Nokia Integrates Navteq Traffic Data Probes into its Smartphones

In what seems to be a right step in the right direction, NAVTEQ announced that the GPS data for Nokia mobile phones are being integrated into products NAVTEQ TrafficTM for Europe and North America. This NAVTEQ Traffic allows more precise routes and improved estimates of travel times based on traffic conditions or probable past.
This approach would allow users to use Nokia GPS enabled cell phones as mobile traffic sensors. It will cover not only highways, but also the side streets, where there is very little; if at all any traffic sensing network. The real-time data will be collected from mobilephone networks to make NAVTEQ Traffic solution complete, updated by the minute. NAVTEQ Traffic delivers detailed information on traffic speeds, incidents and accidents, enabling navigation systems to drivers and to develop an intelligent route or to readjust. The addition of the Nokia GPS data collected from millions of Nokia mobile phones will increase significantly the amount of traffic information to provide the most comprehensive coverage in Europe and North America. With these new data, NAVTEQ Traffic will extend its coverage to include more information on major traffic arteries, where traffic data are mainly collected today, but also on the main and secondary roads.
According to Michael Halbherr, Director of Social Rental Services division at Nokia, "Nokia continues to expand its community and delivers technologies that improve the lives of users. Part of our commitment is to ensure respect for the privacy of users, while offering the best offer traffic information so drivers have the latest information timely."
Nokia Data are collected anonymously from mobile phones and delivered to NAVTEQ Traffic for aggregation with other data sources and verification. The aggregation GPS Nokia does not infringe the freedom of individual users of these devices.

Get Connected with Garmin nuvi 1690 PND

Garmin is not about to go belly up anytime soon especially when more people are showing keen interest in its products. This time around the company has just released nuvi 1690 to get you connected aboard the GPS bandwagon. It is the the first "connected GPS" unit from Garmin, which means the device has a built in cellular modem, allowing it to connect to the Internet and grab real time data, instead of relying on an (often outdated) internal database. Current Garmin units can only receive data in one direction.
The nüvi 1690 uses the new Garmin nüLink! (gotta love! names! with exclamation marks!). NüLink! provides access to online Google searches, traffic, weather, fuel prices, local events and whitepage telephone listings. In addition to this, the nüvi 1690 also holds the distinction of being Garmin’s first mobile navigation device that is able to turn traditional social networking into location-enabled social networking through the use of Ciao!, a patent-pending social network application which will connect multiple location-centric social networks into a single application. This allows you to share your current location with family and friends, while seeing where they’re at as well.
Garmin is introducing this device with 2 full years of free online service. After this, service is only $5 per month. Other units like the now defunct Dash Express wanted $12.95 for each month, so Garmin clearly did their homework picking the perfect price point for their service.
It is obvious that connected GPS units are the future - and at first glance, the nüvi 1690 looks like a true winner - its initial $499 purchase price is a little on the high side, but still in line with what most other high-end GPS units cost, even though this one contains a cellular data modem. It is on schedule to be released in the fourth quarter of this year, which means it should be available just in time for Christmas.