driving directions
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Waze adds gas prices to its consumer-powered traffic app
Waze is a socially-driven traffic app that we've posted about before. Today, the company has released a big update: Gas prices. Now, in addition to browsing socially-driven information about traffic, accidents, and speed traps, you can search your area for the cheapest prices and get directions to the leading gas station. Unfortunately, information is provided by other users, so it can be inaccurate or even absent. If you're living in a city with lots of Waze users (like my own city of Los Angeles), the app can be really helpful in getting you around town. But if you're living in the middle of nowhere, there likely won't be nearly as much helpful or up-to-date information. Still, finding a good deal on gas could save you a lot of money, and Waze is also teaming up with certain gas stations to offer in-app deals occasionally. Traffic apps like Waze are definitely going to need some innovation to stay ahead of Apple's shiny new Maps app due out later this year, and this is a nice start. Waze is a free download on the App Store now.
Windows Phone 8 to use Nokia map data with built-in turn-by-turn navigation (update: deals too)
You won't have to use a Lumia phone any longer to get Nokia's mapping expertise: Microsoft just announced that Nokia's map technology is being built into Windows Phone 8. Along with the requisite NAVTEQ map information, it'll carry many of the things that Nokia Drive users love so well, including offline map support, developer control over maps, and (you guessed it) turn-by-turn directions. That makes three major mobile platforms that have or will have driving directions baked in from the start -- it's now becoming par for the course rather than an advantage to lord over others. Update: Along with core navigation, there will also be support for Microsoft's new deals feature as part of the mapping update, so you'll know when the coffee house around the corner is discounting cappuccinos. To check out the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows Phone event, visit our liveblog!
MVS California's Volumetric Head Up Display is a 3D laser show for your car's windshield (video)
Your windshield is good for more than just keeping bugs out of your mouth. It's also a big blank canvas waiting to display helpful info like directions, traffic notifications, and safety information. A number big name manufacturers like GM and Pioneer have offered up heads-up display concepts over the past few years, but what makes MVS California's Volumetric Head Up Display really neat is its impressive implementation of the volumetric aspect, using lasers to project images on the windshield in a such a way that gives the illusion of depth. So, if the system is being used to give driving direction via GPS -- its main application, at present -- it can make a turn arrow appear lined up with an exit half a mile down the road. The prototype showcased at this week's Augmented Reality Event 2011 projected in red only, though the company says it's capable of full color. How long do we have to wait for the future? MVS is hoping to get the thing into cars as a premium option in the next few years for around the same price of current high-end navigation systems. Surprisingly dull video of reality augmenting 3D lasers after the break.
CarTel uses wardriving for science, better driving directions
If you're not satisfied with the driving directions you get on Google Maps, a few smart guys at MIT have created an elaborate new toy called CarTel just for you. They've equipped a fleet of Boston-area cars with computers that automatically connect to any 802.11 access points detected in transit, then send home data recorded by their on board diagnostic systems, all in just a few hundred milliseconds. The result: a website that gives you directions based on information gathered in real-time so you can avoid high-traffic areas or say, if it's raining, roads which have historically been congested in adverse weather conditions -- no GPS required. The project also keeps a record of all access points detected, so think of it as wardriving for the good of humanity -- and you (probably) wouldn't even get arrested for participating![Via PhysOrg]
