Entries tagged with gps - Channel 10

Windows Mobile GPS -paikkatietosovellusten toteutus on kaikkien käsillä.

Jukka Wallasvaara — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:28:00 GMT

Useimmat varmaankin jo tietävät, miten helppoa puhelinsovellusten tekeminen on nykyään, kun käytössä on Windows Mobile puhelimet. Enää ei tarvitse olla monimutkaisia kehitysympäristöjä ja monen vuoden ammattikokemusta sovelluskehitykseen. Pelkkä kiinnostus ja läjä esimerkkejä jo riittää ja heti alkaa valmista syntymään.
Nyt kun yhä useammissa Windows puhelimissa on sisäänrakennetut GPS paikantimet ja puhelimiin tehtävät sovellukset ovat helppoja tehdä Visual Studiolla ja .NET:llä, on aika alkaa toteuttamaan niitä visioita, joita kukin on aiemmin mielessään vain kuvitellut.

Käytännön tarve sai Kari Ruuskasen tarttumaan Visual Studioon ja tutustumaan, miten paikkatietoa hyödyntävän mobiiliohjelman voisi helpoiten tehdä. Ohjelmointi kun ei työkuvaan kuulunut ollenkaan, mutta tarve ja visio sovelluksen toiminnoista oli selkeänä, piti vain ryhtyä tuumasta toimeen.
Tässä esimerkissä mennään läpi Kari Ruuskasen toteutus, jossa hyödynnetään niin tekstiviestejä, GPS paikkatietoa kuin Live karttasivun generointia - puhelimessa!!
Puhelin seuraa missä omistaja kulkee ja laatii siitä mm. Live Maps html-sivun, jota voi katsella selaimella.
Sovellus on säädettävissä myös siten, että kun puhelin siirtyy aiemmin määritetystä alueesta toiseen, lähtee siitä SMS viesti toiseen puhelimeen ja näin ollen tiedetään kokoajan, millä alueella puhelin on.

Lataa projektin koodit itsellesi, tutustu niihin ja hyödynnä niinkuin haluat.

GPS Tagging Photos

Larry Larsen — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:30:00 GMT

At some point in the future probably all of our digital photos will be tagged with location data. Where a photo was taken is pretty important now, and will future-proof your photos, but how do you do it? There are a few different devices out there that carry with you when shooting that will records your location and then later apply that (via timestamp) to the pictures you load onto your computer. The ATP PhotoFinder is that type of device, except it's the first one I've seen with a card reader built into it that will actually take your camera's card and apply the geo-location data to the images directly. ($89, via Uncrate)

PMPs, GPS and the "Unit 2" from iriver

Nic Fillingham — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 05:57:00 GMT

We made it to the CES 2008 iriver booth on the last day of the show with just minutes to spare before they started pulling everything down.

This worked out great for us though as we were able to get our hands on two really cool products. The (as yet unreleased outside of South Korea) iriver W7 PMP with GPS cradle and the very sexy prototype "Unit 2".

More info: http://www.iriver.com/event/ces2008/

MSN Direct on your Sat Nav

Nic Fillingham — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:59:00 GMT

If you live in North America you can now get access to MSN Direct services on a selection of Garmin Satellite Navigation devices with more coming soon.

MSN Direct is a service that delivers traffic conditions, fuel prices, weather data, and more over parts of the unused FM spectrum via Microsoft Directband technology.

Want to see the service in action? Check out the demo of MSN Direct we were given at the Microsoft CES 2008 booth.

Alpine and Pioneer will also be bringing out MSN Direct compatible devices in 2008. For more info check out http://www.msndirect.com

From PC to PND

Sarah Perez — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:14:00 GMT

At CES, Garmin announced that their new nüvi 780 GPS unit will use the MSN Direct service. This service dynamically updates the portable navigation device (PND) with important information that drivers can see at a glance. MSN Direct, which transmits over FM airwaves, sends info like live traffic, weather, fuel prices, movie listings, local events, news, and stock prices to the device.

Another great feature of the 780 is its ability to integrate with Windows Live Local. From your home PC, you can look up destinations, or even entire Live Maps Collections, and send them to your device by using the new "Send to GPS" option. This can be done without having to physically connect your device to your PC nor does it require the device to have an internet connection. Instead, all the updates are done over FM airwaves. Now you can plan your trip at home, then send the data to the device before you leave. Or, if you're not a good planner, you can use the hands-free microphone and speaker to call someone for help and have them send the directions to your device while you're on the road.

