Spatial Dynamics

The Good:
I finally gave in and bought an iPhone. Since I’m always on the cutting edge of technology, I waited only six weeks after its release to get one. Generally, I am very impressed; the design is not only excellent, but the software is intuitive.

The ease of downloading additional applications from the AppStore is the [...]

Earlier this week, TomTom-owned TeleAtlas signed a $4.6 billion, non-exclusive 5-year licensing agreement with Google to provide data for Google Maps/Earth and other mobile applications based on it’s Android open-source operating system. The contract gives Google access to data for more than 200 countries.
Mobile phones based on Google’s Android operating system will compete against the [...]

In the third quarter of 2008, Garmin is planning on releasing the Nuvifone, a 3G smartphone designed with its own operating system with GPS navigation at its core. Finding technical details about the Nuvifone is difficult, so it’s rational to assume that development is still underway.
It offers some things not available on the iPhone such [...]

The big news concerning Steve Job’s announcement of the July 11th release of the 3G iPhone is its GPS capability. While the demo of the iPhone’s GPS is slightly underwhelming, it’s the first device capable of bringing location-based services to a critical mass.

In ancient times (pre-3G networks), GPS devices were closed mechanisms; a consumer was [...]