Waypoints — December 8th, 2012

From a new NASA-NOAA Earth at night project

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. This week’s lead image is from a new
NASA-NOAA Earth at Night project.

GPS deals

Bargains we’re tracking in our GPS deals section:

• I’ve updated my early December GPS deals post each day this week, adding new deals on the Garmin nuvi 50LM and 3590LMT, a Garmin truck unit, the GPSMAP 62s, Forerunner 405CX, Approach G5 golf GPS, several Magellan eXplorist handhelds and more
• Deals from Garmin’s own eBay store – includes a great deal on the dezl 560LMT truck GPS
• SPOT Connect Satellite Communicator for $99.95 after rebate
• DeLorme inReach for $174.95 after $75 rebate

Updates

• Firmware updates this week: Garmin nuvi 2xx, 2xxW, 12xx, 13xx, 14xx, 22xx, 23xx, Magellan RoadMate 9261, 9270T
• ExpertGPS v 4.64

The Eternal Flame Falls EarthCache

Geocaching

• One of the coolest geocache locations I’ve ever seen (picture above)
• Geocaching 12-12-12 Event Calendar
• Geocaching.com is retiring Challenges
• c:geo Part 2: Offline Logging

Giveaways

• Magellan’s 12 day holiday giveaway
• Magellan eXplorist GC giveaway
• Win a Magellan eXplorist 510

Going mobile

• TomTom updates its Android app for newer phones like the Samsung Galaxy S3 & Nexus, HTC One X & Google Nexus 4
• Better GPS battery life coming to smartphones?
• The Onion – Apple Promises To Fix Glitches In Map Software By Rearranging Earth’s Geography:

Garmin

• Rumor that we’ll be hearing about a new Garmin Edge model soon
• Not sure when this happened, but Garmin’s nuMaps guarantee now runs 90 days
• Another K-Edge Garmin Edge mount review and another
• Great Lakes Offroad Map

• Third Boeing GPS IIF Begins Operation After Early Handover to USAF
• Transmissions from Galileo Satellite IOV-3 Have Begun
• Russia Delays Launch of GLONASS-K Satellite

The business of GPS

• Apple, Google and Microsoft all working on augmented reality glasses
• Garmin will join the S&P 500
• Garmin to supply spy planes with GPS technology
• Waytag, TomTom partner
• Garmin to open facility in Rolla, MO

Just geo

• Topographic Layers on Google Maps
• Six of this Year’s Most Riveting Maps
• Google Places API Radar Search heat maps feature looks cool
• America’s State Parks First Day Hikes
• Google Earth A to Z: The full list
• Tips for personalizing Google Maps
• Personalized map gifts (blankets and “mapkins”)
• Too expensive? How about DIY holiday map ornaments?
• Have GPS Devices Taken the Fun out of Navigation? (And how to determine latitude with a protractor)
• Johnny Cash Has Been Everywhere (Man)!
• The Aurora Australis (picture below):

The Aurora Australis

Source: A. Sparrow, http://www.flickr.com/photos/49937157@N03/7574363700/; licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence

All the news that doesn’t fit

• I updated my barometric altimeter post with some FAQs from Garmin
• I’ve started a GPS community page on Google+
• File under dubious claims – if TomTom HD traffic is now 5 times more accurate, what was it like before?
• Brother finds sister alive a week after she vanished in mountains
• APSU students research accuracy of GPS devices
• Consumer Reports lists their favorite GPS navigators for the holidays
• Suunto’s new Ambit update lets you build your own apps
• Red-light traffic cameras have drivers seeing red
• Panbo: Bad Elf Pro, the perfect iPad GPS (& logger too)? Here it is at Amazon
• Google gives WWF $5 million to fund wildlife-observing drones
• NORAD Santa tracker goes live for 2012

Updated GPS reviews

I’ve updated these review and resource pages with the following links:

• Garmin Approach S3 – Stuff.co.nz reviews this golf GPS
• Garmin Edge 500 – CNET reviews this GPS cyclometer
• Magellan eXplorist 510 – I’ve linked to this video review
• Nike+ Sportwatch – Matthew Miller reviews it for ZD Net