The MSN Direct service uses MSN's SPOT network to deliver the data. MSN Direct is free for the first three months then is $50 per year afterwards. You can also choose to pay $130 for a lifetime subscription instead. You can try this device yourself next time you are renting a car at Avis Rent A Car. Avis Where2, based on the nüvi 780, will soon be available for rent with any Avis vehicle or just (Via Inside Microsoft)

The WhereAmI Project

Sarah Perez — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:11:00 GMT

The WhereAmI Project is an attempt to use GPS tracking to find your friends and have them find you. The project, an experimental beta at the moment, has its only users in WhereAmI's creator, Nagi Babu Punyamurthula, and his friends. WhereAmI works by letting a user transmit their GPS location to a central server using an application that runs on a GPS-enabled mobile device or a similarly-equipped laptop with an internet connection. On the server, a web service runs to collect the GPS data send from the mobile device. The third part is an ASP.NET AJAX-enabled web page running a Microsoft Virtual Earth Mapping Control to plot the user's position on the map. Users running the WhereAmI app can not only find each other, but also things around them like ATMs, shops, and bars. Of course, there is a big disable button for the times you don't want to be found.

If you're would like to try this project out for yourself, you can contact Nagi to get a Profile ID. Once you have that, you can download either the laptop version or the Pocket PC Phone version of the application and install it. You'll configure the application with the Profile ID provided to you. And, as long as you have a GPS receiver connectivity to either of these devices (either built-in, Bluetooth, or direct cabled), you'll be all set.

A Harry Potter-Like Clock Tracks Family Members

Sarah Perez — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:46:00 GMT

In the Harry Potter novels and movies, the Weasley family has a magical clock with hands assigned to each family member that move to indicate their current location. Now, scientists have created a real-life version of this clock for use in the home. The "Whereabouts Clock," tracks family members as being in one of four locations: home, work, school, or elswhere. The clock works by using a software program that is download to the family members' mobile phones. The software uses signal information from the phones to determine everyone's location. On first use, the location information must be programmed: as a person arrives at work or school for the first time, they must press the corresponding button in the application. The software then locks in on the signal from the nearest cell tower and stores its ID. Obviously, a naughty kid could easily program the phone to think the mall is the school, so this isn't really the device to use for stealth-tracking of your kids; it's more of a fun way for busy families to keep tabs on one another. The location information is only available on the clock itself and is not able to be accessed remotely, so only people entitled to be in the home have the ability to see this private information. [For more tracking, check out Microsoft's Nagi's Babu Punyamurthula "Where Am I Project".]

Where am I?

Laura Foy — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 17:32:00 GMT

To tell you the truth, I prefer to keep my location undisclosed but apparently there is a great demand for human tracking. My co-worker, Nagi Babu Punyamurthula, took it upon himself to create a solution for this need and he called it the "Where Am I Project". After having him explain his application to me, I realized how great this could be for many family and business uses- and not to mention a badass game of hide-n-seek :) Enjoy!

Leaving Mount Logan

Larry Larsen — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:28:00 GMT

I caught up with James Coleridge via satellite phone about the latest from the top of Mount Logan in the Yukon. James tells me about some of the set backs that the team has been dealing with, including over two weeks of very bad storms and a plane crash (no one was hurt). We talk about what it means to use technology from remote locations under extreme conditions, and how he keeps his batteries warm at night.

The team won't be able to make the summit this time. Three hours after this interview was recorded, they made the (wise) decision to start back down the mountain and head home. We'll catch up with James again when he's back in town.

Mount Logan Update: May 15, 2007

Larry Larsen — Tue, 15 May 2007 22:40:00 GMT

When I left the Mt. Logan expedition late last week, they were still waiting for the bad weather to lift to fly in to King’s Trench and begin the ascent. Right now, 8 people have made it to the glacier and setup camp. Five more are waiting for a ride; apparently a downdraft damaged the only plane that flies in and out on the Canadian side (yes, the one in the picture.) Meanwhile, the team is moving forward to camp 1 with about 500 pounds of food, watch them here on Live Maps.

As you can see on the map, the place they are moving across right now is one of the more dangerous areas on the mountain. To the south they have the danger of avalanche (all are wearing detectors, for what it’s worth) and to the north they have the danger of crevasses.

Michael Singer of Information Week asks where the Microsoft fans are. We're all over the place, but he can find a few of them right here. Wednesday night we gathered around and watched a slideshow of the days pictures with Windows Photo Gallery and then traded songs on our Zunes until dawn (is there a better way to share music without getting out of a warm tent?)

More updates, pictures, and video to follow.

Dis moi où ?

Benjamin Gauthey — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:29:00 GMT

Startup sur startup innovantes! Aujourd'hui, passage à Paris chez dismoiou.fr. Cette Startup composée de 4 personnes propose 2 services: Tout d'abord un site web collaboratif qui a pour ambition de décrire le monde de façon collaborative... Le principe: ajouter vos lieux préférés (restaurants, plages, cinémas...) de façon géolocalisée et les partager avec les autres utilisateurs qui peuvent à leur tour ajouter des commentaires positifs ou négatifs, de nouveaux lieux afin d'enrichir la base de données (SqlServer ;) ). Ce qui amène au second service: l'API. Elle offre accès aux informations donc libre à vous d'utiliser ou enrichir cette ressource et de créer un gadget Vista ou encore Live.... Bref, un service qui va permettre de découvrir "moulte" lieux inconnus, cachés au fin de l'Ardèche accessible uniquement avec une corde, si vous venez d'emménager dans un nouveau quartier, vous aurez toutes les informations utiles à portée de mains. Je laisse la parole à Pierre-Antoine Durgeat, directeur technique et co-fondateur de dismoiou.
Je vais ajouter quelques liens sur Dijon de suite. A vous de jouer: http://dismoiou.fr/

Ps: Tête explosée sur la vidéo? ....c'était ce matin...

