Nov/Dec 2004

As GPS location receivers get smaller and smartphones get smarter, a new generation of systems based on mobile phone technology looks set to have a big impact on the satellite navigation market in 2005.

As a taster, you only have to look at a new contender in phone-based satnav in the form of Dutch company Route 66, which has a product called Mobile Britain 2005.

Use of Bluetooth wireless technology means the GPS receiver can connect seamlessly with a smartphone or PDA. Memory capacity is not an issue because the application and map are held on MMC cards (multimedia memory cards) which simply slot into the phones. You could even swap the satnav application between devices.

The search engine has fuzzy logic capabilities, meaning that roads and places can be found even when place or road names are only partially spelled or misspelled.

 

There is a choice of 2D, 3D and arrow displays to suit the screen size of the phone, and there is a night vision feature as well as turn-by-turn voice directions..

The application runs from the MMC, which is inserted directly into the mobile phone. The Navigate Mobile user interface works in the same way as any other application on the phone, such as text messaging.

An Internet-based traffic monitoring system and an email helpdesk are included in the price as standard. The £269 figure includes the Bluetooth GPS receiver, its in-car charger and the MMC memory card. Route 66 operates on smart phones running Symbian version 6.1 or higher. In 2005 Route 66 says it will launch version for Symbian UIQ and Windows Mobile platforms.