Thinkware iNAVI K2's 3D maps are just like being there

Looking out the window while driving is way overrated. The new hotness, in Korea at least, is super-detailed 3D maps that leave nothing of your route to the imagination. Thinkware's iNAVI K2 is just such a device, with purty 3D graphics showing up on its 4.8-inch 800 x 480 screen. There's 8GB of memory, 256MB of RAM, and a fancy "geomagnetic 3-axis sensor" that helps keep mapping on track, but face it, you're going to buy this to see if they mapped your house. It'll be available for 549,000 KRW, about $561 US.

[Via NaviGadget]

[Paul @ Mar 27th 2008 10:29AM]

That is pretty cool.
Street view in your GPS

[JohnTitor @ Mar 27th 2008 7:48PM]

why even go places when you can just do it on the GPS

[The Guy @ Mar 27th 2008 10:31AM]

One word - "WOW"

Well no i have more comments/questions.

When is it coming to Canada? If ever that is....

[Vortex @ Mar 27th 2008 10:38AM]

So why doesn't the guide stay in its lane?

[ShiroEd @ Mar 27th 2008 10:38AM]

This is WAAAAAAAAAY off being mainstream. Even Google Earth is no where near boasting decent 3D content coverage on its maps. I really can't imagine what kind of massive investment in time and effort would be necessary to populate the worlds maps (even the cities) with useful 3D content. Still love to get there soon though!

[Hax Or @ Mar 27th 2008 10:58AM]

Your negativity is uncalled for.

[Tony Rayo @ Mar 27th 2008 5:10PM]

There is a difference between being negative and being realistic.

[TJ @ Mar 27th 2008 10:44AM]

I'm just going to throw this out there. I could be totally wrong...

It's my guess that it has 8GB of storage for a reason. Tons and tons of data. I mean if it really does have "street view" for all of Korea it's not going to fit on that spare SD card you carry around in your back pocket (unless it's an 8GB SD card, of course). The really bad news is that it's friggin' Korea. No disrespect to them, they are Gods among men when it comes to gadgetry, but their country is geographically puny in comparison to the US or Canada.

Of course, as with anything GPS or mobile related, Europe is going to cash-in before the folks in the western hemisphere get their hands on it since they can't seem to live outside of their cars IMHO. My best guess is about 2 years before we see this kinda sexy-time on US soil.

[aeo @ Mar 27th 2008 10:49AM]

Looks like Grand Theft Auto to me. Bring on the pedestrians!!

[Flashpoint @ Mar 27th 2008 10:50AM]

THIS IS HOT !

Its gonna be a long time till this becomes an option for America. People actually have to drive routes in a GPS mapping vehicle in order to record new routes so I'll assume that the artistry of a device like this requires a mapper to input that on site too.

Thiis could take years in America or Europe.

[UKNigel @ Mar 27th 2008 11:29AM]

I can only imagine the accidents Brits will get into with these things. With all the people running into trains and off roads while they're following their GPS, I doubt this will help very much.

[Hax Or @ Mar 27th 2008 10:59AM]

Fake 3D buildings that look nothing like the real buildings? Works great!

Also this is not StreetView.

Commentards are on fire today. I'm out. LOL

[technophobe @ Mar 27th 2008 11:02AM]

This "street view" seems to me to be a gimmick because unless it is constantly updated, with new buildings, name and structual changes, and other updates it would serve no purpose.

[murray @ Mar 27th 2008 6:44PM]

It's no gimmick to me. I've used it extensively while looking for a new place to live 1000 miles from where I currently live. I can't go there and drive around, so when I'm interested in a place, google street view gives me an idea of what the neighborhood looks like. It's HUGE for me. I only wish the coverage and resolution were better.

[TRLK @ Mar 27th 2008 11:04AM]

This one's definitely not unique, i've seen better 3D maps, at least in Korea. It's the norm nowadays, though i think they haven't yet covered the whole country, most populated and busy areas are covered. Go through the link for more impressive maps

http://www.betanews.net/bbs/read.html?tkind=7&lkind=91&mkind=457&page=1&num=408586

http://clien.career.co.kr/zboard/view.php?id=free&page=1&sn1=&divpage=94&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&keyword=%B3%D7%BA%F1&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=495702

[akatsuki @ Mar 27th 2008 11:14AM]

Those who think it is a gimmick obviously haven't used one. Even if the buildings change a bit here and there, it is pretty damn useful. Nav N Go announced 3D maps for the US market a while ago, so this should be coming here soon.

The next step is to finally figure out HUD so we can just have the directions overlay the windshield.

[RikF @ Mar 27th 2008 11:24AM]

And if it was overlayed on the windscreen why would we need the 3d building images?

