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NAVTEQ's Destination Maps provide mobile guidance through malls, outer reaches of your mind
For anyone that's ever been hopelessly turned around within the Mall of America (or the Las Vegas Convention Center), the promise provided by NAVTEQ's newly announced Destination Maps is quite compelling. It allows for orientation, guidance and routing for indoor venues like those mentioned above, and serves up a useful map of entrances, exits, restrooms, stairwells and points of interest that would otherwise be undetectable. Neither IDG News nor NAVTEQ mentions exactly how this is accomplished, but we can only speculate that a Hybrid GPS antenna is used along side a layer of augmented reality -- but then again, these could be static routes that require no positioning whatsoever to explore. It's also uncertain which mobile platforms would support such an app (despite having been demoed on a Nokia N8 in the photo above), or if this will even make it past the beta stage. More info is expected at Where 2.0 in April, and it's a pretty safe bet that Paul Blart will be on hand for its official debut.
Nokia hard at work commercializing indoor positioning systems
How'd you like to be able to make a bee line straight for the ketchup in the Mega Mart without having to walk down thirteen aisles first in a frustrating process of trial and error? Yeah, Nokia feels you, which is why it's working on developing an indoor positioning system that's robust enough to use -- and easy enough to set up -- to be commercialized. The company apparently already has some 40 buildings worldwide set up with trial systems, and it's working on a commercial trial with a Helsinki mall that'll go live later this year with the goal of figuring out how such a system could generate cold, hard cash. We wouldn't expect this to go big any time soon, but for what it's worth, there's talk of dropping a build of the client on Nokia's own Beta Labs at some point in the future.
f-tech unveils NAV 550 Professional Navigator
If you're scouting a run-of-the-mill GPS handheld, and have the itch for something a bit different than those Garmin and TomTom units already on shelves everywhere, f-tech's got your solution. The same folks who brought you the (partly) solar-powered Solar 7 GPS unit have toned things down with the NAV 550 Professional Navigator, as it resorts to just the basics when leading folks around. Powered by a 400MHz Samsung RISC microprocessor, the device provides turn-by-turn voice guidance and boasts integrated smart2go maps, a 3.5-inch touchscreen, SiRF Star III antenna, SD slot, stereo speakers, and a (presumably non-explosive) rechargeable Li-ion battery. It also sports a headphone jack and USB 2.0 connectivity, while touting the ability to "operate indoors" by receiving "tracking signals down to -159dBm." Although pricing and availability details have yet to surface, we're fairly certain this ho hum offering won't dent the travel budget too bad when it hits North America.[Via NaviGadget]
