Garmin has announced its entrance into the mobile phone market with the nüvifone, an all-in-one, sleek and slim, touchscreen device that combines a premium phone, mobile web-browser, and cutting-edge personal navigator.

“The nüvifone is an all-in-one device offering unmatched integration of utility and function in a single mobile device,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “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. 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.

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TomTom Links GPS Devices to Google Maps – Information Week
TomTom, a maker of personal navigation devices, said Wednesday that customers can now use Google’s mapping service to find business addresses and then transfer them via a computer to a TomTom gadget. Clicking on Google’s GPS option after locating a business address sends the information to TomTom Home. Once the data is stored in Home, it can be transferred to a TomTom device via Bluetooth or wired connection. People can view the location on a map displayed in the TomTom device, which can provide directions to the address. The location can also be saved for a future trip…

Navigators Everywhere, Especially on Holiday Gift Lists – New York Times
JUDGING from the holiday-season popularity of G.P.S. navigators, there are few gestures more satisfying than telling the person you love, “You have no sense of direction, but don’t worry — modern technology can help.” This year, the Global Positioning System seems to have been invented merely to be tucked into great gadgets — smartphones, portable in-car navigators and even hand-held devices you can use on hiking trips or during workouts. Under this seemingly slim rubric is an array of products to fit many lifestyles and interests…

Secrets in Rare Cartography – EurekAlert!
Whales were the economic drivers of the 1850s. So important was this resource that the founder of the U.S. Oceanographic Office, Matthew Fontaine Maury, created a map showing the worldwide distribution of sperm and right whales in 1851. “Whale oil then was like petroleum is today,” says Christopher Baruth. “This is a graphic device that showed where the whales were located by type and season.” Quietly housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) since 1978, the AGS Library contains more than a million items, half of which are maps and charts, some dating to 15th century, and some that aren’t available anywhere else, even at the Library of Congress…

The controversial Google Street View project has arrived in Australia taking snaps in our major cities and towns.

The project has already captured images at street level in 17 US cities and attached them to the highly popular Google Maps online application.

It was launched in the US in May, and quickly attracted controversy after claims several images breached privacy.

Some images identified men outside strip clubs, women sunbaking in parks and even captured a woman’s g-string as she emerged from her car. Soon after, Google modified several images to remove or mask the identity of individuals.

Google Australia’s head of corporate communications Rob Shilkin said Australia’s privacy laws were tighter than those in the United States, and that no one’s privacy would be compromised.

“We’re giving very considerable thought to how best to safeguard Australian’s privacy, including consulting experts and community groups, while enabling all Australians to benefit from this new feature,” Mr Shilkin said.

“We’re focusing on finding ways to ensure that individuals’ faces are not identifiable in pictures taken in Australia and that licence plate numbers are not identifiable in Australia.”

Cameras mounted on top of “Google-labelled” cars will travel around Australian cities and towns, pausing to take a 360-degree photo, record the location of the image using GPS, and then move to the next location.

The images will be collected throughout summer and are likely to appear online in the second half of next year. (via news.com.au)

Google Maps users in the USA, Australia and New Zealand now have the ability to edit specific locations on Google Maps. Software Engineer for Google Maps, Seth LaForge, announced on the Google LatLong blog that the software will now allow users to place markers on the correct location in the event that it had been incorrectly placed to begin with.

“Take your favorite restaurant, for example. Now you can find it on Google Maps and move the marker to its front door. You might just save someone’s date with this information! Fixing markers can be downright addictive. I’ve spent hours using Street View to locate businesses and houses, and then moving their markers.”

To avoid vandalism the software also records the original location marker so that users can compare the two wiki-style and correct incorrect changes. Users require a Google Account to take advantage of the new feature.

Hitler’s globe sells for $115,000 – Press TV
A desktop world globe, formerly the property of Nazi Adolf Hitler, sold for an huge amount at a San Francisco-based auction house. The globe, which was recovered by a US soldier from Hitler’s residence in 1945 sold for $115,000. The 91-year-old US veteran said he took the globe as a souvenir after entering Hitler’s Berghof residence in southern Germany.

Garmin turns to Navteq; drops bid for rival mapmaker – Chicago Sun-Times
Garmin, the world’s leading GPS maker, took a new direction today, backing off from a $3.4 billion offer to buy digital mapmaker Tele Atlas while extending its pact with Chicago-based Navteq, the Chicago digital mapmaker. The GPS and mapmaker industry has been up for grabs since Nokia, the leading cell-phone manufacturer, announced last month it is acquiring Navteq for $8 billion.

Chinese take-away: Guidebooks – The Age
Travellers heading to Beijing for the Olympic Games may want to reconsider taking a guidebook. The Chinese Government has banned Lonely Planet’s popular China Travel Guide over what it deems controversial content. After repeated reports of confiscations from travellers, China’s ministry of foreign affairs confirmed that the guide was banned last year because of a map that depicts the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan as separate countries.

Nokia introduces a leading edge connected camera, navigation device and multimedia computer in one.

