If you're an iPhone users addicted to Waze and its useful real-time traffic and cop warnings, you can now get directions in your own voice. Waze for iOS has been updated with support for recording your own prompts and saving them into a custom voice command pack. The feature was first launched on the Android version of Waze back in May
For a few years now we've heard about Apple deploying vans outfitted with camera equipment around the country to collect street-level imagery. While we'll have to continue to wait to see if this data will play a part in the company's autonomous car platform efforts, in the meantime it's surely going to use by improving Apple's own Maps service.
As the name not so subtly hints, Google Street View was initially launched back in 2007 more as a navigation aid, showing locations, landmarks, and streets from the point of view of a person standing right in the middle of it all. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for people to use Street View as a way of experiencing the vistas of a far-off location by proxy, a use case that Google has officially embraced. Now Street View has become a way to see places you otherwise would never be able to reach. Like the gaping maw of an active volcano.
Navigation app Waze has announced a new integration with Spotify that brings playlists to the app. According to the company, this integration means users can now access their Spotify playlists from within the Waze app, eliminating the need to toggle between the two while on the road. You’ll know when the feature rolls your way when a Spotify icon appears within your Waze app.
Uber just got much more convenient, assuming you’re a Google Maps user, thanks to a new integration with Google’s navigation app. Rather than opening the Uber app and copying an address into the destination field, Google users can now find their location using Google Maps, then choose the small ride-hailing icon as the transportation method, enabling travelers to order an Uber car directly within the app.
Garmin has introduced an update to its Garmin Drive lineup, a series of portable navigation devices targeted at everyday commuters. There’s the Garmin Drive, an entry-level product, as well as the Garmin DriveSmart, Garmin DriveAssist, and Garmin DriveLuxe. The 2017 update is adding what Garmin calls “essential live services,” that is live services that are now available to owners for free. The 2017 Drive products have an ‘enhanced feature set,’ says Garmin.
Mapping company HERE and car camera company Mobileye are teaming up on self-healing maps for autonomous vehicles, potentially turning traffic into roving cartographers. The deal will see HERE, which is developing HD Live Maps with higher levels of detail for self-driving cars to follow, use Mobileye's data to maintain its accuracy as roadways evolve. However, it will also offer a new way for autonomous systems to localize themselves, potentially more accurately - and working alongside - existing methods like GPS.
A new product called Compass Stone has arrived on Kickstarter, and it's looking to change the way we use our phones for GPS navigation. The idea behind Compass Stone is simple: people should be looking up when traveling to their destination instead of staring at their screen the entire time. The way Compass Stone looks to accomplish this goal is interesting, to say the least.
Picture the scene: Tim Cook cackling at the top of his castle, screaming "Fly, my pretties!" as a wave of drones swoop out to give Apple an edge over Google Maps. The Cupertino firm's homegrown navigation app, Apple Maps, didn't arrive to the best of reviews, and while the software has undoubtedly improved since its debut in late 2012 - not to mention benefited from being the default app in iOS since then - it's still struggled to emerge from under that initial cloud. Now, Apple apparently has plans to significantly boost the software's usefulness.
Waze has announced that former Top Gear hosts Clarkson, May and Hammond will be its newest celebrity navigation guides, lending their voices to make your turn-by-turn navigation directions more appealing. Celebrity navigation guides aren't new to the platform, and in fact are one of its most beloved features -- past celebrity voices have included Morgan Freeman and others.
Garmin has updated its popular handheld GPS units with features to please the most discerning of adventurers, including an 8MP flash camera and a quarter of a million geocache locations. The flash camera is complemented with geotagging functionality, making it an easy matter to tag locations, find new destinations, and more. The handheld has also become a more attractive option for geocaching enthusiasts thanks to 250,000 preloaded geocache locations.
Navdy first started talking up its in-car aftermarket HUD back in the summer of 2014. At the time the company was promising to ship the device in 2015 for about $499. 2015 came and went and now 2016 is almost over and Navdy has finally shipped what it claims to be the world's first augmented driving device.
