http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zbZBykJIdJk
Waypoints is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends. To get a few of the biggest stories as they break, follow me on Twitter. The lead video is via Urban Velo; check out the end of the video and you’ll see that the track isn’t quite as clean as it looks above!
GPS deals
UPDATED Sunday, December 16 – Here are some of the hottest deals we’re following right now in our GPS deals section:
- It’s back!: Garmin nuvi 50 (US except Alaska) – $79 at Amazon
- It’s back!: Garmin nuvi 50LM (US except Alaska) – $99.99 at Amazon
- Garmin nuvi 2595LMT – $183.07 at Amazon
Garmin nuvi 3590LMT – $321.28 at Amazon- NEW (runs till 6am EST Tuesday): Handheld GPS sale at EMS.com – especially good deals on the new Garmin eTrex and Montana series
- Garmin GPSMAP 62s – $299.99 at GPS City; compare at Amazon
- Garmin Oregon 550t – $299.99 at Amazon
- Garmin Forerunner 405CX with HRM – $129.99 at Amazon
Garmin
- Which Garmin nuvis don’t say “recalculating”
- An eBay dealer who specializes in Garmin fitness device battery replacement: Garmin fitness device battery replacement
- Using the Garmin Tempe Sensor as an external temperature sensor for your car
- Or as an outdoor max/min thermometer
- More Garmin tempe info (I’eve added these to my Garmin tempe review)
- I may have linked to this before: GPS chipsets used in Garmin devices
- Nuvis for offroad use
- Garmin Connect gets more social
- Want to see what an integrated Garmin unit looks like in a Chrysler?
Going mobile
- Looks like the TomTom Car Kit for Smartphones
is finally available in the US
- Trimble Launches Elite Membership: A Complete Mapping Solution for Outdoor Enthusiasts
- Patent: Real Time Crime Map on Cellphone/Smartphone
More on Google Maps for iOS
- MacWorld goes hands on
- iOS Google Maps: If it’s great, thank Apple’s strategy
- Commentary from a Google Local expert
- GPS Business News chimes in
- And there is an SDK, offering iOS developers alternative cartography
Updates
- SPOT Connect firmware updater
- Garmin updates this past week: dezl 760LMT and lots of chartplotters
- ExpertGPS v 4.66
Geocaching
- Android Geocaching app updates: the official Geocaching.com app, c:geo, CacheSense
- Find new caches near your home each week
- Jeremy Irish interview
- The only full-time walk-in geocaching store in the United States; via Geocaching.com
- Better geocaching icons
- c:geo Part III: Field Notes
- OpenCaching: Favorite searches
Satellites and such
- Launch of GPS Satellite Struggled through Tense Moments
- Transmissions from Galileo Satellite IOV-4 Begin
GPS in the news
- Police use recovered GPS devices to track owners
- GPS Kits for Weapons Included in U.S. Arms Deal with Israel
- Researchers find crippling flaws in global GPS
- Ars Technica’s take: How to bring down mission-critical GPS networks with $2,500
- My GPS made me do it: Schreiber truckers follow faulty GPS directions
GPS tracking
- All Yellowstone Park wolf GPS collared wolves were killed in wolf hunt
- Related: Mourning an Alpha Female
- GPS used to track, catch River Falls drunk driver
- Another Israeli ‘Spy Bird’ Nabbed, This Time By Sudan
- Yes, they got a warrant – GPS devices used to track drug suspect
- RuuviTracker – Open source GPS tracking
- LEO child tracker gets big name support
- Medical Alert System to Have u-blox GPS and 2G/3G data connection
The business of GPS
- GPS chip supplier STMicroelectronics announces new strategic plan (but it looks like they will still make GPS chips)
- Garmin CEO Kao cashes in $73.7M in stock
- Apple buying TomTom? A Motley Fool writer thinks it won’t happen
- Garmin Added To The S&P; 500? That Just Doesn’t Make Sense
- Success of Garmin starts with co-founder Min Kao
- Lack of innovation by NAVTEQ and Garmin in map updates results in customers fueling their competitor?
- Startup harvests social media geo-tagged photo data
Just geo
- Google Maps supports KMZ files
- Hiking in nature may boost creativity, but maybe not if your too focused on your GPS
- Lost In Bryce Canyon National Park
- Map: The seven countries where the state can execute you for being atheist
- China’s nail houses, in geospatial context
- Hand Drawn Map of New York; via @maproomblog
- Vote for DigitalGlobe’s Top Satellite Image of the Year
- 630in – a geo-news aggregator; via All Points Blog
- All of the world’s power plants, in one handy map; via @GPSGIS_Eric
- UVA Students Present Plans to Preserve Tunnel; more on the Blue Ridge Tunnel
- Mount Hood Lidar based map; via Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries
- Just some general commentary, but it sums things up pretty well:
https://twitter.com/maproomblog/status/278130565264314368
All the news that doesn’t fit
- What Snopes.com says about burglaries resulting from having your home address in a stolen GPS
- 911 Texting Coming in 2014
- The Official NORAD Santa Tracker
- Your car: The Next “GPS” of Data?
Updated GPS reviews
I’ve updated these review and resource pages with the following links:
- Garmin Forerunner 10 – Review by the Arty Runnerchick
- Magellan SwitchUp – A nice video intro
- Nike+ Sportwatch – SuperAdrianMe reviews this sportswatch
About Rich Owings