PDAmill Offers a Sneak Peek at Nav N Go.

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdamill.com/navngo/' target='_blank'>http://www.pdamill.com/navngo/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"PDAmill, the leading developer of mobile games have unveiled the secret project they've been working on it the past year. Their new Navigation Solutions division have been busy developing a new PDA-based navigation solution in cooperation with the new startup company, Nav N Go."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050510-NavNGo.gif" /><br /><br />Now here's some interesting news. PDAmill are busy finalising their GPS navigation solution called 'Nav N Go'. Complete with a 3D map and voice guidance, 'Nav N Go' is definitely one to keep an eye on. If you're after a few screenshots and a couple of videos, PDAmill's <a href="http://www.pdamill.com/navngo/">'Nav N Go' website</a> is the place to visit.

[krypticide]

I hope it's VGA! :way to go:

[rzanology]

i hope it doesnt cost alot. $50 or so would be the sweet spot. i just got my gps and was counting on it for the car, but all the software is $100 and up...and being that pocket streets doesnt offer directions i might have to pay that much :( when will the nav n go be done?

[zilla31]

if this is VGA i'm really going to look into it - watched the 3 min video and despite the uber cheezy soundtrack it looks damn good...

[Sven Johannsen]

It does look good. VGA will be a big selling point if it has it. I really like Mapopolis, but their upgrade has been in this Beta thing for a year. I'm at the point I need to consider renewing my map subscription or buying something else.* For rzanology, $100 is probably about what I'd expect to pay. That's on the low side of good nav software. About the cheapest thing around is DeLorme's Stree Atlas Handheld. It takes some getting used to, but it does work.

*Mapopolis maps don't expire, BTW. Their model is you get a year to download what you want in the series you purchased, i.e. subscribed to. Then you can use them forever with a version of the software that supports that series. I've always thought 'subscription' was a bad term to use.

[dangerwit]

Wow, that's impressive! Nice app, though I wish they hadn't artificially sped the whole thing up (giveaway is the real-time re-routing calculation, unless they were on a crotch-rocket).

But my biggest concern is a North America/USA/Canada/whatever version. Europe always gets the neater GPS stuff first. I'm shopping around for a good GPS solution, and this could be it.

*Phil

[UnLoGiC]

That application looks really impressive!

PDAMill has made some really good games in the past so I have high hopes for this program. :D

[sundown]

Visually pleasing. This might be the one I'm looking for too, provided it has VGA support, a reasonable price and is not just available in Hungary :D

[Jaybot]

watched the 3 min video and despite the uber cheezy soundtrack it looks damn good...

Just for the record, I had nothing to do with that cheezy music in the video ;)

[hamishmacdonald]

WOW.

[SteveHoward999]

i hope it doesnt cost alot. $50 or so would be the sweet spot. i just got my gps and was counting on it for the car, but all the software is $100 and up...and being that pocket streets doesnt offer directions i might have to pay that much :( when will the nav n go be done?


Pocket Streets doesn't offer directions, but Streets 'n' Trips (or Autoroute Express in Europe) exports maps for Pocket Streets and you can save out driving directions too ... so calculate your trip with Streets n Trips, save out the driving directions to Word or Excel, and copy them over to the PDA. You can then use the PDA for the driving directions until you are cluse to your destination, then use Pocket Streets to get you to the door.

{Completely OT: Grrr ... nothing personal, but that should be "a lot" ... seems like half the world thinks "alot" is one word these days ...}

[prismejon]

Wow, looks stunning! I hope it supports route planning with several stop-overs, unlike my current version of TomTom (I think maybe their newest version supports it though).

[beq]

Just curious how come the overhead maps in the video kept spinning around though (not to mention zooming in/out and generally moving around very fast). Did they put the GPS receiver in a helicopter or something?

:mrgreen:

[zilla31]

any idea as to when this is actually coming out?

[Ward]

Who do I sleep with to get a release date?

[Jonathon Watkins]

I'm a big fan of PDAmill games and this looks great. I'm looking forward to it. 8)

[OneAngryDwarf]

bitequator - they were using some special modes which many gps solutions don't have (mine doesn't). They were using a mode where you are able to view it like a map and move around and zoom in and out and since its in 3D turn around (in circles if you'd like). I believe the part that was going fast was what they called a flyover which was basically a simulated route sped up. Would be handy to do the flyover before you start your drive so that you have an idea of what you are going to be doing. Any of these things absolutely necessary? No. Could they be handy? Yes. Are they just really cool eye candy? Yes. Am I drooling? Yes.

[SteveHoward999]

Any of these things absolutely necessary? No.



I think YES - especially the rotating map. I thought it was demonstrating that the user can rotate the map, which is essential, as you always have need to rotate the map to reflect what you see in front of you. It's OK to keep the 'forwards' or 'top' reference point as North when you are just reading the map, but when you want to use it to see where you are, where you are going and to simply reflect what is really in front of you, you want to rotate the map. You cannot spin your PDA if it is correctly mounted in a holder for safe use when driving ... ;-)

[Darius Wey]

Who do I sleep with to get a release date?

8O

Nothing's been released at this stage. However, rest assured, we'll keep you updated as soon as more news flows in.

[Sven Johannsen]

Any of these things absolutely necessary? No.



I think YES - especially the rotating map. I thought it was demonstrating that the user can rotate the map, which is essential, as you always have need to rotate the map to reflect what you see in front of you. It's OK to keep the 'forwards' or 'top' reference point as North when you are just reading the map, but when you want to use it to see where you are, where you are going and to simply reflect what is really in front of you, you want to rotate the map. You cannot spin your PDA if it is correctly mounted in a holder for safe use when driving ... ;-)

Not true for everyone. Mapopolis has the option of direction of motion up, or North up, when navigating. I'm perfectly comfortable with North up. I just naturally translate the direction on the screen to the direction I want to go. I have a feel for if I'm going down on the screen, I should be going South. I've tried it the other way and it isn't as comfortable to me.

[Sven Johannsen]

Nothing new on this?

[Darius Wey]

Nothing new on this?

At the moment, no. :(

But I'll let you know if anything new pops in.

[Sven Johannsen]

Well the news at this point is that you can't find it at PDAMill anymore but the same tease is at http://www.navngo.com/. Hope this doesn't turn out to be smoke and mirrors.

[Darius Wey]

Nice find. The official Nav 'N Go site used to be in Hungarian, but I see this is a new change. I'll (or you'll :P) watch it for developments.