Sygic and MapmyIndia, India’s leading map provider, have come together to launch ‘MapmyIndia Sygic Mobile Maps’. The application converts GPS-enabled mobile phones into GPS navigators, allowing seamless travel anywhere in India. The application uses the highly accurate MapmyIndia maps with the power of Sygic software to offer the best GPS navigation solution for mobile phones. It has already become the number 1 grossing mobile application and number 1 top paid navigation app on iPhone iTunes App Store in India.

The application resides completely on the phone and does NOT require GPRS data connection or cellular network to operate. Hence, there are no hidden or recurring charges for using this application. MapmyIndia Sygic Mobile Maps works seamlessly across the popular and latest GPS phones running Windows Mobile, Symbian, Android and the iPhone.

MapmyIndia Sygic Mobile Maps allow users to search any location across India, and navigate to it, getting turn-by-turn voice and map instructions right till their destination.

In the near future, MapmyIndia Sygic Mobile Maps will be available for sale through MapmyIndia’s national distribution network across telecom and IT shops, as well as via Sygic web site e-shop.

With this release, customers can explore 401 cities across India with street-level turn-by-turn directions and information on POIs, as well as national, state or district highways. In addition to navigation maps, MapmyIndia offers India’s largest information set on points of interest like budget/premium hotels, petrol pumps, eating joints, ATMs, hospitals as well as tourist and religious spots.

In addition to navigating to these destinations, the interface also allows users to put up POI alerts. Users can ask the application to alert them of POIs along their route that they would like to stop at – an extremely useful feature when you want to figure out where the next ATM or petrol pump is while driving. Users can store locations as favorites, add multiple destinations and plan routes between these.
A unique feature that will delight iPhone users of MapmyIndia Sygic mobile maps is the ability to navigate to their phonebook i.e. navigate to addresses stored for people on their contact lists. Store the street address for your friends, and you can just choose the contact name to get turn-by-turn directions to their location.

The two companies have simplified the process of finding and navigating to a suitable hotel with the use of the ‘Add to TomTom’ button on each hotel web page on accorhotels.com website. This provides drivers with the latest hotel locations and is updated daily to ensure that the information is reliable for drivers, especially useful when they are in unfamiliar places.

Accorhotels.com is the Accor booking portal with 5.000.000 visitors per month. Users have the choice of downloading all the hotels of the Accor Group – some 3,000 properties worldwide with the brands: Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, hotelF1 – or downloading hotels by brand – for example all the Sofitel hotel locations. They can also easily download only one hotel positioning details from the ‘how to reach the hotel’ hotel web page in accorhotels.com, to their device.

And getting to the hotels is simplicity itself with TomTom’s award-winning navigation software. Users can just ‘navigate to POI’ and the device will do the rest, with hotel logos appearing on the map. Those who have hands-free calling on their device can also take advantage of the phone number embedded in the POI to call ahead.

“We are constantly driving forward the navigation experience for all our customers”, says Alain Pakiry, Senior Vice-president Marketing. “Accor is the latest partner helping us to deliver relevant, up-to-date content to drivers, when they need it, to achieve that.”

This new application is answering our customers’ needs and the Internet users’ wishes to easily find a place to stay wherever they want and wherever they are,” says Romain Roulleau, Deputy Senior VP Direct Sales, Accor. “This Win-Win collaboration enhances the consumers’ experience offering to Accor’s customers precise information concerning the location of our hotels and proposing a new service to TomTom’s clients.”

The two companies are planning to develop more content together, making the on-road experience even better.

“We are very excited to make our debut on mobile application stores with an initial focus on the Android Market,” said Souheil Gallouzi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Products Development, Intrinsyc. “Existing and new Android device users will now be able to enjoy reliable, true turn-by-turn voice guided navigation that not only works in areas of limited cellular coverage but takes advantage of the phone’s data connection. This seamless connectivity enables integrated online search powered by Google and weather forecasts as well as the sending of locations with rich map content and easy-to-use interface.”

