A Welsh council has put up a sign warning truck drivers to ignore their satellite navigation systems after faulty routing directions caused traffic chaos in Wales.
Hoping to avoid situations like this, Vale of Glamorgan Council in South Wales is the first in the UK to use visual signs warning drivers not to believe their navigation units after once peaceful villages were reduced to bedlam when large trucks got stuck in tiny country lanes.
“The proliferation of satellite navigation aids used in heavy goods vehicles, and their over-reliance, especially by overseas drivers, has presented itself as a problem within the Vale of Glamorgan,” a spokesman for the council’s highways department said. “A number of these drivers are using routes that are clearly signed as unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles. Manoeuvring becomes difficult and the vehicle eventually blocks the road for a significant period of time.”
The sign has now been put up outside the village of St. Hilary for a trial period. If the signs prove successful following the trial period, then they will be used at other locations throughout Wales.
This is a bit off-topic regarding GPS, but it certainly relates to geography and maps. Do you think Miss Teen South Carolina might be one of the 20% of Americans who can’t locate the United States on a world map? The video has gone viral and Caitlin Upton is having her fifteen minutes of fame.
Cartography has always been a very advanced topic. Generally, a very well educated group of people would sit down and compose a map. Then the rest of us, for years to come, would use it. This model worked great in the historical world, but has frankly become obsolete. For anyone who has ever had a home built, you have likely found that you can’t use google maps, or mapquest for your housewarming party, because the map data is too old. The old model can no longer keep up with the speed of change. We need something faster, some new form of cartography.
To address this problem on hiking trails Backpacker Magazine has been applying a concept where hikers can help create the maps. In February of 2007, Backpacker Magazine announced a project where they would take 300 volunteers, assign them each a section of the Continental Divide Trail as it divides America, and outfit them with maps and GPS. The end goal being to produce an accurate map of the CDT as it is today. This goal is vital, since the current maps are incomplete and out of date.
Since February, they have apparently been hard at work putting teams together, and there has recently been quite a flurry of activity. They have put together a blog allowing the editors on this project to keep the rest of us up to date. This blog has everything from photos to pod casts that have been sent in from remote sections of the trail using satellite phones.
Though I haven’t seen any maps produced yet, this new way of mapping is breathtaking to me. The idea of breaking the mold, and creating a world where the travelers record the way is revolutionary. A whole new design for cartography where the users can create the maps, and keep them up-to-date. This technique has been coined Neocartography in some circles, and if all goes well it may one day take over the world.
A friend approached me recently with an interest in contributing to the blog. And who am I to turn down a more regular stream of posts AND an additional perspective on things? As you might have guessed by his nom de plume, Joe Hiker has an interest in off-road navigation and other outdoors GPS technology. And no, I’m not schizophrenic - Joe Hiker is for real.
Microsoft has begun shopping a product to compete in the in-car navigation market, reports Bloomberg News.
The software giant has been showing automakers a new navigation product that utilizes technology from TellMe, which Microsoft acquired earlier this year for reportedly over $800 million. The product will use mobile phones to deliver spoken answers to user’s requests.
The new system would go up against General Motor’s popular OnStar service, which uses a live person and not a database to answer driver questions. It currently boasts almost five million subscribers.
One option could be a partnership with Ford, which is developing a product called Sync, designed for music delivery and phone service. Sync will be a $395 option on the Focus. It eventually will be available on 12 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models, the company said two weeks ago.
