If you're looking to upgrade your GPS device, or you're new to the market, these are a few of our recent favorites.
The GPS market is growing by leaps and bounds, with more and more features available beyond basic navigation. Make sure your device has all the right features you need to stay on track plus pack along a few cool extras for the road. So what exactly makes a GPS device good these days? To start a modern navigator should have a large readable display, a strong receiver, a variety routing options, built-in maps, and a large points of interest (POI) database. One of our favorite bonus features—text to speech—is sure to please. A unit with a text-to-speech engine is able to pronounce street names in addition to providing directional change instructions. And that's just navigation-wise. Multimedia players are a nice addition as long as they're easy to use and there's ample additional storage for your songs, videos and pictures. Bluetooth capabilities are convenient too for making hands-free calls directly from the POI database. And that's why the following devices are our most recent favorites. Some excel by including innovative features, while others find their strength in providing excellent performance, ease of use or a nice price. The nüvi 680, the latest in a long line of high quality GPS devices improves on its predecessors by adding a new and exciting technology: location-based services. Garmin has partnered with MSN Direct to offer a variety of information based on your current location such as Traffic, Weather, Gas Prices, and even Movie times. In addition to this important travel info, the nuvi 680 retains all of the features that we love about the nuvi line. You'll find a bright 4.3-inch screen, SiRF Star III GPS receiver, a Bluetooth speakerphone interface, and an MP3 player. If you're planning on using your GPS outside of the car, but still would like a few travel tools, games, and multimedia features thrown into the mix, the Mio Digiwalker H610 is a good choice. In addition to a standard automobile profile, it also has pedestrian and bicycle modes. Travelers will also enjoy features such as a world clock and a currency converter. Those in need of entertainment will appreciate the full featured audio and video players, photo viewer and selection of games. All this functionality is packed into a deceptively diminutive package. And since the H610 is based on the latest SiRF Star III receiver, and includes a comprehensive POI database, it will get you where you're going with ease. In the market for something a bit simpler and perhaps more affordable? The Intellinav One features a 3.5-inch nonreflective touch screen with a 20-channel SiRF Star III receiver, preloaded maps for the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, plus a massive POI database. Its multimedia players, however, are fairly basic. Even so, the Intellinav One boasts two hard to come by talents: multi-segment routing and text–to-speech conversion. The latter is a nice convenience where the device is able to pronounce street names in addition to providing basic "turn right, turn left" directions. Finally, if you seek a GPS for just direction and don't need fancy multimedia features, the Navman F20 is a truly affordable entry-level system (based on the SiRF Star III GPS receiver). Its menu structure and interface couldn't be simpler, with dedicated buttons for Fuel and Parking. Tapping these buttons allows you to find the nearest gas stations or parking lots—both very common POI searches. And unlike many budget GPS devices, the F20 includes complete maps for the United States as well as a POI database preloaded on a 2GB SD card. So whether you're GPS junkie looking to upgrade, or a newbie hoping to leave those torn paper atlases behind, one of these devices should meet your needs. Below are brief descriptions and links to the full reviews of our favorite devices—be sure to take a look before you begin shopping.

The new BlackBerry 8800 from Cingular/at&t released today has a built-in GPS function. This review will show you its capability and limitations. PICTURES INCLUDED.

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NPR : Census Bureau Adopts GPS to Find American Homes

Gear Factor

BMW releases first dynamic traffic system in US - Engadget

Google Image Tagger?

Fresh of Flickr's hot Geotagging capability addition, Google has registered some domains seeming to indicate they are going to be adding this feature as well for their picture site. Could it include GPS, that would be pretty cool.

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Geotagging and Privacy

The popular photo-sharing website Flickr has made it easy to place pictures on a map--potentially changing Web search, travel, and local news. Privacy issues remain a concern, however, with the increasing popularity of geotagging.

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Dog-Gone GPS Locator: RomeEO Keeps Track of That Roving Beast - Gizmodo: "Dog-Gone GPS Locator: RomeEO Keeps Track of That Roving Beast"

Slashdot | US Satellite Plan Could Knock Out GPS and Radio

"Otago University researchers are concerned by US plans to protect satellites from solar storms... "The approach, which is being considered by the US Air Force and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, involves using very low frequency radio waves to flush particles from belts and dump them into the upper atmosphere over either one or several days". The plan could disrupt GPS signals and high frequency radio over the Pacific for up to a week. "The disruptions result from a deluge of dumped charged particles temporarily changing the ionosphere from a "mirror" that bounces high frequency radio waves around the planet to a "sponge" that soaks them up.""

Flickr about to add Geotagging functionality?

This user stumbled across this on Flickr this morning..."That panel prompted me to set my default geotagging permissions for new photos (that is, who can see the geotagging information). After selecting "Everyone", I was presented a map to which I could drag and drop photos, thus tagging them with latitude and longitude information."

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Sony's new GPS gives you photos that know where they were taken

It's a little GPS receiver that stamps your photos with the location they were snapped, a much easier method than carrying around a GPS receiver and pencil. Your photos can be placed across a map with "virtual pushpins" via Sony's Picture Motion Browser.


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Undead Silicon Valley Icons Hitchhike Across the US

A new, rather high mark has been set for those hoping to secure lasting fame here in Silicon Valley. You have to die, be modeled out of wood, have a GPS device secured to your back and hitchhike your way around the country.

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How to Find True North Without a Compass

Which way is north? Whether you're lost in the woods or you're trying to install a sundial in your yard, you're bound to want to find true north from time to time, and chances are when the time comes you won't have a compass.

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Wigle Data to Google Earth (KML File)

WiGLE is a massive user contributed database of WiFi access points and GPS coordinates. IronGeek decided to take that data and parse it into a KML file that Google Earth can understand.via-hackaday.com

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Drones over Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has started last week to test unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). These small drones, which look like toys, weigh about 5 pounds and are equipped with a GPS device and a camera. They can fly at speeds up to 30 miles per hour for 70 minutes and cost less than 30,000 dollars. Read more...

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Garmin iQue 3000 GPS PDA Review

Instead of having a latch that releases the GPS antenna, as on previous units from this company, the 3000 simply has a recess where you can stick your finger in any pry up the antenna. Deploying the antenna still automatically launches the GPS software.

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Satellite imagery of N. Korea missile site

The missile test facility causing all the stir is called the Musudan-ri test facility. A series of satellite images reveal the preparations for testing. Other links contain additional diagrams and discussions.

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Camera + GPS + Google Maps = Kick Ass

This guy took exif data (data about pictures) from a GPS enabled camera, parsed it and sent that data to Google Maps. The examples of Washington D.C. are great. I cannot wait to do this with my camera. This is a must see!

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Sex offender killer used sex offender registry and GPS to hunt victims

A Cape Breton man who killed two sex offenders in Maine visited the homes of another four sex offenders but no one answered the door.\r\n\r\nMaine state police say Stephen Marshall had a global satellite positioning program on his laptop computer, which allowed investigators to trace his movements.

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Tracking a Guy in Google Earth/Maps in Real-time

Where\'s Tim? This guy carries a GPS-enabled phone and shows you his position, and tracks, on Google Maps or Google Earth. Looks like Tim\'s at work right now.

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