This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. To get a few of the biggest stories as they break, follow me on Twitter. We’ll start this week with a flying drone dance (video above).
From GPS Tracklog
Our posts from the past week:
- CES 2014 GPS news roundup
- Magellan announces Android-based PND
- Magellan intros RoadMate with integrated dash cam
- Garmin enters fitness tracker market with vivofit
- Garmin Connect gets a refresh
- UPDATED: 2014 Garmin nuvis include 5, 6, 7″ models, backup camera and lower prices
- UPDATED: Garmin Dash Cam uses gravity sensor for crash detection
- UPDATED: Garmin HUD+ and mystery smartphone app bring Garmin navigation to all major platforms
- Magellan announces connected RV unit
My last CES 2014 roundup
- Hands-on with Garmin’s windshield HUD prototype
- Hands-on with the Garmin Dash Cam
- Hands on with the Magellan Echo
- This Vine video shows what appears to be a standard Garmin mount for the Dash Cam
- DC Rainmaker’s CES Roundup Part 1: Magellan and more, and…
- Part 2: Garmin and more
- And his hands-on look at Bia GPS watch designed for woman
- Gecko MCU Enables Echo Smart Sports Watch to Go the Distance
- Ford Exec: ‘We Know Everyone Who Breaks The Law‘ Thanks To Our GPS In Your Car; then retracts statement (and is probably glad Michael Bay made a bigger fool of himself at CES)
- TomTom: Our traffic data is better than yours
With its new GO product line announced Friday, TomTom’s giving away its premium traffic data, which the company says covers 99.9 percent of all roads in the U.S. and includes data crowdsourced from more than 150 million drivers in North America and 350 million users worldwide. By comparison, the popular smartphone app Waze, bought by Google last summer, is estimated to use data from a mere 50 million users worldwide.
GPS in the news
- GAO: SatNav Companies are not Respecting Consumer Privacy
- More info here: Is your car spying on you? GPS tracks ‘consumers,’ identity theft at risk
- Modified GPS Helps Track Quakes and Floods
Garmin
- A first look at the Garmin vivofit (above)
- Estimated new product release dates: 2014 nuvi 5x/6x series (Jan. 22), HUD+ (Jan. 22), Dash Cam (Jan. 31), nuvi 2798LMT (Jan. 31), vivofit (Feb. 20),
- Does your nuvi send you into HOV lanes regardless of avoidance settings?
- Garmin updates this week: GLO, RV 760LMT, chipset firmware type M4/426 (fitness)
- A D2 Pilot watch testimonial
- Introducing Canada LakeVü HD…
Canada LakeVu HD
Magellan
- Magellan to manufacture Hertz NeverLost 6, which is called a tablet on the the label…
Hertz NeverLost 6 “tablet” label
DeLorme
- How to update a seasonally deactivated inReach
- Skiers credit training, equipment (including inReach) in avalanche rescue
The business of GPS
- Really? A new PND player? Driving Uncurbed receives FCC approval
- Connected Fitness on the rise as CES boosts “Digital Health” focus
Steven Baker from the @npdgroup reviews the retail sales report from the 2013 holiday season. pic.twitter.com/PW31eYEnXV
— Consumer Tech Association (@CTATech) January 6, 2014
Geocaching
- 14 Geocaching New Year’s Resolutions Revealed for 2014
- Do nanos suck?
- The Creator of EarthCaching talks about the 10th Anniversary
- GPS Adventures exhibit coming to Kentucky
GPS tracking
- Some 911 cell phone calls lack accurate information; turns out that indoor reception is a big issue here
- GPS Tracking Devices In Cars Prompt Privacy And Cyber Hacking Concerns
- Police say GPS puts Barberton triple-murder suspect at crime scene
- GPS traffic maps for leatherback turtles show hotspots to prevent accidental fishing deaths
Satellites and such
- Planet Labs’ mini-satellites take flight toward the International Space Station
- And a more sensationalist headline: Silicon Valley’s New Spy Satellites
- The Low Cost of Protecting America
- China Releases Public Service Performance Standard for BeiDou
- DoT Disses DoD’s GPS Chops
- Quad-Constellation Receiver: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou
At that point we will have four global constellations all on the same band, giving us more than 100 satellites. With a clear sky, the user might expect to see more than 30, sometimes 40, satellites simultaneously.
Indoor location
- Indoor Google Maps: Where does it work best?
- Grocery stores use Apple’s iBeacon to remind you what you’re shopping for
- StickNFind reveals its vision for the future of retail
Just geo
- How Google Cracked House Number Identification in Street View
- Emergency Room Wait Watcher; via Google Maps Mania
- The Huashan Trail: Most Dangerous Hiking Trail on Earth
- Mapping poverty in America
- Google Apologizes For Berlin Street Being Renamed “Adolf Hitler Platz” On Google Maps
- Map showing extent of this week’s massive chemical spill/water contamination in WV
- NYT: A Makeover for Maps
- Why the world needs OpenStreetMap
- Google Earth Imagery Updates for December 2013
- Finally, A List of Public RTK Base Stations in the U.S.
- The Happiest States In America In One Map…
All the news that doesn’t fit
- Recharging Your Hiking Gear
- INRIX on the I-95/George Washington Bridge lane closures
- Dish pulls bid for LightSquared as court battle begins
About Rich Owings