[Luke @ Mar 28th 2008 8:32PM]

There is one, it's called VirtualCable.

http://www.mvs.net/index.html

[akatsuki @ Mar 27th 2008 1:06PM]

Obviously we wouldn't then. But the computer would still need 3d mapping capability.

[technophobe @ Mar 27th 2008 1:20PM]

maybe it could replace the windscreen, if all other cars had the same system (or a compatible one) it could detect them and show them aswell

[ingus @ Mar 27th 2008 4:02PM]

wow, yeah, can't wait till the day HUD and PND merged into my car...

[RijilV @ Mar 27th 2008 11:07AM]

Whats totally weird is I could tell that was Korean just from the picture it was displaying...those family marts are all over the place over there.

[Jamar @ Mar 27th 2008 11:30AM]

Off-topic, but I love FamilyMart and the stuff they sell. I wish they had them in the States.

[TubeTop100.com @ Mar 27th 2008 6:58PM]

That's funny, because Familymart is actually a Japanese franchise with stores in about six countries.

[BluesK1d @ Mar 27th 2008 11:10AM]

Apparently you are supposed to drive on the center lane divider in Korea. Scary!

Why does Blogsmith hate me and refuse to allow me to update my picture even though it says it was sucessfully uploaded yesterday =(

[Captain Obvious @ Mar 27th 2008 11:30AM]

Same here.

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 27th 2008 12:59PM]

Ditto.

[Chris @ Mar 27th 2008 5:53PM]

at least you're not reduced to using the old "approve through email" way. Or maybe you are...

Btw, this is pretty cool, though I think it's a bad idea for Americans. We have enough distractions on the road- cell phones, in-dash dvd, iPods, etc- we don't need people driving down the road, navigating through a 3D-world screen. At least w/ current GPS units it doesn't give the impression that yours is the only car on the road... I can totally see some people getting mesmerized by the display.

[mymaclife @ Mar 27th 2008 11:12AM]

I don't look at the screen of my Sat Nav once I'm driving, I listen to the voice and take the odd glance. I find keeping your eyes on the road is more important than imagining I'm driving GTA, if you look through the windshield you can get amazingly realistic scenery.

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 27th 2008 1:01PM]

Describe this "odd glance" you speak of.

[mymaclife @ Mar 27th 2008 1:09PM]

I glance oddly at my Sat Nav from time-to-time. Does that complete the picture for you?

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 28th 2008 12:19PM]

lol! Works for me!

I was thinking it sounded better as 'the occasional glance'.

Cool.

[Aendy @ Mar 27th 2008 12:12PM]

what happens when a store closes down and gets relogo'd

[Russ @ Mar 27th 2008 12:55PM]

I recently took a taxi here in Tokyo, and the driver had a GPS navi with street view. The buildings obviously had no detail apart from the rough height and appearance. Far more important than street-view, however, is the ability to work in areas with tall buildings. For over half of the taxi ride, there was no signal due to no line of sight. Hence, the driver was lost. I ended up giving him directions by following my mobile phone's navigation software (believe it or not, included with most new phones here!), which uses mobile phone tower triangulation instead of satellite line of sight to locate the position. The triangulation generally works, but not as accurately or quickly as satnav works.

[jinjin @ Mar 27th 2008 1:17PM]

the thing is, korea is small enough to implement this kind of system; it'd take a lot of money to 3d map huge countries.

[Starvine @ Mar 27th 2008 2:57PM]

I'm sure they'd hit the major cities first. I, for one, don't need accurate 3D imagery of every cornfield in Nebraska.

[Fernando G. @ Mar 27th 2008 4:19PM]

@ technophobe

and pedestrians?

[posto @ Mar 27th 2008 4:54PM]

I agree comments that the driver should not be looking at the map, for long.. and must listen to the voice instructions. That being said the 3D links to Korea show excellent capability. Perhaps if a Heads Up Display to overlay the 3D map low in the wind screen were implemented, it would be safer for the driver.

How is this implemented?
Jeff

[jeicrash @ Mar 27th 2008 4:34PM]

I wounder if the US version will have to remove government building like google street view had to. This is very nice though. I think it has great potential for service industries who depend on traveling. However larger cities are probably going to need either larger drives or the ability to load maps from a laptop or separate drive

[hchung73 @ Mar 27th 2008 8:35PM]

Someone please tell me what the point is of having Dolby Digital on GPS?

[Craysh @ Mar 28th 2008 6:15PM]

Why would you do this? You'd spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing these 3D maps when all you have to do is mount a camera and overlay the GPS functions on the output video.

[Antoney @ Apr 1st 2008 5:52PM]

WOW, now i don't even have to pay attention to the road while i'm driving, what a great idea, i hope it plays mp3s as well then i don't have to listen to people screaming.