Portuguese researchers create Audio GPS for indoor location

GPS has become one of our best friends when it comes to finding where we are, but sadly it becomes completely useless when you're indoors. Now, Portuguese researchers from FEUP have devised a Audio GPS that can solve that problem.

How to fix Nexus 5 GPS problems

The Nexus 5 is one of the best smartphones out here (if not the best in terms of price/performance/specs), but as always, amid millions of units there are always a few that suffer from assembling issues and other problems. One such problem is a poor GPS reception, turning the simple act of getting a location fix into a frustrating experience that can take several minutes. But thankfully, there's a simple solution that may fix that problem.

Some people say you should this or that GPS app to speed up the process, but the most likely culprit is a simple bad connection between the GPS module and the GPS antenna in the back cover of the device. So, you'll need to remove it and insert a small piece of thick paper (or plastic) under the GPS antenna contacts in order to make a better connection with the Nexus 5 unit.

It's not that hard to do if you want to give it a last try before sending it for replacement and risk being left without a smartphone for a couple of weeks. I've had some friends that have tried this GPS fix and said it worked as intended. In my case, I was lucky enough to get a Nexus 5 with no GPS problems whatsoever - though there's a slight "misalignment" problem between the back cover and the front that makes it feel like they don't fit that well together (and I've compared it to other Nexus 5, which do seem to fit perfectly together).

Piksi High Precision GPS offers centimeter accuracy on Kickstarter

The GPS system is a technical marvel. Having begun as a way for the military to accurately track where in the globe they were, it has since made its way into our daily lives and... our pockets. Our smartphones use it to help us find nearby places, or even tell us where they are should they be lost or stolen. However, civilian applications can use its full precision, and our GPS receivers usually have an accuracy of 5-10 meters - good enough to get you from point A to point B... but not good enough if you're trying to make your autonomous flying robot follow a path between obstacles just 1 meter apart. Enter Piksi, a Kickstarter project that offers much higher precision, allowing for centimeter accuracy.

Although there are high-precision GPS receivers available, they usually cost ten times as much as this Piksi (which itself isn't that cheap, at $900). Besides the high precision, Piksi also gives location information 50 times per second - well more useful than the usual one per second of regular receivers.

The project was already surpassed its objective - which shows just how much there are people interested in this kind of technology - and hopefully it will find its way into backers' hands without delays.

For me, I just hope that someday, our smartphones will be able to pinpoint our location with identical accuracy! :)

Apple adds Geotagging to Events and Files

Apple has applied for a patent that adds an interesting tweak to events on your smartphone. If you ever used the search function onany device, you'll certainly remember how much you appreciate being able to search by name, date, and possibly size. Now, Apple is intending to add geotagging to the mix.

Just like you can now easily search your photos by plotting them on a map, thanks to the embedded GPS coordinates in the EXIF data (if you've enabled it), in the future you might search for events on your iPhone based on where you were.

I can really relate to that: lots of times I might remember where I was when I read an email or receveid a phone call, but can't really pinpoint "when" it happened. Having the option to narrow it down by place would certainly help track down what we are looking for.

For now it's nothing but a patent application, but lets hope it comes to fruition soon (and hopefully this patent won't be "nasty enough" to prevent everyone else from doing a similar thing - after all, the photo GPS tagging has been around for quite a while.

Navigon brings Streetview to its iOS Navigation App

If you were worried about the upcoming iOS 6 and saying goodbye to Google Maps, which many would surely miss - particularly the quite convenient street view - then you might like to hear that there seems to be a way to fix that.

Although one will expect Google to eventually launch an official Google Maps App (even possibly with navigation, just like on the Android version) for the iPhone and iOS6, if you can't wait for it you can head out to Navigon's navigation app that in its latest update introduces - you might know what - Google streetview imagery.

And in case you had already bought Navigon to serve as your official iOS offline navigation App, then you'll like to hear that you'll be receiving this update free of charge. So... it seems that choosing this App when you considered all other GPS apps might have been the best thing you ever did. :)

Find My Friends to get Geofence Alerts on iOS6

Find My Friends on iOS 6 is about to become a lot more useful - and to once again raise some privacy concerns, for sure.

If you don't know what Find My Friends is, it's the Google Latitude equivalent for Apple's iOS users: a service that allows you to see where your friends/family are, in real time, provided they've allowed it, of course.

This service offer a bit more control over Google's Latitude however, by allowing you to create time-specific events, that allow you to share your location with a group of people you might now want to share your location permanently. For instance, if you're throwing a party somewhere, you might want to let "everyone" where it is and how to get there. But when the event expires, you don't have to manually take care of it, and your location goes back to being shared with just your most trusted friends.


With iOS6 you'll be able to create geofenced zones that alert you when friends exnter/exit those areas. For instance, you might set up a zone around your home, to know when a friend is arriving; or instantly find out when your kids get to school or leave it; etc.

Indeed useful... but before you start imagining the "stalking" factor such system would allow, let's keep in mind that's exactly what you could already do by simply keeping an eye on your friends location on Find My Friends/Google Latitude. Besides, these services require each users express consent so that their location is shared, and with whom. So... if you're not confortable knowing some "friend" might be keeping tabs when you go somewhere... simply stop sharing your location with them.

