Jan/Feb 2006

The iDrive software-based satellite navigation system for Windows CE and Pocket PC-based devices has been launched in the UK by Spirit Data Capture.

It is produced by Slovakian company Sygic, and Spirit says it is ideal for use with two products that it already offers - the Slovakian-built Gotive handheld computer, and the Korean-sourced Mobile Compia M3 rugged PDA-style mobile computer.

Spirit says the system will run as an off-the-shelf package on other CE-based hardware, However, it is also pushing the system as a base for external software developers to use in order to embed navigation in their own applications. A software development kit is available for this purpose.

iDrive features door-to-door navigation, and is said to work in various European countries. It provides voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions and mapping using Navteq digital navigational map data.