favorite failed brand – Dash – is confirmed. Dash, which gave up manufacturing their hardware and started to focus on location based services as well as crowd sourced and crowd favorite real real-time traffic updates is now a part of RIM (research in motion).

If that’s the case you can expect to see some improvement in the GPS navigation and related services offered by RIM. If you remember the idea behind Dash Express and the platform it had built looked pretty solid but it all failed when they wanted to charge a monthly fee for their service.

We’ll have to wait and see what RIM does with their latest acquisition… read »

Navteq just recently announced that speed and red light camera locations are now available for their North America maps. Called “Navteq Camera Alert”, the new platform includes up-to-date information about the exact location of speed limit cameras, red light cameras, as well as combined speed and red light cameras in 5000 locations throughout North America. We’re not sure what percentage of all the cameras in the U.S. these cover but 5000 is a good start.

How to interpret this new traffic camera location in Navteq maps is of course up to the navigation software makers. When combined with current speed limit and the reading from your GPS navigation system it can be used to warn drivers to slow down or watch out for red light cameras.

So, GPSLogger is a free application that keeps track of your position and generates bunch of related data such as direction, speed, distance, and elevation. It even has a compass.

There is nothing esthetically pleasing about the app though. It is all functional. It will work on BlackBerry Devices running OS 4.2.1 or higher.

Checkout a decent review of GPSLogger at crackberry.