Google now offers Directions Gadget

Are Web site-based directions too vague for your liking? Too much of a pain to cut and paste an address from a restaurant or store site to Google Maps?

Google on Tuesday introduced a Directions gadget that will let webmasters add customized Google Maps directions to their Web sites.

"With the directions gadget, you no longer need to type and update multiple sets of text directions," Julie Zhou, an associate product marketing manager at Google, wrote in a blog post. "Let's face it: customers are only looking for directions from their specific location."

Webmasters can "pre-fill" the "To" directions field with one or several addresses. Customers can then type in their starting address and print out walking, driving, or public transit directions with one click. The gadget will also provide suggestions for vague "from" addresses.

Have a family Web site and want to help people navigate to your home from the airport. You can use simple tags like "Grandma's House" rather than your exact address to make it easier.

The gadget is available in 23 languages.

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Magellan releases Maestro 4700 GPS

There are just a handful of names when it comes to reliable GPS navigation technology, and Magellan ranks as one of them. Having said that, what can you expect from their latest solution to your navigational woes, the Magellan Maestro 4700 GPS device? This is one extremely slim device that will come with a relatively widescreen 4.7″ color touchscreen display, boasting many user-friendly features that are not only helpful but practical which we’ll look at later right after the jump. You will also find Magellan’s OneTouch user interface throw in for good measure, where it enables the user to perform advanced navigation tasks thanks to its built-in voice command capabilities and hands-free Bluetooth calling.

Check out the following premium features found on the Magellan Maestro 4700 :-

• Exclusive OneTouch Favorites Menu: Access favorite destinations and searches with personalized bookmarks. Reach your favorite cafe or restaurant in any city with a single touch. To meet consumer requests, the Magellan Maestro 4700 now offers an additional twelve bookmarks to save favorites.
• Bluetooth Compatible Hands-Free Calling: Make or receive calls using a compatible cell phone. Access your phone’s address book to access up to 1000 numbers directly from your Magellan Maestro 4700. The noise-cancelling microphone keeps road noise down so you are heard clearly.
• Predictive Traffic: Analyzes past traffic patterns when creating a route to help you avoid known delays. Choose to stay on your current route or go with suggested less congested routes.
• Instant Access to All Points Of Interest (POI): Perform one search and get results from both the standard POI database and the Magellan-exclusive AAA TourBook guide. Results are organized in a tabbed format.
• “Find Your Car” with Pedestrian Mode: Remembers the location of your car in parking lots, airports, malls, universities, amusement parks or stadiums. When your day is done the Magellan Maestro 4700 will automatically guide you to your car.
• 3D Landmarks: Displays visual cues to help drivers perform maneuvers and find destinations.
• Larger Fonts: Makes viewing easier and safer while driving.
• Intuitive, Context-Driven Touch Zones: Provides drivers with a completely interactive map screen.
• New Address Book: Makes adding an address a snap with smart address summary that lets users save complete itineraries.
• QuickSpell with Smart City Search: Allows quick, single-address entry or convenient multi-destination trip planning, including route optimization.

Surprisingly enough, this device has been priced at just $299.99, where it will ship with a windshield mount and cradle; 12-volt vehicle power adapter; USB cable, protective pouch, adhesive disk for alternative, on-dash mounting; and quick reference guide.

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ARKNAV R-35 GPS Tracker

ARKNAV is slowly but surely making a name for itself in the GPS navigation market, and their latest device would be the R-35 GPS Tracker.

Our extremely compact GPS tracker features a built-in motion sensor and is ideal for movement detection or anti-theft applications with vehicles or other assets. It is so lightweight and compact that it can even be used as a stop-motion detection device for the elderly — with alerts when subjects are not moving. And our tracker can be housed in an optional magnetic waterproof box with either a large rechargeable battery or external I/O power cables for easy attachment to vehicles.

This brings to attention that motion detection is of utmost importance where the elderly or chronically ill are concerned, and with the R-35’s integrated motion sensor, it sounds and looks like the perfect solution for stop-motion detection. Of course, you can also utilize this motion sensor to be set for movement detection for asset or vehicle security.

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Shoes with GPS Trackers

I realize that this headline might trigger surveillance society fears in some of our readers, but this article isn’t about putting GPS trackers in everyone’s footwear. No, putting a GPS in someone’s shoes is only a way to keep tabs on those who need it.

GTX Corporation and the shoe company Aetrex originally developed this technology to track elderly patients who have Alzheimer’s.