InterMap Technologies recently announced the launch of AccuTerra, which provides existing outdoor GPS units and personal navigation devices (PNDs) with 3D maps and off-road points-of-interest (POI), integrated with interactive 3D rendering software. The product addresses a market that is currently limited to two-dimensional data and provides limited or no map coverage once users leave paved roads, the company says. AccuTerra will render trails and POIs in National Parks in the context of the natural terrain in which they exist. The product’s user interface includes:
realistic 3D views
accurate elevation information
clearly identified and classified trails, paths, and roads (overlaid on the 3D terrain)
outdoor-specific POI such as campgrounds, service facilities, and trailheads
routing to points of interest and tracking progress
a land use display that depicts the location of public and private property, including areas of restricted use
I must be a complete GPS nerd, because this is actually quite exciting. Off-road content substantially lags the mature routing and POI databases in traditional turn-by-turn navigation. It looks like InterMap has only mapped California to date, so it will be interesting to see if the response from PND manufacturers is high enough to justify continued investment in mapping the rest of the United States.
Earlier this month, Sony America exec John Koller hinted at a forthcoming GPS attachment for the PSP in the States. Today, Sony’s unveiling its Go!Explore GPS package in Europe, which was developed in collaboration with Tele Atlas and NavNGo. While the price doesn’t appear to have been specified, the package will include both the GPS add-on for the PSP and a Universal Media Disc (UMD) loaded with your chosen maps. According to Sony, the system will be equally capable as a pedestrian or in-car GPS, with 3D maps, 11 unique audio languages, and plenty of POIs. Go!Explore will allow users to update their POIs on the Playstation network or via WiFi. Look for it to launch “in the New Year,” with seven different geographic versions set to be available: UK/Ireland, Iberia, France, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, Italy, Benelux, Scandinavia.
WHERE, created by uLocate Communications (also behind Helio’s Buddy Beacon and MapQuest Find Me), is a location-based application with customizable widgets. The application is now available for download in Alltel’s Axcess Shop for $2.99 per month. The application will initially launch on five phones: The Wafer(TM), The Alltel Hue and u520 by Samsung as well as The Wave and AX8600 by LG.
The WHERE application can locate gas stations, shops, restaurants, hotels, parks, golf courses, ATMs, hospitals and schools. WHERE also provides up-to-date information on local events and allows customers to customize the application by providing local weather, news, traffic conditions, directions, ski reports and more.
In a nutshell, WHERE is a fairly simple local search app. But the concept of letting users customize which specific widgets they use on the phone is slick. uLocate has partnered with a few organizations for unique location-enabled content, like Zipcar and Eventful. They’ve also built a developer program for adding widgets to the catalog, but not many people seem to be participating. WHERE was previously available only on Sprint, so this must be a nice win for uLocate.
I think I’ve seen it all now. The Aphrodite Project has announced the launch of Platforms, a new line of footwear specifically designed for, um, working girls. The shoes are outfitted with a built-in GPS receiver and an emergency button that relays your location to public emergency services. They also have a hidden compartment for storing keys, cash and other unmentionables.
BlackberryCool is reporting that AT&T will lock the GPS functionality of the upcoming BB 8820, allowing it to work only with TeleNav Navigator:
Apparently - and remember, this is coming from someone inside AT&T - the carrier didn’t want to launch a device that would seem superior (or be competitive) to the iPhone. RIM was apparently livid over the decision (and with good reason), but AT&T basically said “do it or we won’t buy the 8820 or any future devices from you” and RIM backed down. Our AT&T informant also said that this was a call made by top RIM/AT&T brass.
A rumor has already been circulating that AT&T will lock the WiFi functionality of the 8820 unless you subscribe to an EVDO data plan. This is indeed a dark day for quite a few stakeholders in the U.S. wireless industry. So when’s that FCC spectrum auction?
A Welsh council has put up a sign warning truck drivers to ignore their satellite navigation systems after faulty routing directions caused traffic chaos in Wales.
To address this problem on hiking trails 
A friend approached me recently with an interest in contributing to the blog. And who am I to turn down a more regular stream of posts AND an additional perspective on things? As you might have guessed by his nom de plume, Joe Hiker has an interest in off-road navigation and other outdoors GPS technology. And no, I’m not schizophrenic - Joe Hiker is for real.
Microsoft has begun shopping a product to compete in the in-car navigation market, 
