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Have you seen the GlobalSat GH-615 GPS fitness watch, it's a cool unit for hikers, runners, bikers or any athlete who wants to
incorporate GPS technology to record their
tracks.
The device uses a SiRF star III chip and is IPX7 water resistant. It can also allow the user to download saved data to a PC where it
can be saved into formats for use by a variety of third party programs such as
Google Earth. File formats include .CSV, .TXT and .KML.
More info on gpslodge.
isnoop.net has an interesting tool: the Universal Package Tracking that enables you to view a map of your package’s progress as it travels across the country.
There is also new mapping addition builds on the original features of being able
to track UPS, FedEx, USPS, and Airborne/DHL packages all in one place
and having that tracking information published into a personalized RSS
feed. The system automatically detects which company your tracking
number belongs to and loads the package data for you. More info here and here.
And a very similar website too: simpletracking.com.
technorati tags: GPS tracking isnoop package tracking
HP Labs released mscape, a gaming platform presenting an augmented reality game space. And what's the idea behind ? Try to bridge the virtual world and the real world with games that are played on devices by moving around outside. Mscape enables people to design, create and share location-based experiences, games and tours with friends, anywhere in the world.
Users equipped with a GPS-enabled Windows mobile device running the mscape player can move through the physical world, triggering digital media - including images, text, sounds, audio and video - in response to physical events such as location, proximity, time and movement. Complicated? Have a look to this video , it's a concept video of what the engineers hope to achieve. Mscape is still about two years away from that level of play (real-time animation over real-world video) but currently supports a variety of sensors.
Vey interesting project for two raisons : augmented reality titles could change the idea of videogames, making something completely new from the mixture of analog and digital. And the use of GPS sensors for location-aware adventure games can allow to create, post and share the digital location-based mediascape experiences. Want to try it ?
Find more info about HP Mediascape here.
Super cool, or super snob, here it is: an iPod nano, a Garmin Forerunner 305 and a noise-canceling Bose headset: here you are, running in The Streets of San Francisco :-)
Would you like to make your own Google Maps + iTunes mashup? MoveTracks is a new tool that lets you create playlists, (or movetracks) based on your geographic location and a drive you are planning to take. How does it work ? Click here, see your iTunes library on the left side of the screen -wait until your library has fully loaded! It's cool :-) On the right, you'll see a google maps application. Now you can drag and drop songs from your library into the route you've created. Finally, save your MoveTrack so that it's sent to your iTunes library as a playlist. Thanks to the Playlist Magazine Forum and googlemapsmania for the info !
Dandella is a "hand-held robotic GPS companion", this year's winner of the Japan Design Foundation's competition. They named it Dandella because it was inspired by the idea that young sunflowers always point towards the sun. In fact, Dandella works by combining GPS and robotic technology : You get 2 "Dandellas" and program them to track each other. From that moment, their buds respond by pointing towards one another. Dandellas are controlled via GPS, so they have unlimited range and are Bluetooth enabled for wireless communicated with a PC. Even a child is able to walk in the direction that the flexible, so industrial designers called it: a method to "simply find someone". More info here if you're interested.
La société suisse u-blox, fournisseur de technologies de réception GPS vient d'étendre son service GPS, AssistNow. Après AssistNow Online, lancé en juin 2006 et qui utilise les réseaux mobiles pour fournir les données d'assistance GPS (AGPS), c'est au tour de AssistNow Offline qui vient d'être mis en ligne en beta.
Le but? Permettre aux utilisateur un positionnement instantané (quickfix) pendant des périodes prolongées sans recours à la connectivité mobile. En effet le nouveau service AssistNow Offline travaille indépendamment des réseaux et n'a pas besoin d'avoir accès à un serveur pour télécharger les données à chaque première connexion.
Le service fournit des données d'assistance valables jusqu'à 14 jours de telle sorte que les utilisateurs peuvent actualiser leurs fichiers de données d'assistance à leur meilleure convenance. Ce service prêt à l'emploi exige une mise à jour sur tous les récepteurs GPS Flash-based ANTARIS(R). Les utilisateurs peuvent choisir entre la formule de base "Free Service" et la formule haut de gamme "Premium Service".
AssistNow Offline est immédiatement disponible en format Beta; la version finale est prévue pour le second trimestre 2007. Plus d'info sur le site de u-blox et là.
TomTom propose déjà depuis quelques semaines une version équivalente pour ses pnd : à lire ici.
