In this first part (1 of 2) we take a look back at the first half of 2008 and recall the top technology announcements and LBSzone feature spotlights having a dramatic impact of location-based services... enjoy!

Mobile Rules Competition - Create A Unique Technology Innovation And Win a Contract - we started the new year off with a very cool competition from Nokia -- Hey developers... start the new year by winning the mobile rules from Nokia! From Nokia... it's Mobile Rules! Designed for those innovative minds. The goal of the competition is to further drive the aspects of miniaturization, green technologies, and performance in Mobile technologies - deadline for entries is 25th January 2008

Helio Ocean - THE cool smartphone for 2008? - Are you familiar with Helio yet? If not I bet in 08 you will be! Helio has a slick device called the "Ocean" that may make waves big time as the new year rings in. Starting at about $199 (with plan) the device bundles all the popular things that you, hip, mobile users want and need - things like social networking ala MySpace, integrated GPS, Google maps, a swift 3G network, Music (audio and videos), YouTube access, gaming, messaging, and cool cutsom ring tones and images for customizing your device. Read on for more on this slick device...


WHERE application is now live on MetroPCS - The WHERE application is now live on MetroPCS although no formal news of this has been released yet. With the Buddy Beacon news from the uLocate team, I decided to check their site for more info. With WHERE location enabled widgets, you drag widgets like your local weather forecast, Yelp, Eventful, Burger King, AIM Buddy Finder and more from the web to your handset, or discover them directly on your phone. 

Mobile Device Spotlight... Helio Mysto - Helio today released Mysto, an ultra-thin slider featuring two New GPS Search Services. With Helio you don't have a contract with the likes of AT&T, T-mobile etc... rather, you go through them. They also are promoting heavily teh fact that the device comes with 2 GPS services provided by WHERE and TellME... "With the introduction of WHERE and Tellme, Mysto expands on Helio's line-up of GPS-enabled services that already include geo-tagged images and videos uploaded to Flickr and YouTube, Buddy Beacon, Google Maps for mobile and Garmin Mobile". Users are treated to a 2 megapixel camera, GPS services, Bluetooth

The new Helio Mysto

Another very cool device launched in 2008 -- Garmin's new Colorado series first to run the Whereigo app

New Data Compression Technology for GIS and LBS Developed - - Packs Route and Area Data into Short Text - Locazing Inc. announced today that Locazing has developed new data compression technology especially designed for geographic locations, such as route or area, and applied for a Japanese patent on 16 Jan, 2008.

Skyhook Wireless Technology Used in iPhone and iPod touch - Using the Skyhook Wireless Positioning System (WPS), iPhone and iPod touch users can now locate themselves in the popular Maps application with the tap of one button.Skyhook's location coverage today includes 70% of the U.S. and Canadian populations, the top metropolitan areas of Europe and expanding coverage in Asia.

Developer Program Spotlight... Forum Nokia 2008: Evolving the Mobile Revolution - Forum Nokia is getting a fresh new look in 2008 with significant changes coming to the Forum Nokia Web site and to the way Forum Nokia reaches out to developers.Our colleague, Richard Bloor spoke to the new head of Forum Nokia, Tom Libretto, about plans for 2008.

Share places using findbyClick mobile - location-aware Google Maps mashup - Map mashups are everywhere, many of them are also mobile enabled, providing users with the ability to update and share their places from their mobile... findbyclick is just such an application - location-based intelligence and social networking all in one. 

The world's leading smartphone software S60 extends leadership with six new devices including GPS-enabled N96 - Symbian got a big boost this week as 6 licensees have announced news devices running the World's most popular OS. Particulalrly exciting is the official launch of Nokia's N96 - think N95 on steroids. This puppy has it all and then some. Integrated GPS and maps, a whopping 16 GB of internal memory as well as support for expansion via a 16 GB MicroSD card - yes, 16GB! I guess my "old" N95 won't be turing heads any longer. Also launched in Spain, LG announced the LG-KT610, a sleek new device powered with HSDPA connectivity and GPS navigation capabilities. Finally, the Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6220 classic and Nokia 6210 Navigator all exhibit different location based and multimedia experiences from pedestrian navigation to geotagging and movie viewing to video and photo sharing. Looks to me like the standard is being set for mobile, connected devices to have Megapixel camera, integrated GPS and more memory than your last PC.

