Pioneer may be about to achieve Sat Nav nirvana with its new AVIC-F500BT, according to Nick over at Gizmodo AU. It's come up with an in-car Sat Nav that you can pop out and take with you.

"When it's in your car's dash, you can use it not only as a satnav, but as a control system for your iPod, MP3 player, Bluetooth handsfree kit and, with the right connections, even as a screen for an installed reverse camera."

Hopefully if they're making it a portable device as well, they'll optimise their maps for pedestrians (have you ever noticed how useless Google Maps is for getting walking directions anywhere?). Price and launch date are yet to be confimed.

All-things-Apple weblog TUAW details how to set up your iPhone to "phone home" with its faux-GPS location on a regular basis so you always know approximately where your phone is (particularly handy if it turns up stolen). The final setup works like this: the findme command line program (developed by former Lifehacker editor Erica Sadun) grabs your location, the results of which are sent to a private Twitter account you set up exclusively for this purpose. From start to finish this process takes some doing (it's not a simple install-and-use), but if you're willing to take the plunge, the results could be well worth the effort.

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Tom Tom's sat nav offering just got even better, according to Nick over at Gizmodo. Tom Tom Home is their software suite which lets you plan trips in advance, manage points of interest and upload silly voices (just in case you want John Cleese telling you where to go).

Tom Tom Home just got a major upgrade - it now works on both Mac and PC and Nick describes it as "a user-generated content utopia". You can upload your own points of interests as well as download other users POIs and rate other people's content. You can also create your own maps.

Tom Tom Home is a free download (although some of the services it offers are paid) and can be downloaded here.

Tom Tom goes Home 2.0 with New Software [Gizmodo AU]

According to a piece in the SMH today, Navman users who have been waiting for the 2007 map updates can get them from today. Looks like new models have already received the update, but the N40i model was lagging behind.

The form to fill out to register for 2007 map upgrade is here. The form says you'll be notified when the maps are available to purchase, but it's my understanding that customers who bought a new N40i which was supposed to include the 2007 maps will receive the maps as a free upgrade. (A promotion run in September last year offered the maps upgrades as part of the purchase of an N40i).

Note that the form is for the F20, F40, N40i, N60i or iCN 720. If you own any other Navman model, the form refers you to the phoneline 1300 NAVMAN.

 

If you recently upgraded to a jailbroken version of the 1.1.3 iPhone firmware, the first thing you probably noticed when testing out the new features was that the faux-GPS feature in Google Maps wasn't working. You tap the current location button, but all you get is a never-ending spinning throbber. Luckily, enabling this feature is a snap. Just open up Installer and either re-install or install for the first time the Navizon GPS application. Once it's installed, run it and find the switch labelled Invisible. If GMaps GPS hasn't been working for you, you'll notice that the switch is in the On position. Flip it to off, then let Navizon locate you once. After it does, try the current location button again. It should now be working perfectly (at least it does for me). Thanks Zan!

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While Tom Tom only releases updated POI (place of interest) overlays for Australia once a year, the Ozpoi website offers user-created data overlays which are more frequently updated, and can be hacked for use with other GPS devices including Navman, Garmin, and Mitac Mio.
Overlays include "safety cameras" (red light and speed cameras) and school zones. Check the site's update history to see what overlays are available and how recently they've been updated.
The site includes instructions on how to install the POI files on your Tom Tom, and how to convert them for other GPS systems using the free POIEdit software.

[via The Age]

Our pals over at Gizmodo have written up the amAze GPS software, which is newly launched and available to Australian mobile users for free download and use. The navigation system is compatible with Java-enabled phones (including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, BlackBerry, Motorola, Samsung and LG models) and provides maps, directions and aerial photographs. Features include voice guidance, a choice between pedestrian, bicycle, truck or car navigation (appealing since car-centric GPS devices like the Tom Tom don't give good directions for pedestrians!). Further details over at Giz.

Mobile GPS on the (relatively) cheap [Gizmodo]

We'd all love a little GPS on our phone, but generally a device with GPS built in (plus the price of service) costs more than many of us are willing to shell out. Luckily the latest (beta) version of Google Maps Mobile has added a new feature called My Location, which uses data from cell phone towers to provide an approximation of your location on a Google Map—meaning GPS-like results from any phone that can run Google Maps Mobile!

Once installed, just fire up Google Maps on your supported phone and hit '0' to view your location (you're the blue dot). If your phone already has GPS built in, the new Google Maps Mobile will use it to pinpoint your position. If you don't have a GPS-enabled phone, you may see an approximate location indicated by a blue dot with a lighter blue circle around it so you know there's a little uncertainty about exact location.

While this isn't real-time turn-by-turn directions, it's still a helluva lot better than nothing—and should make putting Google Maps Mobile to use on-the-go a lot quicker and easier. (I'm just waiting for the iPhone Gmaps to update with this.) Google Maps Mobile with My Location is freeware, works on "most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices." If you give it a try, let us know how well the My Location feature is finding you in the comments.

It's not quite Jack Kerouac but Lifehacker will be hitting the road this weekend, travelling from Melbourne to Sydney via Gundegai. Thanks to an awesomely geeky going away present, we'll be road testing the Tom Tom One XL as we go.
Sadly I haven't figured out how to Twitter via mobile phone, so I won't be updating from the road, I have managed to figure out how to update Twitter from my mobile phone (fear my microblogging skills) so I may do some updates from road (twitter name: stokely) but you can expect to see my notes on the Tom Tom here on Lifehacker AU sometime next week.

See you on the other side. :)