If you’ve created a custom Garmin vector map using any of the tools in posts I through XV of this series, you’ll need a way to upload them to your Garmin unit. The simplest way is to copy them directly to the Garmin folder in your unit’s memory using a USB mass storage connection, or [...] Related posts:
A little over a year ago I wrote my blog here where we did probably the world's first calculation of total computer shipment numbers on the assumption that a smartphone could be counted as a computer. Not surprisingly many crucified us here for blasphemy, that a smartphone could not be counted as a proper computer.
How quickly times change in the mobile industry haha. Since then of the world's 5 largest pure PC makers, Dell, Lenovo and Acer have announced their own smartphones. Toshiba was already a smartphone maker. And today HP has bought Palm with the last of the top 5 largest PC makers now also being smartphone makers. And its not just there, Apple the company previously known as Apple Computer, is a major smartphone maker. Microsoft which previously made smartphone operating systems now also makes smartphones. Google the world's biggest internet company is now also a smartphone maker. And Intel the inside guys, doesn't manufacture smartphones but collaborates with Nokia on the future MeeGo smartphone operating system. I think its fair to say, that the PC industry is very willing now to accept that a smartphone is indeed a pocket computer. But if one of our readers still feels this does not smell right, please read this blog - why a smartphone is a real computer.
So, last time my blog was a bit provocative, I did expect some push-back but I was also quite willing to argue that smartphones were real computers. Not that all mobile phones are computers in the proper sense - but a smartphone is indeed 'user programmable' ie we can install apps on one, just like we can on our laptop PC. Why not count an iPhone as a computer or a Google Nexus One or a Nokia N900? So since we started this tomfoolery, lets do an update for end of 2009 market shares of 'all computers' including desktop PCs, notebook PCs, netbook PCs, smartphones, and the PDA form factor exhibited by the Apple iPod Touch. (obviously the iPad had not launched by the end of 2009, but we'll count it for 2010 unit sales when I will report those next year haha)
TOP 8 LARGEST COMPUTER MAKERS BY UNIT SALES VOLUME FULL YEAR 2009
1. (1.) Nokia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.8 million . . . . . 14.0% . . . (13.8%)
2. (2.) Hewlett-Packard . . . . . 60.2 million . . . . . 12.4% . . . (11.9%)
3. (4.) Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.2 million . . . . . 10.6% . . . ( 7.5%)
4. (5.) Acer . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39.6 million . . . . . . 8.2% . . . ( 6.6%)
5. (3.) Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38.5 million . . . . . . 7.9% . . . ( 9.4%)
6. (7.) RIM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.6 million . . . . . . .7.1% . . . ( 4.2%)
7. (8.) Toshiba . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.4 million . . . . . . .5.9% . . . ( 2.8%)
8. (6.) Lenovo . . . . . . . . . . . . .25.1 million . . . . . . 5.2% . . . ( 4.7%)
All other makers . . . . . . . . . . 139.0 million . . . . . . 28.7% . . .(39.1%)
TOTAL computers . . . . . . . . . 465.5 million
Getting floorplans and Photosynth collections onto Bing Maps is an easy task but how about integrating Bing Maps and Photosynth into floorplans that have been created with Visio?
Let’s have a look at option 1 first – floorplans and Photosynth collections on Bing Maps: We can crunch images or PDF-documents into a tile-layer that we can overlay on Bing Maps using the MapCruncher in minutes.
It requires quite a few photos and can be a bit of an effort to create a nice 3-dimensional representation of a building or room in Photosynth but recently we launched a new version of the Image Composite Editor (ICE) which allows to create simple panoramas and publish them into Photosynth within minutes as well.
Stringing this all together in a nice Silverlight application and publishing it into the Windows Azure Platform is a piece of cake. You’ll find a sample here. Photosynth collections are available at level 2 and 3. In level 2 there is one 3-dimensional synth and on level 3 we have only panorama-synths.
Let’s have a look at option 2 now – integrating Bing Maps and Photosynth in Visio: Visio allows to save a drawing as a Web Page and a while back John Goldsmith published an interesting article on his visLog which describes how to integrate Bing Maps in Visio by adding additional properties to a Visio shape and additional widgets to the web page. I have picked up his example and created a floorplan of the Art gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. Ctrl+Click on the red dot to show the location on Bing Maps and the interior of the gallery inPhotosynth. You will find the live sample here and the source code here.
I’ve come across a number of nuvi 3700 series images over the last couple of days, including a lot that most of you probably haven’t seen, so I thought I’d compile them here. The European shots, including the one above, come from Pocket GPS World. The rest are from Garmin.com and the FCC. One other thing, before we get to the pics, GpsPasSion is reporting release dates from several web retailers, ranging from June 11 to August 15. So I’d say we still don’t have a good handle on the street date.