Magellan's new Rugged, Entry-level, Professional GIS and Mapping Solution - MobileMapper 6 - This exciting, new feature rich hand-held GPS/GIS receiver delivers 2-5 meter accuracy and low-cost for business users. It fills a market gap in the data collection field between high-cost devices and consumer-grade products. It is expected to particularly appeal to forestry and other natural resource organizations, oil and gas, agriculture, utilities, government agencies, and businesses large and small that need a highly-rugged, robust GIS unit that can collect geographic data with 2-5 meter accuracy in real-time with SBAS corrections. The MobileMapper 6 is a Windows Mobile 6 open platform, unlike competing consumer-type units, it offers full compatibility with popular GIS software to enable companies to select and use the GIS software of choice. 

User-Generated Content Will Be a Key Component of Maps, Navigation, and Location-Based Services - The Latest Research Shows User-Generated Content Will Be a Key Component of Maps, Navigation, and Location-Based Services - As users become familiar with the concepts of location-based services and navigation, the industry continually explores how best to offer additional location-relevant content. This recent report from ABI examines the major user-generated location content features, players, trends, drivers, and barriers.

Nokia to bring Microsoft Silverlight powered experiences to millions of mobile users - Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering next-generation media experiences and rich interactive applications... Adding support for Silverlight will extend opportunities for developers to create rich, interactive applications that run on multiple platforms in a consistent and reliable way.

Developer Tip... Free AT&T Developer Program White Paper - Mobile Application Development Best Practices. Learn the best practices for mobile application development including formulating a wireless strategy and tips on solution design, development, deployment, and maintenance. 

MapQuest Platform: Free Edition of Mapquest's developer APIs - This new offering of Mapquest's developer APIs (aka. "MapQuest Platform: Free Edition) has taken nearly all the features of the platform and made them freely available to developers.

Developer Spotlight... ESRI Joins the NAVTEQ Network for Developers as a Zone Partner - - The NAVTEQ Network for Developers provides registered members with a diverse assortment of valuable data and tools. Simply by joining the free NN4D program, developers benefit from NAVTEQ(R) map data samples as well as industry-leading geospatial tools from ESRI and others for evaluation and development. See the following - the NAVTEQ Network for Developers (www.nn4d.com) development program, (www.nn4d.com/partnerzone/esri) for access to a comprehensive environment for rapid application development, tools, documentation and support. 

Tip - Nokia Sports Tracker (beta) for facebook users - A new facebook application enables users of Nokia Sports Tracker (Beta) to share their tracks with their friends via facebook. Within your facebook page, users are treated to a google map image showing the track location as well as several thumbnail images as a teaser.

Blue Dasher Technologies Street-Level Photography - - A new name on the scene as Florida-based Blue Dasher Technologies has announced the completion of comprehensive high-density photography of every public street in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, South Florida and Las Vegas. The company captures 360ø street-level images and provides these through its platform to Websites, navigation suppliers, and GIS vendors. The platform provides image playback that is smooth and clear, with the exact addresses of buildings and lots, advanced search and routing, and support for embedded multimedia. 

TrafficLand Announces National Expansion to Traffic Camera Network - - TrafficLand launched its public website on Monday, September 10, 2001, feeding video from 32 roadside cameras in Northern Virginia. The tragic events of the next day immediately made TrafficLand.com an invaluable tool. Recently the company announced a nationwide, multi-city expansion to the coverage area of its live traffic video services. The expansion adds 781 state and local Department of Transportation (DOT) traffic cameras to the company's network

Powerful Web 2.0 based mapping resource offers free US and Canadian Topo Maps - GPS-enable your cell phone - - See your location on topographic maps of USA or Canada! GPS software manufacturer Northport Systems, Inc., announced today upgrades to its powerful online map resource, Fugawi Touratel. An interactive mapping website targeting outdoor enthusiasts, Fugawi Touratel allows users to view and print Canadian and US topographic maps from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). View maps in 3D, navigate in real-time, plot routes, upload to GPS, integrate with Google Earth. Now available on Sprint and Alltel Wireless and Supports select Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung and Sanyo phones.

deCarta-based Mobile Applications Sweep Top Awards for 2008 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge-Americas - deCarta's geospatial software platform and web services gives mobile LBS application developers the ability to quickly build applications that integrate a wide variety of data sources to provide complex mapping, routing and spatial search functions.

S60 extending the lead in Internet innovation - S60 recently announced extended capabilities of its Web Run-Time offering allowing creation of personal and context aware widgets. S60 has also expanded choices for open source innovation in native application development through adding support for several popular platform-independent C++ libraries.