For those who do not know about Alzheimer’s, it is a condition (not a disease, even though it is often referred to as one) that involves both short and long term memory loss. Sometimes the victim is really lost in his or her own world of the past, and doesn’t realize he or she is very much in the present. In short, a victim can be as helpless as a wandering infant. I’m sure some of you have older relatives who have been afflicted with this.

With these GPS shoes, doctors and relatives can track the patient before he or she wanders too far, and get them back home before something bad happens.

The plan is to release these GPS shoes sometime before 2010, and it should retail somewhere in between $200 and $300. An additional $20 monthly fee will be tacked on for those who want to receive alerts should their Alzheimer’s patient leave his or her designated area.

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GPS War on the iPhone

As we saw in yesterday's Apple WWDC keynote, GPS maker TomTom is going to market with turn-by-turn navigation for the iPhone, which will be available in the iTunes store for an as-yet-undisclosed price The company will also sell a hardware kit that includes a window mount and charging cable.

This morning we learned that rival GPS maker Navigon, which recently stopped producing standalone GPS devices for the U.S. market, is also entering the iPhone arena. Even though TomTom hasn't given a release date for its app, Navigon says it's app "takes off first." That's some GPS smack talk.

Navigon will actually offer two navigation apps, including a lite version with maps but no active routing. The full version will include Navigon's excellent Reality View and lane assistance features, which help you navigate tricky highway exits. It will also deliver day and night viewing modes, a POI database, portrait and landscape orientations, and the ability to navigate to saved contacts.

Sources say that the app will be available with North American, Western European, or Australian maps. There's no release date or pricing yet.

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Pharos Traveler 137 GPS Smartphone

Most smartphones these days come with GPS navigation capability, but they were made by companies that have phones as their primary business. Turn the tables around and you’ll get the Pharos Traveler 137 GPS Smartphone - this is a GPS unit with cellphone capabilities, or should we call it a cellphone with GPS navigation skills? Regardless of what you classify it under, we’re pretty sure you’d be well pleased with the following specifications :-

• Qualcomm MSM7201A 528MHz Processor
• 3.5” WVGA 480 x 800, 65K color TFT LCD with touch panel
• Tri-band AWS 1700/1900/2100 MHz, UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA: 384K/7.2M/2Mbps
• Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Built-in GPS
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
• FM transmitter
• 3.1-megapixel camera
• 0.3-megpaixel front camera
• Free real-time traffic, gas price, movie and weather information

This cute little number will retail for $599.95 - pretty hefty since it comes unlocked and is not subsidized by any carrier.

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Google Updates Street View for Easier Navigation

(Video Inside) The 360-degree imagery on Google's Street View mapping feature is pretty impressive, but until today, navigating the streets from your keyboard has been somewhat of a chore.

Google on Thursday updated Street View to allows users to move through the streets by double clicking on your mouse rather than using the arrow keys.

"We have been able to accomplish this by making a compact representation of the building facade and road geometry for all the Street View panoramas using laser point clouds and differences between consecutive pictures," Daniel Filip, a computer vision tech lead at Google Zurich, wrote in a blog post.

In addition, if you hover over a certain area, a shaded box will appear - an oval if you're on the street and a rectangle if you're pointing to a building. Double click the box and Street View will either take you to the best panorama shot of the building or street or give you the option to zoom into the selected area by double clicking.

If you've traveled too far, hit the return arrow in the address box to go back to your previous location.

"Not only is it an easier way to browse cities in Street View, it allows you to do superhuman things like jump from one side of a river to another to see a faraway building," Filip wrote.

Mio Offers Two for the Road

I have been a bit late in posting something about GPS gadgets. And tell tell you all, better late than never.

We haven't seen anything new from Mio in the U.S. since parent company MiTAC purchased Magellan in December, 2008. Last we heard, in fact, was in April, when the company responded to a GPS Business News article that it was leaving the U.S. market by insisting that no, it wasn't. Today we see proof of that, as Mio releases two new navigators for North America.

The Mio Moov S401 will offer a 4.3-inch screen, a 4 million POI database, and list for $179.99; the Mio Moov S501 will have a 4.7-inch screen, a 12 million POI database, and go for $199.99. Both will offer the company's new Spirit software which is designed to make search and navigation simple. These two can navigate to geo-tagged photos and will support keyword POI search, for when you don't know a destination's exact name.

These look like smart additions to the lineup, offering big screens and useful features at bargain prices. Buyers have shown they're mostly interested in low-cost GPS navigators. While the U.S. market has grown increasingly competitive (Navigon just pulled out of the U.S. due to shrinking margins) we predict these units will find plenty of buyers when they're released in June.