On Monday Nokia, NAVTEQ and UC Berkeley will launch the Mobile Millennium project which will use GPS data from thousands of mobile phones to gather traffic information in the San Francisco Bay Area. By having users relay and access the information, it will enable them to find and avoid traffic congestion, similar to the Dash Express GPS system. I’d participate, but I wonder how much researchers would benefit from my daily commute from bed to kitchen table.
Garmin’s dropping four new models to the higher-end 7×5 lineup with the nüvi 755T, 765T, 775T and the 785T. All models will include lifetime traffic alerts via NAVTEQ Traffic and Bluetooth connectivity, but the updated 7×5 series will include the most exciting new features: a 4.3″ touchscreen, a 3-D transparent view of buildings, and lane assist. Garmin is also dropping their budget friendly 2×5 series with three new models: the nüvi 265T, 265WT and 275T. I’d probably opt for the high end line with lane suggestions, but take the 765T with Bluetooth and skip the fancier models. Parsing Garmin’s huge lineup is always challenging, but the differences are detailed here:
Nokia is buying Navteq, the world’s biggest digital map maker for $8.1 billion. Nokia wants to be a leader in location-based services, and buying Navteq gives it the best access to the best database. GPS-maker TomTom is in the process of buying Tele Atlas, Navteq’s only major worldwide competitor. [NYT]