Augmented Reality GPS Navigation with HUD from Pioneer

If you're annoyed by not having a fancy Head Up Display in your car, that can help you navigate around your routes without having to take your eyes off the road, you might want to see what Pioneer is readying for launch with its new Cyber Navi augmented reality GPS navigation systems.

According to Pioneer, these will be the very first augmented reality navigation units with HUDs arriving to market next July.

Besides the camera that will allow you to have an augmented reality overlay on the navigation screen (over the real scenery in front of the vehicle), the Cyber Navi highlight is its translucid HUD screen that is installed in the driver's sun visor, and that can project high-resolution (720x260 pixels) images - and high brightness as well, using lasers to create its color images.

This system can display a virtual "route line" overlaid the real world, right in front of your eyes, as well as several other navigation info and map modes.

The only issue is that you'll have to part with about $4000 to get one of these Cyber Navi units, which might cause you to rethink if having that factory installed HUD option when you bought you car wasn't a good deal after all...

Anyway, I'm certain this type of technology will eventually make its way to most cars... some day.



[via engadget]

Dangers of Geotagging Photos

With more and more people jumping aboard the smartphone and tablet revolution, some might not even be aware that whenever they snap a photo - it is highly probable that it has embedded the GPS coordinates of your current location on the photo itself.

Most of the time, that may even prove useful. Allowing you see wherever you've been, as well as precisely pinpoint each and every photo - putting the "is this photo here or there?" issues to rest.

But, on the other hand things, things can get messier when you start sharing those pictures online, as the army itself can attest when one base was attacked after enemy forces located it thanks to a geotagged photo.

Even if it's unlikely your photos will mean war, you might want to rethink your strategy about posting your home or even garden photos on social sharing networks - as those will allow anyone to instantly know where you live.

There are "scrubbing" programs that can remove all those extra info that is invisibly stored in your photos - on the so called "EXIF" properties. Or you can even do it in Windows by simply right clicking on it, and going to properties->details->remove all personal info.

Better be safe than sorry.

Free GPS Navigation App for Portugal

If you ever happen to visit Portugal and need to get your bearings straight, there's always the possibility of using a GPS navigation App in your iPhone or Android device. But, most time you might have to spend money aquiring a new map, or buy a new app... And online solutions like Google Maps, use up valuable roaming data that is obscenely overcharged. So, why not forget about all that and do it without spending a cent?

Thanks to TMN (a national cell phone operator) we can now have a completely free GPS navigation App to drive around Portugal: TMN Drive for the iPhone; TMN Drive for Android.

This App is based on a well known portuguese developed GPS navigation system call NDrive, that is currently being used by many navigation Apps under customized versions, and besides the obvious advantage of beeing free, it has probably the most comprehensive database of PoI (Points of Interest) of them all: over 700 thousands!

Extra features, like live traffic info and extra maps will still cost you extra. But for the most part, you can use it for free. Something to keep in mind should you ever come driving to our cozy little country. :)

TomTom Top Gear says Goodbye to Jeremy Clarkson

It really was an excellent idea... to be guided to your destination by Jeremy Clarkson - one of the most iconic petrol-heads in the world, courtesy of the hugely popular Top Gear, (or would it be that Top Gear is popular. because it has Jeremy Clakson?... Guess we'll never know! :) in the latest TomTom Top Gear edition navigation system.

Sure enough, each instruction would be "enhanced" by Clarkson's unmistakable remarks, like: "after 700 yards, assuming this car can make it that far, you have reached your destination, with the aid of 32 satellites an me – well done!"

Unfortunately... with over 50k units already built - some of which already in the stores - BBC stepped back from the deal, only then remembering its own editorial guidelines:

“Those working on consumer programs must take particular care not to endorse any product or service which could be covered in the programs on which they work and they should have no commercial or other links which could appear to influence their BBC work”.

It's really a shame... But I suspect these - now rare - TomTom Top Gear edition GPS units will soon pop up in ebay and other online stores for Top Gear die hard fans to bid their hearts out to get it - though I would assume that voice pack will eventually make its way into the internet "underground" and be available to anyone really wanting to get it.

Find Where Your Android Has Been

Remember the recent buzz around the location data stored by iPhones and Androids alike? Wouldn't you like to see where your Android device has been in the past few days?

It might even help you realize some interesting patterns you might not be aware of.

By using this Location Cache Map you can quickly visualize all the recent locations your Android has been. Sure, it need root access to be able to work, but... if you're interested in this kind of location data, chances are you already have a rooted device.

Mapnificent - Where can you get in 15 minutes?

A few years ago, I recall having sent a suggestion to several GPS navigation systems developers, so that they would include a feature that would allow us to select a destination by travel time. Meaning, if you had a coupld of hours free, you could get a list of places you could get to in that alloted time.

They didn't hear me back then, but now you can do it yourself by using this Mapnificent. It's a bit different as this service uses public transportation information - and even so, it's not available in every single city in Google Maps, but it's quite interesting nonetheless. And, it can become a valuable tool for public transport entities to check out and optimize their services, helping them track "blind spots" that could be better served.