GPS photography made easy

Larry Larsen — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:12:00 GMT

One of my favorite soapboxes is the importance of tagging GPS coordinates to photographs (a movement that really got off the ground here at Microsoft Research.) But actually getting GPS coords into the IPTC field of your photos has been a pain in the past, requiring you to use software like the incredibly undocumented Grazer, or snap-on hardware like GeoCoder.

Tekom announced last year that they have developed a 6 megapixel point-and-shoot camera with integrated GPS. The GX652, which was on display at CEBIT Hanover this year, has a fairly standard 3" LCD, 4.8x optical zoom, and shoots mpeg 4 video (I don't know if this video is also tagged with GPS, but other companies have hardware for tagging video.)

Unfortunately, the 12 channel GPS is an external puck rather than integrated directly into the camera, and there is no word on how photos taken indoors are handled.

Technology on the Water : The Seattle Boat show

Laura Foy — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:35:00 GMT

The boat show is so much more than enormous yachts and sexy speed boats. I went there to see how technology has improved boating and what new gadgets and toys are available on the water. After watching this piece you'll never get lost, never be in the dark, and never be without TV or internet....and more.

Cobra fighting Big Brother camera tickets

Tina Wood — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:28:00 GMT

Cobra Electronics Corporation is a leading global manufacturer of navigation and communication products. I stopped by their booth at CES to check out some of their GPS stuff and more importantly a device that lets you know when there is a red light or speed camera up ahead. I, like many other drivers, absolutely loathe those and have spent a fair amount of money on these tickets and, like everybody, think I'm innocent and the camera is just plain wrong.

Have you found love online?

Tina Wood — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:21:00 GMT

Maybe you have and maybe you haven't. I was reading this article on cnn and it really got me thinking about how different life is now then it was ten years ago. I, personally have never gone online in search of romance but I know many people who have and it seems to have worked for them. Now, there is a new term floating around called "Mobile Romance". No, you don't make-out with your phone but you instead post your dating profile online and you will automatically receive a text-message on a GPS enabled phone when a match is nearby. This has already been working in China. And there are similar programs like Dodgeball already here in the U.S. It got me thinking, what's next for online dating?

Where 2.0 Am I?

JD Lewin — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:27:59 GMT

You're at the Where 2.0 conference! A gathering to discuss maps, global positioning, mobile devices, and anything else that relates to your location on the planet. We spoke with a handful of the presenters at Where 2.0, rode someone else's electric scooter, and wrapped up the evening with some thoughts from Tim O'Reilly himself.

Links: Where 2.0 information, Where 2.0 photostream

Maker Faire: Putting a StreetDeck PC into your car

Laura Foy — Mon, 22 May 2006 13:00:00 GMT

Cars, cars, cars. It's all about making your ride custom to your needs. At Maker Faire I met up with Damien Stolarz, author of Car PC Hacks, and he introduced me to the all-in-one mobile electronics package StreetDeck. StreetDeck delivers all the extras you want (GPS, Music, DVD, the works!) and need in your car, so you can go from zero to loaded with one installation. It's pretty sweet...

Links: Decked out car on Flickr, Maker Faire, MP3Car.com(everything you need to do it yourself!), StreetDeck, StreetDeck video on CNET

Surveying Equipment and the men Behind the Scenes!

Tina Wood — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:00:00 GMT

Okay, I know you've seen it. Surveyors are those gentlemen who stand on the side of the road wearing those bright vests looking into some sort of camera lens on a tripod. Well, I'm intrigued by the technology and software that enables engineers and architects to actually build buildings based on that information. From GPS units to satellite communications to in-depth software; take a glimpse into their world.

Links: American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, Autodesk, MicroSurvey

You can't keep me down... Tablet PCs in the air!

Laura Foy — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 17:00:00 GMT

I had to get back up in the air and learn more about being a pilot. In this piece I discover what software and technology pilots are using to keep all systems go up in the clouds....watch and learn :)

Links: Flight Simulator, Galvin Flying, Seattle Avionics, TabletPC Demo

Getting High

Laura Foy — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 17:00:00 GMT

There is a constant buzz of those little planes flying over my head. To be honest, they kinda freak me out. So I decided to head over to Kenmore Air (A Sea Plane Airline) and find out exactly what goes on there and hopefully put my fears to rest.

Links: Kenmore Air, SeaPlanes.org