Slashgeo

The Map Room covers the Garmin announcement of their API and new website for developers, also at Where 2.0 2007, MapQuest announced a new API for Adobe ActionsScript (press release). From the Garmin press release: "“Until recently, third party websites have been unable to communicate easily with Garmin devices,” said Charles Morse, Garmin’s director of mobile and PND marketing. “This announcement is a win-win for developers and Garmin and it paves the way for more innovative applications. By expanding our developer applications and allowing programmers to integrate Garmin’s leading-edge technology into their sites, we are making it easier for third party content providers to leverage the huge community of Garmin devices by providing tools that will allow them to communicate directly with Garmin systems. This will create new markets for the programmer’s content and services, while generating a grassroots movement that will spread Garmin’s name and technology to consumers through third party websites and content distribution channels.”"

Poly9 Free Earth is a cross-browser, cross-platform 3-D globe using Adobe Flash. I gave the site a quick run-through, and it looks like they're off to a good start in providing an alternative to the Google offerings. If you're used to the Google controls, you'll be familiar with the controls provided by Poly9. One really cool feature is ability to view in full-screen. The imagery is a little dated for my area, but it's better quality than I get with Google.

Of particular interest to me was the integration with the Garmin Communicator plugin, allowing you to import waypoints, routes and tracks from your Garmin device. I loaded up a weekend excursion to a nearby park and gave it a whirl. My tracks, routes and waypoints loaded up without a hitch. I had only one route, and found that I was unable to select for display in the map. Waypoints and Tracks gave me no trouble because I had several of each.

In all, not a bad start for Poly9. The addition of Communicator Plugin support is a great way to begin to differentiate themselves from Google.

A few geoblogs covered the announcement by Garmin, traditionally focusing on GPS devices, of a smartphone named Nuviphone [multiple screenshots], due later in 2008. From the Wikipedia stub: "The Garmin nüvifone is an Internet-enabled mobile phone and personal navigation device manufactured by Garmin. It makes use of a touchscreen with virtual keyboards and buttons, similar to Apple's iPhone." It has GPS capabilities, from the PR: "“This is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for — a single device that does it all.” The nüvifone is an innovative mobile phone that has a wide range of advanced yet easy-to-use features. The all touchscreen device is the first of its kind to integrate premium 3.5G mobile phone capability with an internet browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions in one device. When powered on, the 3.5-inch touchscreen display reveals three primary icons — “Call,” “Search,” and “View Map” which allow the user to effortlessly master the nüvifone’s functions." Some related stories below.

APB links to a review of the Garmin Nuvifone G60. We mentioned Garmin's tentative foray into smartphones in early 2008. From the review's introduction: "But the Garmin nuvifone G60 is a first: a Linux-powered cell phone and bonafide Garmin GPS device in one. That means you get text-to-speech capability, a database with millions of points of interest, and full-blown search capabilities. Unfortunately, Garmin spent almost two years bringing this phone to market, and it feels like a 2007-era device. At $299 with a two-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, the nuvifone G60 simply isn't competitive." See also related stories below.

Garmin announced today the arrival of the eTrex Legend H and the eTrex Vista H. They are low cost handheld navigators that include several new features considered vital for today’s outdoor adventures.

You can read more about the two (2) receivers at Directions Magazine:
Press Release at Directions Magazine

Learn more about the Garmin eTrex Vista H on the Garmin web site:
Garmin eTrex Vista H

Tidbits offers a review of Garmin's nuvi 255W. The introduction: "As I've reviewed more car navigation GPS units (see our "Find Yourself with GPS" series), it has become clear that the manufacturers have succumbed to feature creep - just because you have a device with a color LCD screen and a speaker doesn't mean you should shoehorn photo slideshow and MP3 player capabilities into the unit. And similarly, even though every GPS is essentially a tiny computer, giving the user the ability to customize nearly every option isn't always desirable - geeks might like it, but many other people will be confused and simply stick with the defaults. My latest test unit, Garmin's $349.95 nuvi 255W, sits near the low end of the company's product line but does a bang-up job of providing just the features necessary for a successful car navigation device, eschewing many inessential items on the feature checklists in favor of a lower price and simpler usage. As a result, this unit ranks highly among the units I've used so far." See also some related stories below.

According to the Kansas City Business Journal, Garmin International Inc. has received federal certification for a new aviation technology. In obscured conditions, they can project a simulated cockpit window view to assist the pilots. They claim this technology will help increase safety and reduce pilot workload. I can certainly see the appeal to this. Who hasn't wished for the exact same thing when driving in the blinding rain or thick fog?

All I can say is, I sure hope the data is correct!

A number of financial and industry sites are reporting on the dip (Ref 1, Ref 2) in stock prices for some of the leading portable navigation device manufacturers. Following an earnings warning on 4/8 and some earnings concerns quarter-to-quarter for Garmin, prices have been on an overall steady decline. Add to this the price concerns for TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ, each with their own merger concerns in the EU, and things don't look good in the short term for a portfolio focused on portable nav devices.

Nothing an approval from the EU regulators couldn't fix!

I admit this is partly a rehash of this January story, but The Map Room offers nice simple graphs on the online mapping services and GPS devices marketshares. In short, MapQuest and Garmin (in the U.S.) are way ahead their competition. From TMR: "MapQuest continued to lead with more than 50 percent of the market, with Google Maps second at 22 percent, and Yahoo and Microsoft trailing. [...] survey conducted in February of the U.S. market gave Garmin a 56 percent share of the consumer GPS market [...]" MapQuest also recently added current traffic conditions to their mapping services, something Google Maps has since over a year. See also related stories below.