I recently purchased some GPS software for my Windows Mobile OS based device and believe that this is some of the most advanced GPS software you can get for just $24!

Actually there’s 3 different versions of the software Basic (without upgrades), Standard (1 year of upgrades) and Geo (allows you to do area calculations and comes with 1 year of upgrades).

Since I use my GPS in mother nature’s great span of wilderness – I really prefer this type of software to navigational software.

One of the best things for me with this software is the ability to use Google Earth’s satellite photography as my maps. So when I’m hiking around in the Mexican sierra I won’t get lost! The compass view with the sun’s direction is also really helpful for me when trying to find out which direction I should be going. Of course, the software has all the functions of regular GPS software like the ability to add waypoints and tracks.

When I’m on the road or traveling in a city I’ve never been in and more so if it’s a popular tourist destination, the ability to use maps from Terraserver, OpenStreetMaps or Google Maps is perfect because I don’t have to shell out $50 to $100 just to get a CD with all the maps on it for where I intend to go.

Another neat feature if you’re traveling with a bunch of friends in a real connected city is the ability to share your GPS location with your friends in real time. Yes – I believe this software had the GPS Share functionality long before the iPhone even existed.

Download a free trial of GPS Tuner – Offroad Navigation Sofware today!

If you’re going on a road trip with the guys you’ll probably want some entertainment on the way. You can get that with some new Politically Incorrect GPS voices from PIGTones.

PIGTones even offers a voice file so you can get ex-President Bush’s voice on your GPS. Since GW Bush’s term is over you hear from him a lot less – maybe you miss him. I don’t really have a problem not hearing from Bush these days, but some of you out there just might be fond of the little guy after the eight terribly long, almost unbearable years he spent in office… If you find that you do miss him you can download and have him right there as a little, electronic voice.

Just as if he were in office using his veto powers against the will of the majority of the people he was supposed to be serving – he can STILL be telling you WHERE TO GO!

“Today (June 10) at the MassMin conference in Lulea, Sweden, Greg Baiden of Laurentian University, Canada (also Chief Technology Officer of Penguin Automated Systems) presented on a newly developed Underground Positioning System (UPS). The UPS has a range of some 2 km through rock and accuracy better than 3%. Mine trials are to be undertaken later this year and in 2009. Going forward, this has tremendous potential for finding trapped miners, for equipment mechanisation and mine wide asset management. The system employs VLF and would rely on a network of ’satellites’ placed to surround an orebody or underground workings.”

Read the rest of their article.

The Triton isn’t just showing off a tough exterior – it really is built with rubber armoring, impact resistant plastic and a water resistant seal so you won’t have to worry when you take this electronic device outside where it’s actually supposed to be used.

The Triton has a “becoming standard equipment on all electronic devices” 2.5″ touch screen, uses SD Card storage and the famous SiRF Star III GPS chip. Even though it’s doubtable you’ll ever have 20 satellites available to you the SiRF Star III GPS chip boasts 20 channels with WAAS/EGNOS real-time correction.

We like the fact that Magellan decided to give this GPS a 2MP digital camera – now we’re getting somewhere but here’s where Magellan really screwed themselves. This built in digital camera does NOT allow you to geo-tag your photos.

Talk about a failure on the digital camera part – Sorry Magellan you’re STILL way behind.

There’s been a lot of rumors going around that “turn by turn” navigational software will become available for the iPhone very soon – but so far everything is still rumors.

The Dutch company TomTom says they are coming out with turn by turn software for the iPhone but no date or details have been released so far. While TomTom makes great navigational software it’s all wait and see when it comes to TomTom living up to Apple Style and I’d give Garmin a better kick at being able to develop a user interface that still “feels like an iPhone”.

I may be a little bit biased here but what I would really like to see is behemoth Google step up to the plate and develop a navigational system that works with Google Earth. For them to do this they’d have to be making some big changes though and I’m sure they’re much too busy on other projects to be working on a little one like this.

As a consumer all we can do is wait for it. If you ask me – we’ve already been waiting WAY too long!

This is excellent news for all of us that want a heavy-duty buttonless GPS that’s waterproof and has a special sunlight-readable touchscreen.

Here’s our original article on the Garmin Oregon GPS.

Garmin had originally scheduled the buttonless, touchscreen nüvifone to come out about this time but has delayed the release due to cellular network preparations taking a little bit longer than expected. Garmin has pushed the nüvifone release to sometime in the first half of 2009.

Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO says that, “The nüvifone is an all-in-one device offering unmatched integration of utility and function in a single mobile device, this is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for – a single device that does it all.”

He’s totally right on that one! But I think what we’re all looking for as well as network choice and the ability to use the device the way that we want to unfettered by the need to use a certain provider on a certain type of network – One of the great downfalls of the Apple iPhone.


The nüvifone obviously has mobile phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions in one device. What really sets it ahead of the iPhone in terms of GPS Navigation is that Garmin includes their own turn by turn voice prompted navigational software while the iPhone still has to rely on a speachless Google Maps GPS interface which you also have to use a data connection for.

Since the nüvifone is a real mobile device it has an intelligently design docking mode – when the nüvifone is docked onto the vehicle mount, it automatically turns on the GPS, activates the navigation menu, and enables hands-free calling. When you take the nüvifone off of the vehicle mount it automatically marks the location of your vehicle – so you’ll be able to get back to it no matter how big the parking lot.

