The software package, costing £19.95 for a download, features a total of 620 sites in France. Each location has been carefully researched and created, over 3 years, providing the listener with an engaging 2 minutes of commentary as they approach or drive by.
Through the launch of this innovative product, French partner ZeVisit, which works with many of the tourism agencies and offices in France, saw an opportunity to reach the Sat Nav generation. “At ZeVisit, we strongly believe that audio is the only media that can make you feel strong emotions. What better than making every journey an emotional journey full of stories and imagination as well?” said Yann Le Fichant, CEO of ZeVisit.
RoadTour’s inventor, Daniel Taylor found that driving the roads of Europe could be a highly frustrating experience; “Sat Navs are great in getting us from A to B but hopeless at connecting us with the rich heritage of Europe” said Daniel. “There are times driving France’s clear motorways, when you might as well be driving through England for all you’re finding out. Our goal with our French partner, Zevisit, is to bring France’s fascinating history, beautiful environment and rich culture to the millions of people who sometimes just drive straight to Provence, barely stopping for fuel on the way”.
RoadTour works with Garmin Sat Nav equipment to trigger audio commentary and pictures of key attractions, including towns, villages, castles and battlefields. The system does not require the driver or passengers to touch any buttons since the audio just pops up, in a similar way to the traffic warnings on the radio. And for those more interested in directions than history…RoadTour even pauses for traffic directions!
Examples of commentaries include Rouen and Alsace;
“We’re in the middle of the 14th Century and it is half past eight in the morning in La place de Vieux Marché in Rouen. Joan of Arc is being brought to the centre of Rouen in a cart, her head shaved and escorted by 120 British soldiers. The Bishop of Beauvais, who supports England, reads the sentence for herecy, “We declare that you, Joan, corrupt member, must be rejected from the unity of the Church so that you won’t contaminate the other members. For this we reject you, we remove you and abandon you”. An immense crowd came to see the execution. Afterwards, when the executioner put out the fire, he got a huge surprise; Joan or Arc’s heart had remained intact! Because the English feared it would become a relic, they decided to throw her remains into the Seine and since then it is said that the Seine from Rouen to the sea is holy. When nearly 20 years later, the King of France, Charles the 7th, took back Normandy from the English, he ordered a cross to be erected in her memory on La Place de Vieux Marché.”
“Alsace became part of Germany in 1871, when a far reaching city planning project was set in motion. The German empire decided to move its political and administrative headquarters to the old city centre of Strasbourg, close to La Place de la Republique…this is truly several cities in one. It is a city that is Catholic, Protestant and Jewish all at once and the three architectural styles co-exist marvellously. According to local, Roger Siffert, Strasbourg is like a very beautiful woman wearing a superb tuxedo but with tennis shoes or boots on her feet…in Alsace, they would say ‘pretty like a punch in the eye’!”
Does a GPS with a constant connection to the Internet make it the best way to travel in your car? Can it find the lowest gas prices, the nearest Starbucks, an ATM near your friends home, and the best pizza joint in town? Will it show you how to get to work quicker than you have ever made it before IN traffic? Does the volume setting of 11 make it that much better than anything else available?
Yes, we know so many questions to be answered but we think we do a pretty good job of answering those and even more with the newest craze hitting cars across the country in this new GPS unit. An Internet enabled GPS device that taps into Yahoo! Local and lets you send your addresses from within your web browser on your computer to your Dash Express sitting silently on your, um, dash.
Now, is it all worth it? Read on.
TomTom has confirmed to SvenOnTech that it has indeed, “…tested and successfully [ran] our navigation software on the iPhone and it looks good and works well.” The Holland-based company told SvenOnTech that it is waiting to see what Apple’s strategy for the built-in GPS is on the next-generation iPhone, “…before we can say more about what kind of opportunities this will bring us.”
TomTom is excited that Apple is entering the GPS world with the 3G iPhone, due to release July 11th at both Apple Stores and AT&T stores in various markets, and is more than ready to bring its highly acclaimed navigation software to the iPhone.
TomTom believes with the development of more pedestrian navigation systems, such as the iPhone and Nokia’s offerings, it will continue to bring greater attention and demand to car navigation devices. “With more and more people getting acquainted with navigation, this will also further grow the demand for car navigation,” TomTom’s Karen CK Drake, Public Relations Manager for TomTom, told SvenOnTech last week. Drake emphasized that it does not believe the iPhone to be a replacement device for GPS but rather be “complementary” to its current offerings of car-mounted GPS units.
SvenOnTech will actively watch this developing story and keep our readers abreast of any new information as becomes available.
CDFinder, the leading disc cataloging application for the Apple Macintosh, receives a massive update with new features and more speed. Also, as a world premiere, it offers a GPS based photo search that quickly locates any photos taken within a distance of a geographical position.