Leica recently introduced a new digital camera with embedded GPS receiver called Leica V-LUX 20 (if you think this looks similar to Panasonic Lumix we talked about last month you’re not alone). We’re not photography experts here at Navigadget so we’ll just dive straight into the details. Leica V-LUX 20 has 12x zoom on its DC-Vario-Elmar 4.1-49.2mm lens and can shoot 12.1 megapixel pictures that automatically can store with their geographical position in their exif data – known as geotagging. Just the latitude and longtitude alone is not very exciting so the camera itself actually knows the city you’re in and even the attractions around you.
It will cost £ 495. Check it out here and see what others have geo-tagged.
Continued from yesterday, a few more tools for creating TYP files, custom symbology sets for Garmin vector maps.
GenTYP: Generates text code that can be compiled using cgpsmapper into a binary TYP file. Interface is somewhat cryptic if you don’t know TYP file terminology: But there’s a decent help page here to walk you through the steps. [...] Related posts:
Just found out about the MapToolkit program (aka MapTk) a few days ago, and I’m still puzzling my way through the PDF manual file figuring out how it works. But from the feature set described in the manual, it’s definitely worth a look: Alternative to cgpsmapper for compiling .mp files; free of the copyright notice added [...] Related posts:
CloudMade’s OpenStreetMap Surges On Wikipedia-Like User Passion
Many people describe CloudMade’s OpenStreetMap project as “Wikipedia for maps,” and they aren’t far off. The project allows anyone to add and edit map data around the globe, and the project is now a viable open and free source of mapping data for third party developers.
In some parts of the world, OpenStreetMap’s data is far more detailed than the data provided by TeleAtlas to Google and Navteq to Microsoft and Yahoo, for their respective mapping applications.
The number of contributors to OpenStreetMap has grown steadily over the years. A year ago 110,000 individuals had added or edited data. Today it’s up to 245,000 individual mappers. An average of 7,000 edits an hour are made to the data.
The project only started in 2004, and most of the data has been added over the last couple of years. Perhaps the most stunning case study is Germany. In 2007 it was a blank canvas. Today, the level of detail goes far beyond what any other service provides. It includes all major points of interest (even trees are now being added by users), the entire road network and turn by turn navigation:
Third party developers eat this stuff up. There are few alternatives – Google, Microsoft and Yahoo will allow developers to embed maps into applications but there’s no deep dive into the data. CloudMade has allowed entire new classes of applications to be possible. In Germany 150,000 people have paid to download skobbler, which is based on data from OpenStreetMap. Countless other apps also use the data. One notably creative one – a gay cities app that shows the gay areas of cities around the world, with points of interest.
CloudMade adds paid services on top of the OpenStreetMap data that developers can choose to take or leave. And they’ve recently launched a location based advertising product that actually bring revenue to developers, too.
OpenStreetMaps is a triumph of properly channeled crowd passion. Most people add data for the love of the project, and together all those hundreds of thousands of people are bringing decent mapping data to places that the big guys won’t be focusing on for a long, long time.
If you’re an iPhone user (and who isn’t these days, you lemmings) and want to participate in the project, starthere.
TalonView is a version on FalconView based on PFPS 4.1.1 developed for NGA (The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency). The version is essentially the same as theFalconView version in PFPS 4.1.1. It also includes support for the display of GeoPDFs and a set of command line tools (FVCommand) which allow the user to run common map handling functions from a script or a command line (these tools are included in FalconView 4.2 and later).
TalonView also includes other government developed tools including the PFPS Route Server which allows a user to layout basic routes and load them onto a GPS using the Handheld AWE. The package does not include the Flight Performance Modules necessary to do detailed Aircraft Route Planning.
US Federal Government employees can be order TalonView from DLA as NSN 7644015739027 NGA Ref Number SFTWRTALONVIEW ED NO 041.
NGA employees can download the software from https://www.geointel.nga.mil/product_type/softwareList.html.
Nicholas Bekanich is the technical POC for TalonView questions. His contact information follows: Nicholas Bekanich, Jr. Chief, Terrain Branch (SNAT) Office of GEOINT Sciences 314.676.1285
As warfighters patrol the dangerous streets in theater or secure enemy safe houses, Tactical Ground Reporting’s (TIGR’s) new “Patrol View” function will soon enhance their visual perspective. “The street view function, or Patrol View, has the ability to show Soldiers a particular area and give them the experience of having already been there, based on data input by others who have gone before them,” said John Gillette, TIGR/Tactical Hand-held Digital Device (THDD) Deputy.
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TIGR is particularly suited to counterinsurgency operations and enables collection and distribution of specific intelligence on people, places, and insurgent activity. Here, Soldiers of the 501st Military Police Co. conduct a dismounted foot patrol in Tikrit, Iraq, February 2008. (U.S. Army photo by SPC Alfredo Jimenz Jr.) |
Patrol View is a new TIGR capability that has been enabled through a partnership with the Rapid Equipping Force, which has made ground data captured in Iraq available for visualization in TIGR. Patrol View offers the Soldier a 360-degree view of the surrounding vicinity, similar to Google Maps Street View. With this information and imagery, commanders can view targeted buildings, as well as the surrounding infrastructure, prior to their mission. They now have the ability to foresee possible sniper hideouts or plan their fire support positions in advance.