Nokia unveils the Nokia N82, the latest multimedia computer optimized for photography, navigation and internet connectivity. With the tools to discover the places and moments worth capturing, and the capabilities to capture and share them instantaneously, the Nokia N82 offers photography enthusiasts an enhanced camera experience.

Discover, capture and share
The Nokia N82 enables you to explore your surroundings and find your way with navigation and routing; document your adventures with the high quality imaging capabilities; and instantly share your experiences with one click upload to the web.

Featuring A-GPS, 5 megapixel camera, Xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics and internet connectivity, the Nokia N82 also incorporates all the multimedia computer features common to Nokia Nseries. Like its predecessor the Nokia N95, the Nokia N82 is the latest epitome of a truly converged device that is not one thing but is many.

Discover the world
The powerful A-GPS and preinstalled* Nokia Maps help you explore and locate new places, whether in another country or just around the corner. All Nokia N82 standard sales packages come with a free voice guided navigation trial*, and you can purchase additional features, such as city guides and longer subscription to the navigation.

With access to more than 15 million points of interest, you can locate and navigate to the most interesting sights, bars or restaurants wherever you are. You can also send map excerpts and routes to friends by MMS or save map screen shots to the gallery.

Capture your experiences
With a 5 megapixel camera, powerful Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics, the Nokia N82 delivers remarkably vivid photographs, even in low-light conditions. Fast camera activation, autofocus with a dedicated autofocus assist lamp, fast reloading between shots and DVD-like quality video capture make it a truly convenient and credible tool for capturing and telling your life stories.

Thanks to the 2GB microSD card in the standard Nokia N82 sales package*, you can store up to 900 high-resolution photos or up to 84 minutes of high quality video on the device.

Share your stories
With high speed Wi-Fi connectivity and one-click upload to online communities, the Nokia N82 makes sharing your experiences and discoveries easy. When viewing a picture or video, simply one press of a button starts uploading it while you carry on using the device for other purposes.

Or you can impress your friends with multimedia slideshows – complete with music and effects – on the high resolution display or on a compatible TV.

The Nokia N82 comes with the new content driven 3D multimedia menu and includes a convenient orientation sensor that rotates the user interface automatically between horizontal and portrait mode. For quick and easy access to entertainment content, the Nokia N82 also supports the Ovi family of Nokia internet services, including Nokia Music Store, N-Gage games** and Nokia Maps.

Rochester, New York — Strafford County residents might have seen a strange looking orange minivan driving around in the last few weeks, capped with multiple cameras and foreign looking wired machines. Some might have asked themselves, What in the name of all that is good and holy is that thing doing?

The vans represent the next stage in maps. For nearly 42 centuries, maps changed very little. They became more accurate, but they remained a two-dimensional representation of the land and water underneath us.

But cartography has come a long way in the past 40 years. And Rochester and its surrounding communities have just been recorded.

Tele Atlas, a global corporation based in The Netherlands with American headquarters in Lebanon, N.H., is in the second phase of a three-year project, mapping the United States and Canada precisely.

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Two 15th century maps stolen from the Spanish National Library in Madrid, Spain have been recovered, with the help of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s special art crime department.

The maps, from an edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia, were found at a home of a private collector in Sydney, Australia who claimed that he bought them at a public auction in London.

“The theft of cultural property is a worldwide problem which the FBI takes very seriously. This type of crime is not only an offense against an institution, but deprives the international community of its cultural heritage,” FBI Director Robert Mueller said. “We are pleased to assist the Spanish National Police and Civil Guard in returning these treasures to their rightful owners.”

Meanwhile, the investigating team has confirmed the robber’s identity. His name is Cesar Gomez Rivero, a 60-year-old man originally from Uruguay with Spanish nationality living in Argentina. The authorities of United Kingdom, Australia and Argentina have recovered nine other maps. In total, 11 stolen maps were recovered. (via AHN)

Gasoline pump maker Gilbarco Veeder-Root said Wednesday a new service will let drivers use Google Maps to get directions while filling up at the pump.

Mountain View-based Google Inc.’s mapping service will be integrated into Gilbarco’s Applause media system, which has been incorporated in its Encore pumps with color screens and Internet connections.

“Getting directions at the pump is safer than using Internet-enabled devices from the driver’s seat and far more reliable than just asking a stranger,” Kirsten Paust, VP of global retail systems at Gilbarco, said in a statement.

Participating stations will provide a color screen where users can go online to search for directions and landmarks. A hard copy will be available off the receipt printer.

Gilbarco plans to roll out early next month, initially at about 3,500 gas pumps. (via East Bay Business Times)

The modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral on Oct. 17, has been declared fully operational for military and civilian navigation users around the globe, following a successful on-orbit checkout by a combined U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team.

The satellite, designated GPS IIR-17M, is the fourth in a series of eight satellites that bring new capabilities to military and civilian users of the GPS system. Each satellite features a modernized antenna panel that provides increased signal power to receivers on the ground, two new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti- jamming capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal that will provide users with an open access signal on a different frequency.

Lockheed Martin’s operations team conducted the on-orbit deployment and checkout of all spacecraft systems in just over six days, allowing Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., to conduct the navigation payload initialization. The satellite was subsequently declared operational on Oct. 31 for both civil and military users.

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