Archives for June 2015

Tips for Avoiding GPS Theft

June 10, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

With summer finally here, I’m sure quite a few of you are in the midst of planning out the perfect summer vacation and getaway. Which, of course, is going to mean using your car’s GPS to find your way around. However, I am sure that I don’t need to tell any of you that GPS devices are STILL one of the most frequently stolen objects from vehicles.

So while you’re out and about this summer, here are some tips to ensure that you don’t end up having to replace your beloved unit and your window: read more

Filed Under: FAQs, Featured

TomTom’s In-Dash Navigation Accesses the Cloud

June 9, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

TomTom has been working fluidly towards getting its products embedded in the dashboards of various manufacturers including Jeep and Volkswagen. In the last few years, the company has signed multiple deals and its products have begun shipping inside various different car models. Well, it looks like the Dutch-based navigational company is going a step further with access to the cloud.

Last week, TomTom announced that its in-dash navigational entertainment systems can now upload, download and read information stored in the cloud. This capability will greatly extend the reach of the TomTom system and allow users to seamlessly navigate and share information and routes across devices. Pre-planning trips on websites, tweaking it on a phone and then sending it to your car’s navigation will now be possible. read more

Filed Under: TomTom

Polar Announces New GPS Cycling Computer

June 8, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

Polar, an active training technology company, has announced the upcoming availability of its newest unit, a GPS cycling computer. The M450 features a small, lightweight and splash proof design with a smart visibility LED light and various personalized training meters and metrics to suit everyone, regardless of skill or fitness level.

The M450 has the following features: read more

Filed Under: Handheld/Sport

Magellan Announces New Navigation Platforms

June 7, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

It’s been a few months since we heard or saw anything out of the smallest of the three main GPS navigational companies and I admit I was starting to wonder what was going on. Well, in the last few days, Magellan has announced two new in-car navigation platforms aimed at both off-road vehicles and connected-car style vehicles. Both of the new services are only available to automotive OEMs, but I have seen no announcements of any particular manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon just yet. read more

Filed Under: Magellan

8 GPS Features Smartphones Can’t Match

June 6, 2015 By Liz E. 2 Comments

As smartphones become better at, well, everything, a lot of people are starting to shift away from dedicated GPS units in favor of smartphones for navigation. And, while both have maps and routing and both can lead you in circles at the drop of a hat (although personally I’d trust a GPS over a smartphone any day), there are some smaller things that a lot of GPS units offer which smartphones simply can’t match.

It is worth noting that not every GPS unit will have all of these things, but most of them are pretty standard on newer units. read more

Filed Under: FAQs, Mobile

This Week in GPS — June 5, 2015

June 5, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

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. This week’s featured image is the Google Maps application logo. The search giant announced this week that it intends to allow offline navigation, POI searching and routing through its smartphone app for the first time ever. It’s a pretty big step for smartphone GPS, really. Read more about it below!

Here are some other things going on in the world of GPS as well: read more

Filed Under: Featured, More GPS News, This week in GPS

Top Ten Bestselling Auto GPS Devices on Amazon

June 4, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since we looked at GPS device trends, so I thought I’d take a minute today and look at the units that made Amazon’s Top Ten Bestseller list for automotive units. The last time we did a Top 10 was nearly a year ago, and while the No. 1 unit is still the same, pretty much everything else moved up or dropped off the list entirely! read more

Filed Under: Top ten GPS

TomTom Launches Trucker 6000 in Europe

June 3, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

I can’t tell you how many GPS fails I’ve read that revolve around a commercial driver using the wrong GPS for their small commercial vehicle. Trucks and vehicles that are even slightly larger than normal must not only be driven differently, but sometimes even require different routes depending on the area.

TomTom recently announced that it will soon be releasing a GPS designed specifically for commercial trucking and driving in Europe. The creatively named TomTom Trucker 6000 will feature customized routes for commercial drivers and will allow users to select the vehicle type, size, weight and cargo in order to find fast, usable routes. As is becoming standard, the TomTom Trucker 6000 features an interactive pinch, zoom and swipe screen. The screen on the device measures 6 inches. read more

Filed Under: TomTom

Open Source Tracker Blazes Past Kickstarter Goal

June 2, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

In writing for this blog for nearly a year, I have covered all kinds of Kickstarter projects, some of which have funded and successfully launched to pretty decent reviews, like Trax. Others completely flopped, as is the danger with crowdfunding anything, especially anything involving technology. As a general rule, I tend to wait until projects are completely or nearly completely funded before even bothering to write about it. And, as it turns out, HidnSeek is one such project. With five full weeks left, this tracker has blasted through it’s modest goal and continues to receive funding.

At the surface, HidnSeek really isn’t all that different from, well, any other GPS tracker. The device is small and designed to be slipped into a pocket, bag or clipped on a zipper or keychain. It can record and transmit location once every five minutes (longer periods of time are allowed) and supposedly has some pretty good battery life if you don’t mind less frequent pings. HidnSeek also supports motion sensing and geofencing, as you would expect with a tracker.

However, HidnSeek does have a couple of things going for it that are slightly unusual. read more

Filed Under: Featured, GPS News

Google Maps to Allow Offline Routing, Navigation

June 1, 2015 By Liz E. Leave a Comment

I know that for most of you, smartphones are never going to replace GPS. And honestly, I can’t blame you. However, at Google’s latest I/O conference today, the search and technology giant announced an upcoming improvement to its Maps program that takes away one of the biggest pitfalls of smartphone navigation: connectivity. read more

Filed Under: Android apps, Mobile, Mobile apps