The nüvifone includes a built in camera that has geotagging capabilities – this means that the image has the latitude and longitude information stored inside the picture so programs can read the information and map it in a geographic location. Of course the NuviFone also features a built-in video camera, MP3 and MPEG4/AAC capability.

So let’s hope that this one won’t be locked onto any specific network and we’ll all be able to use the device as if it were our own.

Additional information about nüvifone is available at www.garmin.com/nuvifone.

*** UPDATE!!! – The Garmin Oregon Models are available and in stock on Amazon.com NOW!

Garmin has really done it this time with their Oregon series of GPS devices targeted to those who really like the outdoors.

I’ve always found that the elements take their toll on electronic equipment and that includes GPS devices. These electronic devices are used in rugged environments so they should be able to take what mother nature can dish out.

Garmin has finally answered the call of nature and now produces a buttonless, waterproof line of GPS devices named Oregon. Without buttons there’s a lot less areas for dust and moisture to get into your electronics and wreak havoc on its functionality. You don’t have to be scared when you’re hiking in the rain either when you pull out your Oregon GPS because it’s waterproof.

If you’re not having enough fun hiking through rough back-country in a torrential downpour you can do it on bright sun-lit day too because the Oregon features a “sunlight readable” touch screen.

“The Oregon series plays well with others, as the 400t, 400c, 400i and 300 allow for wireless exchange of tracks, waypoints and geocaches between other Oregon units and Colorado models. Each of these models is equipped with a barometric altimeter and electronic compass and is compatible with Garmin’s heart-rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors.

Geocaching is even easier with the Oregon, which quickly downloads online information for every cache, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description, so that you don’t have to tote printouts with you. Cachers and collectors will be hunting for a limited-edition Geocoin minted to commemorate the launch of the Oregon series. Oregon users can experience Wherigo™, the newest GPS-based activity from Groundspeak, the people who made geocaching a worldwide phenomenon. WherIGo is a toolset for creating and completing adventure games, historical tours or other innovative activities in the real world.”

Order yours today and be ready to hunt for the limited-edition Geocoin when the Oregon series launches!

For clarity we’re going to break the electronics down into two parts.

We have the BEACON which is the part of the system that moves around and relays its’ position to the RECEIVER which shows the user the positional data or whereabouts of the beacon.

There are two basic approaches to relaying the beacon positional data back to the receiver and each of them have their own unique drawbacks.

The first method is to use the cellular network to send messages to the receiver device. Using the cellular network allows the system to be used pretty much anywhere that you have a cellular network but it might not work in the back-country where people would normally go hiking, boating, fishing or camping. If you intend to use the tracking system outdoors in those back-country places to track your dog if he gets lost then you’d better hope your dog has some good survival instincts and tracking ability of his own.

The Zoombak “Advanced GPS Car and Family Locator” is one product that uses a cellular network to relay the data back to the receiver. The receiver in this case is a web site on the Internet so you’ll need internet access to be able to use it.

Although Zoombak doesn’t charge a setup fee for the device; you’re going to have to pay a minimum $9.99 a month for the service and about $175.00 for the electronic beacon that you attach to the object you’d like to track.

The real drawbacks to the Zoombak is that you need internet access because it doesn’t come with a handheld receiver and that you’ll have a monthly service fee for as long as you’re going to use the device.

The second method is to use publicly accessible, free radio signals to send messages to the receiver device. Since the device is using public radio signals you can expect that there will be no monthly service fees which is a real bonus since paying a service fee for every electronic device that you own starts to add up to some real coin very quickly.

RoamEO is one manufacturer that makes these types of GPS tracking system devices that is made specifically for dogs. They give you a handheld receiver that tracks the position of the beacon in real-time so you can even use it in the back-country where there’s no cellular systems.

Since this device works on radio waves there’s some pretty strict regulations that they have to adhere to and one of them is the power level that they’re allowed to transmit. The handheld receiver will handle up to 3 beacons and the beacon device transmits at 2 watts on 154.6Mhz so the beacon isn’t going to be in Juneau, Alaska and transmit to you California.

The biggest drawback is that the device is only going to transmit about 1 mile and you’re going to foot about $400.00 for 1 beacon and the handheld receiver.

I really like the Zoombak device and if I didn’t have so many projects on the go I’d like to get ahold of a Zoombak to see if it could be hacked to be used off of their system and used independently of their service fees.

Nokia Maps is available for the Nokia E61, E61i, E65, E90, N70, N72, N73, N76, N93i, N95, the Nokia 6110 Navigator and finally the 6120 Classic.

If you have one of these phones hook it up to your computer and get some updates! You’ll need the Nokia Map Loader which can be found on the Nokia Web Site.

Nokia says that “With Nokia Maps on your mobile device, you can browse maps of more than 150 countries, search locations, plan routes for free, and even view a simulation of the route. If you would like Nokia Maps to give you clear voice and visual guidance turn-by-turn, just upgrade your application with the extra voice-guided navigation service.”

Don’t worry though the Navigation Feature only costs you for downloading your data through your Cellular Service Provider’s data charges – if you plan in advance you can load the phone up with maps before you go. The Voice Direction Service is FREE for 3 days so you can try it out before you buy it, my thoughts are that the Voice Direction Service is a little expensive and for the cost you might as well go buy a Garmin or TomTom.