This would be fantastic! Kim and SMU have been looking for that for a while. I think the maps issue is the main hold up.

Maybe PM them both?
G

This would be fantastic!

I'll second that. The maps seem to be the biggest holdup for any GPS project at this point. Calvin, if you have connections, please use them!

-Mike

So, Calvin, why didn't you pipe up a long time ago?

Hi.

For the software side of the project: Don't ask me, Kim is so much more advanced with his software, that I dropped my own development branch almost completely (i.e. everything that can't be used for other projects).

As for the map source: That is still our biggest problem, so any help is appreciated a lot. Please try whatever you can to provide us with maps and the necessary license(s).

cu,
sven

As of an update to the map situation, after spending lot of time investigating with the USGS vector maps, I can't figure out the direction of one-way roads. Also, there's the additional problem of merging the Tiger and USGS maps together with the position inaccuracies.

However, I've recently found one possible source of map data which is designed for car navigation and the maps are available for both US and Europe. But I need to investigate further before I can tell more.

I'm also interested to hear more about the NavTech maps, so feel free to find out some details and let us know!

Kim

Well, Navtech covers the north america, western europe and a few asian countries at the moment. They have well over a thousand employees. They started out with the TIGER data, and they have dedicated drivers go out in pairs taking turns navigating and recording details of the road -- one way streets, intersections, etc. Every quarter, they manage to hit most of the roads to issue updates and changes to the road topology and are considered very accurate.

Garmin, Alpine, Kenwood, Rand McNally are all customers of their data.

Calvin

I have a day job that deals with maps, tracking and routing for an entirely different circumstance! (see attached) As you can imagine, it can be pretty busy. The news media has been pounding down our doors more and more lately -- they all want to know traffic conditions in the sky, historical backlogs and black box style "instant replay" information for flights, etc.

Calvin

I'll give them a call sometime next week. They are traveling at the moment.

Calvin

Any chance you might be able to get ahold of a UK map for the Blaupunkt RNS149? It uses NavTech data, but they don't sell the CD and I've had no luck getting one through Blaupunkt.

Of course if we had a more advanced nav project on empeg I could throw away the Blaupunkt

Rob

try to get Blaupunkt Part Number 7612100 069 (UK Map from 8/2001).

Peter

I think Jim answered your question best.

Calvin

Sven & Kim,

I spoke with Navtech regarding North American maps, and also west european maps for the purposes of testing. They can get a development copy of all maps for a low price, that can be even lower if you negotiate it down. They will be in contact with you to discuss terms, but the keyword here is that although Navtech doesn't do deals less than $75,000 -- they will call you and based on the projected price and number of users for the empeg navigation -- they can direct you to a partner company who can sell you onto a cheaper license. Basically, there are other companies in the position where they can't afford a full licensing so they split the cost.

Calvin

Update: UK 2002 will be available in April.

Peter