“We are impressed by the unique new GPS search feature, as it offers a brand new way of browsing and searching large photo libraries with CDFinder,” said Norbert M. Doerner, chief developer of the CDFinder team. In addition, the team added FileCheck, a checksum feature designed to ensure the data integrity of all cataloged files, important for photographers who want to be sure their precious digital negatives are still fully readable and intact. More speed was another goal, and with the quicker updating of existing catalogs, faster creation of photo thumbnails, and much faster parsing of ZIP archives, that goal was obviously reached.
CDFinder for Macintosh is a Universal Binary and works with PowerPC and Intel-Macs. A Windows version is available as well, which is compatible to Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server and Vista. CDFinder is shareware. The demo version is unlimited in time, but restricted to 25 catalogues. A single license is 29 Euro / 39 USD. Multiple licenses for business or network use are priced depending on the number of clients and features required.
About CDFinder Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re looking for an inexpensive GPS unit with a good looking interface, that’s easy to use, and is loud enough to be heard, then you’ll want to take a look at our most recent review of the Harman Kardon Guide+Play GPS-310.
Harman Kardon? Play? “What,” you ask? Yes, the brand known for its awesome audio products has taken a dive into the navigation market and added a digital audio player to the mix. I was a bit skeptical when I first saw it at a demo put on by the audio chaps, but I must say after 40 plus hours of use for this review, my skepticism is gone. Read the review and see why.
(PS: We love, love, LOVE, the mount. Silly how something so low-tech made us so warm and fuzzy!)
The Mobile Survival Kit Micro packs an impressive 1700mAh of power so you can charge it from any convenient USB port and in turn power your device up to 2.5 times longer. Measuring in at a mere 88 x 50 x 14.5mm, the Mobile Survival Kit Micro comes complete with a USB to Mini USB cable as well as a retractable cable with adaptors enabling you to charge and recharge your Nokia, Micro USB, PSP, Samsung, iPod or Sony Ericsson device anywhere. And because the Mobile Survival Kit Micro outputs to a standard USB port, it will charge anything that can be charged from USB (you can use your normal cable).
For the travellers among us, Proporta also include their Car Power Supply with USB Socket and AC Travel Charger (with USB Socket) for use in Europe, USA, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as a handy little drawstring bag to keep it all in.
Proporta appreciate how frustrating it is to be caught short without power. Whether you’re stuck in traffic and your GPS gives out, half way through a gym session and find yourself iPod-less or there are leaves on the line and you’re about to miss a dinner reservation – Proporta have the ideal solution to suit your everyday power requirements.
To see what other accessories and solutions Proporta can offer you and your device, visit www.proporta.com/power
P.S. The Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 Receiver works with all the popular mapping software currently available and is capable of connecting simultaneously to up to 51 satellite channels. Ideal for anyone on the road.
GPS software manufacturer Northport Systems, Inc., has launched Fugawi Touratel, a new cell phone-based outdoor navigation software and interactive web site, today for use in the United States.
Designed to enhance outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking, fishing, hunting and more, Fugawi Touratel provides exceptional map detail on a wide variety of mobile phone handsets as well as the complimentary touratel.com website.
A first in GPS software solutions for the outdoor recreation market, Fugawi Touratel is a Web 2.0-based cell phone navigation software product that delivers high-resolution US Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps, air photos and urban photos to a wide variety of cell phone models within the USA. In addition, users receive a host of other useful third-party location based applications, such as detailed streets maps of the USA, all for one low monthly fee. Fugawi Touratel is currently compatible with many models from Motorola, Samsung, Sanyo and LG, on the Sprint, Alltel and Boost networks with more networks and cell phone models to be added shortly. Because Fugawi Touratel utilizes the cellular network-derived “Assisted GPS” location, the supported phones do not require a specific-use internal or Bluetooth connected GPS. Also, due to its unique Web 2.0 architecture, the user does not need to download and install client software – the entire Fugawi Touratel application works through the internet connection. Users will benefit from added map content and ongoing product development instantaneously, without the need to download updates or apply patches.
“We are pleased to offer USGS topographic maps to the public at no charge though our new web resource, touratel.com,” said Robin Martel, president of Northport Systems. “Our Fugawi Touratel Web 2.0 backend also allows us to address tremendous consumer demand for mobile navigation technology by delivering outdoor GPS applications to a much wider variety of existing phones which could not previously be used for navigation.”
The touratel.com website is a free service enabling users to view and print copies of high quality maps. The site contains all of the USGS topographic maps for the USA, including Hawaii and Alaska, at all available scales, including 1:24,000, 1:100,000 and 1:250,000. Also available through the intuitive tab-based interface are high quality air photos and Google™ maps so the user can review their area of interest utilizing several different map sources. Users can zoom in to any part of the USA and print paper copies to take with them. From the website, users can also check the compatibility of their specific cell phone and, if they wish, sign up and immediately start navigating with the USGS topographic maps on their handset.
