Wednesday, January 31, 2007

GIS/GPS Really, Truly Mainstream Now!!

Time, Nov 20 issue, Asia edition features 3 of the most portable and affordable of GPS and combination devices as "Gift of the year". The three devices are Delphi NAV200, Mio H610 digiWalker and Garmin StreetPilot c550. All three are really truly portable, actually hand-held sized. Prices range from about $300 to $750 or so. Location/navigation has become ready for mass use. These can be used for street walks as well as for driving guidance. They come with preloaded maps, cute user interfaces and has added functionality such s MP3 player, phone, PDA etc.

As these are based on quite powerful processors additional functionality become easy. Could be flight directory, weather, traffic update and so on. I can imagine a time very soon when instead of a Lonley Planet country guide, tourists carrying one such device. The device would be multimedia capable and provide all the background information these guides provide!

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