WHERE Now Available For Nokia Nseries Smartphones - Taking Advantage of Nseries GPS Capabilities. WHERE is now available to users of the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N95 and Nokia N82 devices. As a result, users of these advanced smartphones will be able to customize their device with WHERE to unleash the full potential of their device's embedded GPS technology. WHERE offers users access to over 60 unique location-based applications. These applications deliver content that is based on a user's current location - see also, 10 of 15 Semi-finalists in 2008 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge - Americas Are Built on WHERE Platform

LBS Spotlight... Location, Location, Location - more than 40 WHERE widgets available for Nokia Devices - With some 35 million GPS-enables Nokia devices expected to ship this year users need to take advantage of their location. A Tip... With WHERE from uLocate Communications, Inc. it is easy to add applications that give you information based on where you are at the moment.

Feature... Multiple Drive Support (Plug-in) Comes to S60 - Developers now have S60 UI components to access multiple drives, with the latest S60 plug-in for the S60 3rd Edition SDK for Symbian OS, Feature Pack 2 from Forum Nokia. Multiple memory card and mass storage plus memory card equipped S60 devices to follow? The Multiple Drive Support (MDS) Plug-in for the S60 3rd Edition SDK for Symbian OS, Feature Pack 2 brings the features of the S60 UI in line with the underlying multiple drive support offered in Symbian OS v9.3.

A Tip... real-time, live, streaming video from your mobile device via Qik- Interested in streaming live video to your friends, colleagues, or family. A 3G connection of WiFi is suggested enabling you to take advantage of this very cool application. This site likely has the shortest web url that you'll mess-up more than any other! 

LBS Spotlight... Tele Atlas Survey Reveals Web Application Developers See Great Promise and Business Opportunity with Location-based Services - Early 92 percent of the 638 Web industry professionals surveyed believe location-enhanced applications present a revenue opportunity for their companies, while more than 40 percent of respondents expect to drive revenue from location-based services within the next two years. Of those surveyed, more than 48 percent indicated that they planned to offer an application with location capabilities within the next year 

LBS Spotlight... Drive, Walk and Discover the updated version of Nokia Maps - Enter Nokia Maps 2.0 - Downloaded over 240,000 times since announced in February, Nokia Maps 2.0 has improved its optional Car Navigation, enhanced its pedestrian navigation, added multimedia city guides, now offers satellite images, and is sporting a redesigned user interface.

Ecosystem Sounds + KML = Wild Sanctuary Soundscapes - Recall users of Google Earth and Google maps can also listen to their data... At last year's Where2.0 event Bernie Krause of the Wild Sanctuary announced that he's sharing his vast collection of soundscapes with the World. So what you might think... well, think about this... this is likely one of the largest private collections of digital sounds of wildlife and various ecosystems that you'll ever find. Even better, the soundscapes are being shared via KML so now users of Google earth can enjoy listening to their 3D mapping experience while being immersed in the sounds of nature. The soundscapes are also available via Google Maps and have been recently updated.

MobileMapper CX with DigiTerra Explorer - MobileMapper CX is a highly flexible, accurate affordable and rugged handheld GPS receiver for universal GIS use. Compatible with Windows CE based GIS applications; the MobileMapper CX provides real-time sub-meter and even sub-foot accuracy in post-processing. 

NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge APAC Winners Announced - At CommunicAsia 2008 NAVTEQ has crowned Joikusoft as the winner of the 2008 APAC NAVTEQ LBS Challenge. As the Grand Prize Winner, Joikusoft received a prize package valued at $275,000 USD, including $50,000 USD in cash and $225,000 USD in NAVTEQ(R) data licenses.

ESRI's Small Municipal and County Government ELA program + ArcPAD - ESRI has announced that Small Municipal and County Governments Can Now Add ArcPad and ArcPad Application Builder to their ELA. What this means is that for a nominal feel, customers have "unlimited access" to ArcPad software for mobile GIS field mapping and data collection as well as the development framework (ArcPad Application Builder) to customize ArcPad applications. Just this week, ESRI has announced the availability of ArcPad 7.1.1 and ArcPad Application Builder 7.1.1, - New improvements in ArcPad 7.1.1 enhance the user experience by increasing productivity and ease of use in the field.

Nokia / Symbian Deal and Demand For Converged Devices Soars - Nokia's Buyout of Symbian and movement to open source... I knew something must be up when I received an email from a Symbian contact of mine requesting that I sit in on an American Press event (Webinar) that would take place in 30 minutes. This very well kept secret involved word of the Nokia purchase of Symbian and the creation of the Symbian Foundation... read on for more on this deal.

Mobile leaders to unify the Symbian software platform and set the future of mobile free - Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DOCOMO have announced their intent to unite Symbian OST, S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Foundation to be established to provide royalty-free open platform and accelerate innovation