“Our Touratel web services have been designed from the ground up to allow for rapid development of richer feature sets and growth into new applications and markets”, continues Martel. “We will add new map content and additional services in early 2008.”
Availability
For more information on Fugawi Touratel, or to learn more about Northport Systems and its entire product line, please contact (416) 920-9300, or visit www.touratel.com. A regularly updated list of compatible carriers and handsets can also be found on the new
touratel.com website.
Previewed at the IFA consumer electronics show in August 2007, Mio Technology, top three vendor in Europe of portable navigation devices (PND), announces the availability of its high-end 3D mapping devices - the C620 and C620t. The new Mio 2008 mapping software includes around one thousand 3D landmarks, as well as digital elevation mapping to depict the local landscape - providing the motorist with a true 3D view of the road ahead.
The Mio C620 and C620t feature the very latest Tele Atlas maps (2007.7) as well as Mio’s split-screen interface in this 4.3″ wide screen device. The split-screen function introduced in the C320 and C520/C520t allows the user to view local points of interest and critical journey information, such as the next three turns and time or distance to destination alongside the full map. The C620 and C620t provide the ultimate in sat-nav functionality and features, up and running in seconds with fast, accurate positioning from SiRFstarIII GPS technology.
The new range offers integrated Traffic Message Channel (TMC) reports as well as free out-of-the-box speed camera alerts. As with previous products, Mio users are able to download speed camera database updates for free for one year from the moment of registration, add their own camera locations and share them with other Mio users over the internet.
Features:
Mapping
* Intuitive map display with 3D landmarks and digital elevation models
- Better orientation and faster recognition of map location
- Road levels are displayed in 3D view
* Easy to use interface
- Split screen for info, POI, TMC, Route, MP3 and phone book
- Play/stop MP3 while navigation
- One click to pick up incoming calls or dial out
- Easy navigation to Photo Viewer
* Enhanced signpost display
* Enhanced POIs along route
* TMC along route display
Device
* 4.3″ navigation screen : large and easy to read
* Hands-free calling with built-in Bluetooth® wireless technology and microphone
* Speed camera warnings out-of-the box with free updates
* Fast, accurate positioning from SiRFstarIII GPS technology
* All-in-one cradle : power and TMC (TMC only for C620t)
* Entertainment on the go: Integrated MP3 player and photo-viewer to enjoy your favourite songs and precious photos all on one device.
*Note: Speed camera availability is variable from country to country depending on the local law. Consumers receive one year of speed camera location updates for free upon registration.
Alltel Wireless, America’s largest network, providing coverage across the nation, today announced the availability of TimecardGPS, an application that enables users to track an employee’s location, record shift time and capture job or work order information from LBS-enabled wireless phones.
The TimecardGPS application, available for $12.49 per handset per month, allows business professionals to increase productivity by using their wireless device to perform a variety of important tasks, including:
Tracking – Enables supervisors to request field workers’ locations, track movement and set up “smart fences” to determine employee location
Team Clock-in and Out – Allows a supervisor to clock-in and clock-out employees as well as capture individual task information on a single wireless device
Real-time job tracking – Sends real-time job information from field workers to employers, complete with tasks, subtasks and editable fields
Customized reports – Supplies electronic reports with payroll, job costing and productivity information
Web log-in – Provides real-time access to field workers’ positions, timesheet and job information via the Internet
“In today’s fast-paced business environment, there is a need for supervisors to have rapid access to information regarding their field employees and their progress,” said David Maddox, director of advanced data solutions for Alltel Wireless. “The TimecardGPS application provides a supervisor instant information on an employee’s exact location and job completion data.”
For more information on TimecardGPS, please visit www.alltelsolutions.com/timecardgps.
Do you remember the Freedom Keychain GPS SiRF III Receiver that Proporta released back in September? Well, they’re back with one that weighs 8 grams less and has a connectivity level that’ll knock your socks off. Introducing the Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 Receiver.
It comes with the latest of GPS technology. Works from your pocket, handbag or briefcase, and is compatible with all the mapping software currently available.
Using state-of-the-art Bluetooth Technology, making it ideal for connecting to your notebook, PDA or mobile phone, the Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 Receiver also comes with a USB charger cable and car charger cable, giving you the advantage of being able to charge from home or in the car.
Now, you’re probably thinking that this little piece of GPS equipment is very similar to its predecessor, the Freedom Keychain GPS SiRF III Receiver, well here’s where they differ. The GPS 2000 Receiver is capable of connecting simultaneously to up to 51 satellite channels as opposed to 20, and has a solid working time of ten hours. Phew.
If you are interested in how small it really is (yes, size does matter), the dimensions are right here: 46mm (1.81in) x 32mm (1.26in) x 14.7mm (0.58in), literally weighing 22 grams. Amazing right?
Don’t get lost, get wise – visit www.proporta.com and grab yourself one of these little stars.