Destinator 9 has a host of next-generation features unavailable in other Android GPS navigation applications. The intuitive NavStrip™ delivers one-click access to key navigation functions such as address entry, route, and search. This provides the quickest path to navigation with the fewest taps while displaying the map. Users can browse maps in 2D or 3D views. The 3D display includes a horizon display that automatically updates based on weather conditions. Destinator 9’s weather feature provides a 3 day forecast for the user’s current location or destination. Users can navigate to any map location using the TapNGoTM feature by simply using a long press on any point on the map and then tapping “Go” for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation. TapNGo also features other actions such as “Call”, “Save” location, and “Add to Trip Planner”.

With Destinator, users can also enjoy multi-destination routing by setting multiple trips with various stops to help plan a day’s drive to different locations – all with the fewest clicks possible and an easy-to-use interface. A one-click widget brings up a Google Map view of the current location, when available on a device with a data connection. Destinator’s revolutionary StickyPOI™ feature allows users to quickly display popular Points of Interest (POI) categories with a just a couple of screen taps. Tapping on a category, such as hotels or restaurants, automatically displays the nearby POI on the map. In addition to turn-by-turn navigation, drivers and pedestrians can view a direction list or route summary by a simple tap or two. Destinator delivers voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions with complete visual dashboard information in portrait mode and on the Side Bar in landscape mode. Users can set destinations by browsing a location on a map or entering an address, street, city, intersection, or postcode, keyword search of POI, history, favorites, and SMS. All these features are delivered with a crisp, clear and rich map view in 2D or 3D that can switch automatically to day or night view mode depending on GPS or system time.

The 7700 PRO uses Tele Atlas digital maps to further enhance the user’s navigation experience, including 12 million points of interest (POIs)  and Tele Atlas® Brand Icons, which visually represent participating businesses as instantly recognizable logos so users can accurately identify specific brands of interest. Combined with additional content from ProMiles® and TruckDownTM, such as more than 33,000 truck-specific POIs, drivers are armed with a range of relevant content to better plan their routes.

The Cobra 7700 Pro features Tele Atlas Logistics, a specialized digital map database designed to meet commercial vehicle specifications. With this content, the device is able to deliver complete coverage and truck-specific data for advanced routing information based on the vehicle’s height, width and weight, including STAA National Highway Network and Access Roads; National Bridge Inventory List; National HazMat Route Registry; and detailed truck data for the lower 48 States and Canada. With truck-specific data, the Cobra 7700 PRO provides the information professional truck drivers need to optimize routes and arrive at destinations in the most efficient and economical way possible.

Using Tele Atlas Voice Maps, the 7700 PRO offers text-to-speech guidance with loud, clear verbal instructions and turn-by-turn spoken street names for safe navigating. Additionally, the 7700 PRO features a seven-inch screen and a “car mode” that enables professional drivers to use the device in their personal vehicles as well.

“As consumers seek more sophisticated GPS-enabled services from their devices, it is increasingly crucial that handset manufacturers deliver solutions with relevant local content that enriches the mobile experience,“ said Tele Atlas CEO Bill Henry. “Our unique approach of combining validated community input with state of the art map making technology to develop the highest quality maps, paired with our innovative location content, will now empower millions more smartphone users around the world.”

“People want easy-to-use solutions, and the partnership with Tele Atlas will allow us to provide our customers with exciting and valuable multimedia,” said Hyoungmoon No, Vice President of R&D Planning Team, Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. “We will continue to provide people with innovative functionality, style and usability.”

Henry said the two companies will collaborate in the future to deliver rich navigation and location solutions covering a wide range of products and regions. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“The market for navigation applications on smartphones is growing rapidly because users find it more convenient and cost-effective to have a single converged device for both communications and navigation,” said Souheil Gallouzi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Products Development, Intrinsyc. “People who own Symbian Qt smartphones can now get Destinator 9 and enjoy the navigation industry’s best user experience totally integrated with such powerful new technologies as touch.”

