Waypoints – October 29, 2006

Shorts from the past week…

POI’s

I am amazed how much information is out there on custom POIs. I’ve added these to my custom POI resources page:

Here’s an article that tells how to create POIs using POIEditor.com (supports TomTom .ov2, Navman/Garmin .csv and ascii files).
Three ways to make custom POI icons for Garmin receivers.
GPSInformation.net has a forum on how to create custom POI’s using Garmin’s POI loader.
GPSInformation.net also has a forum on POI collections.

Updated GPS reviews

Garmin Forerunner 305 review – A Forerunner 305 review has been posted at GPSInformation.org has posted their .
Garmin nuvi 660 review – A nuvi 660 review has also been posted at GPSInformation.info, and another posted on One Man’s Blog.
Garmin StreetPilot 2820 review – A Garmin 2820 review has been posted at GPSInformation.org.
Magellan RoadMate 800 review – A Magellan 800 review has been posted at Mac’s Facts.
Magellan RoadMate 2000 review – A Magellan 2000 review has been posted by PC Magazine.
Magellan RoadMate 2200T review – The first reader review of a RoadMate 2200T has been posted at Amazon.
Magellan RoadMate 3050T review – A Magellan RoadMate 3050T review has been posted at PocketLint.
Magellan RoadMate 6000T review – A Magellan RoadMate 6000T review has also been posted at PocketLint.
TomTom GO 910 review – A TomTom 910 review has been posted at Motor Authority.

Hardware

CNet compares six GPS devices, and we’ve reviewed the top four (Garmin StreetPilot i3, Magellan Roadmate 2200T, TomTom ONE, Lowrance iWay 350C).
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to give voice commands to your GPS? Well, you better live in Europe and have loads of cash.
Here is a review of a couple of mouse type GPS receivers for Laptops. Via Digg.
As part of an effort to drive down the cost of GPS receivers, manufacturers are likely to turn to non-SiRF chipsets. Looks like mass-adoption could lead to crappy receivers. Related post: What makes SiRFstar III so good?
There’s a new lower-end (for Sony anyway) GPS receiver about to hit the market — the Sony NV-U51. An interesting new feature is finger gestures.
It looks like Nokia will enter the GPS PND market.

Cell phones and GPS

TomTom is partnering with Vodafone to provide more accurate estimates of travel time.
How about a ruggedised BlackBerry?
Cingular is coming out with a TeleNav based GPS navigation solution.
Spot is a mapping solution for Blackberrys.
GPS cell phones save a life. Don’t count on it though.

Maps, data, software

These topo maps of Poland date back to 1919 to 1939. And while other things may have changed, little will have changed in terms of contour lines.
Here is a KML to GPX converter.
Geoladders allows you to download GPS data for mountain biking, primarily in Southern California.
Talk about niche. Here is a marine – Mac – laptop shareware program.
This appears to be a source of European maps for Mio devices.
Inrix, provider of TMC traffic feeds, will begin offering dynamic fuel price information. That doesn’t necessarily mean your GPS manufacturer will buy in though.
Magnalox provides a way to integrate YouTube videos into GPS track display. Via Digg.

All the new that doesn’t fit