TIGR is a multimedia reporting system that allows Soldiers at the patrol level to collect and share information to improve SA and to facilitate collaboration and information analysis among junior officers. It is a Web-based software application that runs on the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network.
There are 23,000 TIGR user accounts, and the system is fielded to 15 brigade combat teams in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and three inOperation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The OIF fielding is completed and being sustained, but there is still fielding yet to be completed in OEF, according to MAJ Xaviera Williams, TIGR/THDD lead.
“Today, TIGR is arming Soldiers from 17 combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan with exactly what they need—the best information and knowledge available to them on the ground in real time,” said GEN Peter Chiarelli, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, during his speech at the Association of the United States Army’s Winter Symposium in February 2009.
Patrol View offers the Soldier a 360-degree view of the surrounding vicinity, similar to Google Maps Street View. |
Currently, TIGR’s Patrol View capability is undergoing a limited user test in Iraq. To coordinate the initial setup of the Patrol View function, the Army needed to go out with contractors to manually map out and download imagery and information throughout Iraq. Eventually, the intent is to have a camera-mounted ball that can be installed onto a patrol vehicle. This will allow patrols to capture data for the TIGR each time they go out.
“The strength of TIGR is to be able to search data that is already in the repository,” said Gillette. “As the Soldier is putting the information in, it is building a database that is connected through servers at the battalion and brigade level.”
How TIGR Works
The ground Soldiers’ preparation for a patrol is similar to that of a flight plan that a pilot creates prior to flight. Soldiers on patrol will first map out routes, taking note of possible obstacles or difficult topography. However, local infrastructure and battlefield terrain is constantly modified. New structures are continually built or torn down, bridges are destroyed, and various obstructions appear and disappear along any given street. To stay updated with these changes, TIGR uses before and after photographs and updated imagery to manage the changing tactical landscape and provide the most current operational environment views.
TIGR’s graphical, map-referenced user interface allows multimedia data, such as voice recordings, digital photos, and Global Positioning System tracks, to be easily collected and searched. The system also uses a state-of-the-art data distribution architecture to minimize load on the tactical networks while allowing digital imagery and other multimedia data to be rapidly exchanged.
TIGR was first introduced to users during a pre-deployment training exercise at Fort Hood, TX, in spring 2006. |
With its geospatial user interface, TIGR is particularly suited to counterinsurgency operations and enables collection and distribution of very specific intelligence on people, places, and insurgent activity. “It allows Soldiers to use an interface that is very similar to Google Earth and Facebook, which young Soldiers are accustomed to using to both input and retrieve data,” Gillette said. Information from TIGR can also be exported to Google Earth.
TIGR Capabilities
TIGR helps ground Soldiers collect information on key infrastructure, landmarks, and terrain. Photos of key locations can be captured into TIGR, geo-referenced, and displayed as map overlays. Such data also serves as a navigation aid in areas where street names or numbers are nonexistent. Overlays of routes, critical infrastructure, tribal areas, and ethnic maps, and recent attacks and changes in the terrain are each used to support the Soldier’s mission.
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Soldiers on patrol will first map out routes, taking note of possible obstacles or difficult topography, as depicted in this TIGR screen shot. (U.S. Army image.) |
TIGR is also used to capture and share information on the human landscape. The system is used to record and share meetings with religious leaders and encounters with local villagers or business owners.
TIGR can be used to transfer key information to a new unit rotating into an area of operation. Instead of reviewing a stack of Microsoft PowerPoint or Word files, new units can start the rotation process by reviewing past and ongoing activities in their areas of interest. In addition, profiles of Soldiers who have input information are displayed on the system.
Developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), TIGR was first introduced to users during a pre-deployment training exercise at Fort Hood, TX, in spring 2006. It was developed in response to a need to have a capability to capture, retrieve, and report patrol data.
TIGR was conceived and is managed by Dr. Mari Maeda of the DARPA Information Processing Techniques Office. The program is scheduled to transfer to Project Manager Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below of the Army’s Program Executive Office Command, Control, and Communications Tactical (PEO C3T) in the first quarter of FY12.
The National Geospacial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) replaced FalconLite 3.2.0 with TalonView version 4.1.1. TalonView is a Microsoft Windows based mapping application that displays various types of maps and geographically referenced overlays. Many types of maps and imagery files are supported, but the primary ones of interest to most users are aeronautical, hydrographic, and topographic maps and charts, satellite images and elevatioPublish Postn maps.
New in TalonView 4.1.1 is support for GeoPDF formatted data files. TalonView also supports a large number of overlay types that can be displayed and printed over any map background. TalonView is a subset of FalconView that does not include flight mission planning components and threat analysis capabilities.
TalonView was designed to be distributed to other federal agencies, first responders, and foreign partners so they may have a Windows software program that utilizes NGA digital mapping and imagery products along with applications for GEOINT data interpretation, scene visualization, and situational awareness.
NGA also provides the TalonView software on the SIPRNet and JWICS.
NRN: SFTWRTALONVIEW
NSN: 7644015739027
