NextGen GPS

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Saturday, July 05, 2008

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Maps
In last couple of years GPS has become highly popular among consumers. Creating Maps is a long process. Google has been constantly developing its maps features ever since they came out. The latest addition to Google maps is driving directions in its street view, but it's currently available for US locations. In case you are wondering how Google Street view works, for this Google has tied up with various image providers such as immersive media which provide Google a database of GeoImmersive imagery. To create this, database company has captured a 360 degree georeferenced spherical video (yes, what you see on street view is actually a video) using its Telemmersion System. This recording system uses a Telemersion camera which has eleven lenses who simultaneously capture eleven streams. This is usually mounted on top of a car which goes around the streets capturing data what you see on street view. See the different facets of navigation box above for details of one more such car.

Microsoft Virtual Earth offers 3D Bird's Eye view of selected locations, to give users 'almost there' feeling while exploring maps

Google Maps are also available for mobile which also provides direction as well as transit feature. However these features are not yet available for India. Talking about Mobile maps, Nokia has been creating a buzz with Nokia Maps 2.0.

With many of the Nokia phones coming with built-in GPS and pre-loaded maps , it can provide turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance. Of course you will have to pay extra to use this service. Nokia maps is available for eight cities in India, for more details see Nokia GPS roadmap box. Microsoft isn't far behind either, its Live maps and Virtual Earth provides some interesting features. It provides 3D views and Bird's Eye view. Its 3D Bird's view again is not yet available for Indian locations but directions work decently with Indian locations.

Yahoo with its yahoo maps is more bullish on providing local maps. Even on its US sites it provides simple maps in Hybrid, Satellite formats. Yahoo India Maps currently in its beta also offers maps in Hindi. It lets you search Driving Direction and send the directions to your mobile through an SMS free ofcCost and also lets you print the directions from the website itself.

In India another good option is to use MapmyIndia. Its web portal provides all India maps and driving directions for free. They also offer two navigation devices (with choices of state maps and all India maps), software for Windows PDAs with built-in GPS and a mapping application for smartphones.

Buying a GPSdevice
If you're looking to buy a consumer use GPS device, first decide what you need it for. If you want to use GPS for a sport like Geocaching (www.geocaching. com), you'll need a simple device that can track routes and save waypoints-like something from the Garmin eTrex series.

If you need turn-by-turn directions for use in a car or while walking around, you need to go with a PND (personal navigation device) with maps. If you don't want to carry multiple devices, it's better to buy a phone/PDA with built-in GPS. You can still get turn-by-turn directions on PDAs/smartphones with the right software and maps loaded. If you want to add GPS to your existing smartphone/PDA or laptop, you can simply buy a Bluetooth GPS receiver like the Adapt AD-750 (available from www.spin.co.in for Rs 5000). Once connected, you can use the free Google Maps service on all these devices to accurately pinpoint your location. Google Maps however, cannot give you turn-by-turn directions to somewhere you want to go.

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