Destinator Version 9 leverages Qt’s powerful frameworks for graphics, rich GUI widget set, and tools for internationalization, providing both drivers and pedestrians with an unparalleled navigation experience that gets them to their destinations faster and safer. Destinator delivers voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions with complete visual dashboard information. Users can set destinations by browsing location on a map or entering an address, street/city, intersection, or postcode, keyword search of POI, history, favorites, and SMS. Map view modes include 2D/3D and day/night. Search options include search by POI categories, browse POIs, search for a POI near specific address, and navigate to selected search result.

Ways to Navigate:

• POI Search – Points of interest (POI) searched through Pioneer’s AVIC FEEDS App can be selected by simply choosing the pin drop of the desired location
• Take a Photo – Photos taken on an iPhone that are geotagged with geographical metadata such as location coordinates can be saved for future use as a POI
• Saved Photos – Geotagged photos sent to users or photos from the internet can be used as a POIs

Destinations created from a POI search or geotagged photos are converted as a phone contact to the navigation system via Bluetooth. Once the phone book is synchronized, the routable contacts are identified by a unique icon that appears next to the contact in the navigation system. By selecting that contact, Pioneer’s navigation system will calculate a route and provide turn-by-turn guidance to that location.

Once all regions are released, AccuTerra’s outdoor recreation maps with POIs will cover more than eight million square miles of terrain throughout the contiguous US and Hawaii. AccuTerra maps enable seamless map navigation within and beyond cell network range.

Users can log their progress and save it for later by tapping a button to start and stop recording. Trail profiles show the ups and downs and distance of your hike. Users can also take photos from within the AccuTerra application, and the exact location and elevation of the photo is recorded within the map.

The email feature within the AccuTerra Library enables users to send a link to friends and family to either launch your track, points, and photos within Google Earth, or view your track on Google Maps.

The Upload to Facebook feature will automatically post a link to the user’s track displayed on Google Maps. AccuTerra HD maps are available for popular recreation areas, such as national and state parks, special BLM lands, and national monuments and historical sites.

source: The where business

Today Tele Atlas announced that they’re going to provide all location based services, including 3D landmark, 2D city maps and over 24 million points of interest, to Vodafone.

Tele Atlas 1 : Nokia 0.

Source; intomobile.com

IBM has integrated local sports coverage and augmented virtual reality (AR) at this year’s Wimbledon, still the prestige tennis tournament on the calendar. The mobile reality app, Seer Android, is very much the shape of things to come, writes Christopher Backeberg…
Layar augmented virtual reality

Seer Android may be less immediately dramatic than some of the early upsets at Wimbledon, like the second-round ousting of Maria Sharapova and the tigerish victory by Lleyton Hewitt. It hasn’t attracted pranksters with decibel meters to measure which of the female players indulges in the loudest orgasmic screaming when they hit the ball. It is extremely localised since it works only at Wimbledon.

What it has done, however, is further demonstrate how much of the remarkable potential of mobiles can be unlocked when different types of app technology and interests meet in a symbiotic relationship. Location-based sports information is just one of numerous subjects that can gain from the AR treatment.

Seer Android shows who, what, where

The IBM app runs only on Android phones. Its usability is limited to the hallowed precincts of the Wimbledon grounds. It is within these constraints that it works its charm.

It employs the currently standard method of simultaneously scanning the environment with the smartphone’s camera and projecting LBS data onto the viewfinder. It correlates the user’s location with the viewed target’s location by doing fancy tricks with the phone’s built-in GPS and compass.

IBM geotagged Wimbledon for this year’s tournament. When you point the phone camera at any of the courts, up pops the fixtures schedule for that court. You can see who’s playing right now on any court. (The phone won’t tell you which of them is screaming. You need analogue technology – namely, your ears – to know that.)

Scanning around with the phone will also show pop-up information about other points of interest such as concession stands where you can buy strawberries and cream. Or a steak-and-kidney pie, perhaps, if you need real food.

It’s that simple. Correction: it’s comparatively that simple, bearing in mind that a smartphone and all its miniaturised hardware and state-of-the-art apps use vastly more computing power than the mainframes that put the first men on the moon and ran the entire North American Aerospace Defence Command, NORAD, during the Cold War.

Open the complete article.