Mapnificent from Stefan Wehrmeyer on Vimeo.

iPhone Secretely Tracks your Whereabouts

Looks like the iOS 4.x updates came with a feature that went unnoticed until now. The iPhone and iPad 3G keeps a record of your whereabouts in an easy accessible file.

Sure, we all know that data is already kept by mobile operators (but inaccessible to a regular person), or using user-selected services like Google Latitude - but in that case you know you're doing it.

In this case, this file of your location (that can have data that goes as far back as a year) can be used by anyone with access to your phone or computer.

I'm sure Apple will claim they have something in their ToS (terms of service) that allow them to keep that historic location data - more so, considering that data is not being sent to Apple or any other 3rd party entity (at least that we know of.)
Anyway, I'm sure this episode will make people aware of what's at risk here, and force companies to be a lot more transparent and clear about this sort of stuff. (Can you imagine the number of husbands and wives that are now tempted to comb through their partners iPhone location log, to see if he/she strayed from the path?)

All it takes is this small program: iPhone Tracker.

iPad Shares iPhone GPS

Looks like the new hotspot WiFi sharing feature of iOS 4.3 on the iPhone 4 comes with a much appreciated secret feature when used together with your WiFi iPad.
As you're probably aware, only the iPad 3G models come equipped with a true GPS receiver. The WiFi models can only determin their position via geolocated WiFi hotspots, or IP geolocation.

But... if you happen to have an iPhone 4 and use the hotspot feature to share your internet connection with your iPad, your WiFi iPad magically becomes GPS aware!



Better still, this feature works for bothe the iPad 2 as well as the original iPad, and it certainly will help lots of people make up their mind regarding which iPad model to get - particularly all those people already having an iPhone 4.

Now... how long do you think it will take for someone to reverse engineer this, in order to make the GPS location work with Android devices serving as WiFi hotspots?

Emotional Satnav Driver Assistant

It's no secret a lot of nice people change completely when they sit behind a driver's wheel. Even the most calm driver can quickly become a furious almost manic-like monster when facing adverse road conditions and other crazy drivers.

That's exactly why Prof. Peter Robinson from Cambridge Univeristy decided to develop a emotion sensing satnav system that can act like an anti-road rage assistant.

By recognizing face expressions and the tone of the drivers voice, this system - currently in the form of a robotic head - can try to minimize the hungriness of the driver.
The system can correctly identify the driver's emotion 70% of the time, and in the future might also be able to interact with other car systems, allowing for the volume radio to be turned down, while minimizing repeated instructions - for those moments when "anything" can become annoying to the drivers.

Timex Iron Man Triathlon GPS Watch

Need a watch to take to your adventurous vacations... and more?

Then nothing like this Timex Global Trainer Iron Man Triathlon, a watch that not only has a GPS navigation system to keep track where you are in the world, but also includes a heart rate wireless sensor to keep you fit and in good health so you can return in one piece! :)

Google Maps Send-to-Car

Google is pushing forward their Google Maps Send-to-Car service - a service that allows you to send destinations and routes to your vehicle from your browser.

When you think about it, this makes perfect sense: you're much more likely to plan your trips while sitting at your computer, and it's a lot easier to simple "send it to your car" than having to manually enter addresses or coordinates in your car navigation system.

This service is now possible in more than 20 car brands and let's hope it keeps growing.

Waze Social Mapping and Traffic Info

Todau, I present you Waze. A collaborative mapping and traffic information social network that might be growing into something really big.

There are lots of big players out there, wanting to cash in on real-time traffic information. With Waze, everyone can contribute to create an open, shareable, real-time map of what's happening.

Based on your current speed it figures out traffic conditions, and you can report accidents or other relevant events with a couple of touches.

Waze is freely available for the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and some other devices.

Considering all it has to offer (and it even gives the chance to create your own unmapped streets and roads) it is definitely worth having a look.

Glympse - Share your Location

Sure there are lots of location sharing service out here (Google Latitude springs to mind) - but I find this Glympse to be worth a merit on its own.

What does it offer beyond the rest? Well, besides allowing you to set a destination - which immediately tells your friends how long it will take you to get there - you also get to set your own "sharing" expiry time.
So, there are no worried about being tracked if you forgot to "turn it off".

You can set your location sharing time, up to 4h. And if you set less, you can always expand it to cover unscheduled delays.

You can also see which of your friends are tracking you in real time - so, there's no way for them to deny they didn't know you were coming!. :) 



Glympse is available for Androids, Windows Mobile, iPhone and iPad.

Free Ovi Maps Racing from Nokia

No secrets here: since Nokia started offering their Ovi GPS Navigation Maps for free one week ago, users have downloaded it over 1.4 million times.

Now, Nokia wants you to take it a step further and actually play around with it with... Ovi Maps Racing!

Don't tell my you've never wished playing a racing game in your neighborhood -  and now, you can. Head to your nearest Ovi Store and download it now, it's free for a limited time.

Check the video: