Slashgeo

The Map Room links to a GPS Review discussion on user expectations of GPS devices. From the introduction: "Most people are shocked at what GPS devices have to offer, while a few other people might have set the bar too high. So here is what you should expect from your GPS device relative to mapping, routes, and points of interest (POI). But I want to start by sharing a little story which highlights some expectations of GPS and how quickly those expectations can change."

In the never ending task of providing the best aggregated news to our users, here's several GPS-related stories, catching up from the last two weeks. First, APB links to a story telling us Garmin now sells more GPS worldwide than TomTom, the same blog also discuss the number of personal navigation devices, up to 45 models, and links to a few generic articles on GPS. The Free Geography Tools talks about Prune, an open source Java-based GPS track visualization and photo geotagging tool. And finally, The Map Room links to an article on the sad state of GPS loggers for Macs.

A few geoblogs discussed the European GALILEO project and the news are more or less good. Amongst the entries, you have GeoCarta underlines the 2.4 billion euros of fresh money sent to GALILEO required to continue development, from The Register: "States voted to back a €2.4bn funding deal, drawing cash from unused farming subsidies, and restructuring research and industrial spending for the year. This means the European rival to the US military's GPS system can go ahead, but no extra public funds will be written into the EU's budget to pay for it." V1 also discuss this impressive amount of leftovers and provides other links, V1 also make a relation to the U.S. updated GPS III satellites: "The US military is working on super-powerful updates to its GPS satellite navigation technology to try to trump the rival European Galileo project which just received key funding, experts say." Not as much tightly related, APB links to survey indicating Garmin is the #1 maker of portable navigation systems, consumers say. Update: 11/30 20:12 GMT by S : Let's not forget GLONASS, here's a recent article where we learn: "Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, wants to spend at least $60 billion over the next 10 years to make Russia a global high-tech titan [...]"

Very Spatial brings you this development from CES. From their summary : "The first bit of GPS news out of CES this year has Magellan releasing the Maestro 5340 which will include GPRS for cell network connectivity. This network connectivity will be used to connect to…you guessed it…Google search and data services. At almost $1300 for the unit it will not be for small of purse, and don’t forget the charge for the GPRS connection."

To get the link to the full scoop, head on over to Very Spatial.