GPS obsessed

The Cowon N13 TPEG Plus is an impressive, multi-functional new GPS navigator with multimedia capabilities just released in Korea.  When it’ll hit the US, if it does, we don’t know.  But we do know that we’d like to get our hands on one.

Featuring an 7-inch WVGA TFT LCD color screen from Samsung, a high-end SiRF III chipset, and TPEG, Cowon’s N13 is a premium navigational system.  TPEG, short for Transportation Protocol Expert Group, is Cowon’s technology for receiving live, up-to-the-minute traffic updates, a must-have for today’s GPS systems.  While the N13 may be a great GPS unit, it also has some impressive multimedia capabilities as well.

With audio and video capabilities, the N13 makes for a great portable media device as well.  Utilizing Alchemy AU 1250 600MHz to improve video playback, the Cowon N13 TPEG Plus also features 2 SD slots, a USB port, and AV inputs and outputs.  What makes the N13 unique is its ability to carry out both navigational and multimedia functions simultaneously using both picture-in-picture and navigation-in-picture, so you can go as far as watching a video while navigating from the same screen.

The Cowon N13 TPEG Plus is priced at 519, 000 Korean Won, equivalent to US$552.

Nokia Beta Labs has released a new Location Tagger app that allows you to tag digital photos with GPS coordinates. Using in-built GPS, the app tags the exact latitude and longitude a photo is taken in the EXIF header of the JPEG file and then allows you to mashup your photo data on Google Maps or similar platforms to organize and display your collection.  Eventually, the Location Tagger standalone app will most likely find itself integrated into Nokia handsets.

Via Nokia

Do you have a grandparent in a nursing home that always seems to be getting lost? Perhaps said grandparent would benefit from a GPS navigator on their walker! Residents of a Dutch nursing home have been trying out the geeky new system for a few months now after being designed by some college students to assist those dealing with amnesia. The system is completely wireless to eliminate some of the reception problems commonly seen in mainstream GPS units when used inside buildings or tunnels and simply designed, using only 5 buttons, easy-to-understand symbols, and giant arrows pointing in the right direction. Even the most orientation-challenged can find their way around the home with this unit. We sure hope this things were designed well, because we wouldn’t want any grandparents wandering out into traffic now, would we?

Via Daily Mail

GPS navigation is an incredibly useful technology that is evolving very quickly, but like any technology, has its glitches. Truckers trying to drive to a Secaucus, New Jersey industrial park are being routed by certain Garmin GPS models into a gate that isn’t shown on their GPS unit’s electronic maps. The gate which separates a residential area from the industrial park is only open for a limited time on weekdays, and truckers greeted by a closed gate have on occasion have to call local cops to open the gate because their trucks are to big to turn around. Residents in the area are unhappy about the increase in traffic on their streets as GPS units have routed truckers down the same streets as more truckers began using the navigational technology. Garmin has been notified of the problems, but says that until a formal complaint is made, nothing can be done to change their electronic mapping system.

Via My Way News

Vodafone’s Sat Nav mobile navigation solution will finally be available to the UK consumer market, Vodafone jointly announced with Telmap.  Already available in the enterprise market, Sat Nav offers both in-car and pedestrian navigation featuring 3D maps and directions, millions of points of interest, and live traffic alerts.  The Sat Nav service will initially launch on three of Vodafone’s GPS-enabled handsets: the Nokia N95, Nokia N95 8GB and the Nokia 6110. The service will also be available on the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 and customers who purchase the PDA new will receive 12 months of Sat Nav for free. Other customers will have to pay subscription fees of 5 Pounds per month, plus data charges, and will receive the first month of service free.

Via pocket-lint

Related Points Of Interest

• March 4, 2009 — Vodafone grabs HTC Magic for April
• February 24, 2009 — HTC Magic drops by the FCC, but it`s not the T-Mobile version
• February 17, 2009 — Vodafone snaps up HTC Magic Android phone for Europe
• February 16, 2009 — Palm Pre caught with Vodafone SIM card: Mobile World Congress
• February 16, 2009 — Vodafone to get Android-based HTC G2 exclusively: report

Sony’s NV-U73T and NV-U83T portable GPS navigation systems will be immediately available for purchase at online and brick-and-mortar retail locations. First announced at CES 2008 last early last month in Las Vegas, both Sony models feature technological improvements that emphasize driver safety such as text-to-speech and nearly 5 million points of interest and preloaded maps of both the United States and Canada. Though both the NV-U73T and NV-U83T features the high-end SiRF StarIII GPS receiver, they also feature Sony’s Position Plus technology including pressure, gyro, and acceleration sensors providing more accurate positioning in classic trouble spots such as in tunnels, under bridges, and in between tall buildings.

The NV-U73T has a 4.3 inch touchscreen and will be priced at a reasonable $300, while the flagship NV-U83T has a 4.8-inch, 16:9 aspect ratio touchscreen with integrated Bluetooth for hands-free calling and a slightly more expensive $400 price point. Both models have certain features that can be utilized by the motion of your finger without any screen contact and a 3D dual view mode for navigating complicating intersections.

Via Crave

If you happen to use the Beerhunter mashup in the previous post for a little fun, you may want to invest in an NDrive 6400 GPS unit with a built-in breathalyzer. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay overseas shipping on this one as it’s headed for the European market, to be priced at 200 Euros or about $297. The only question we have is if you register impaired on the NDrive and chose to drive anyways, will the GPS really get you to where you need to go?

Via Crave

This Google Maps mashup only applies to Ontario, Canada residents…with a taste for booze, but really it’d work well for any location with a little tinkering with the Google Maps API. Beerhunter is a mashup that’ll tell you exactly how many locations in your vicinity are open for business to supply your needs, so to speak, and where they are via Google Maps. In fact, as I write this, it’s 9:15 PM in Toronto where’ll you find 46 locations open to purchase your drink of choice. Check out the link above.

Ever worry about getting your precious iPhone stolen or lost? If I had one, that would definitely be on my mind! TUAW has come up with an iPhone LoJack solution that uses a command-line program called findme to return the location of the cellphone tower via Google Maps. It actually connects with a Twitter account you can set up specifically for you iPhone which will receive “calls” from it on a regular basis. This way you can always keep track of you iPhone. Head over to TUAW for specifics. And track iphone with gps.

Ever wonder how color began to play a role in map design? Color + Design has a really cool run-down on the evolution in color navigation in mapping.