Traveling Down the Information Backroad

This is a summary of some other features of the Garmiin nuvi 660 GPS, plus some comments about things I would like to see added or changed.

Audio

I mentioned that the nuvi will play mp3 files, but I didn’t mention that audio books from audible.com are supported. Here are screenshots of both:

Note in the above screenshot that album art from podcasts and CDs is supported.

For Audible books, note that there is a bookmark feature, a handy item to have since part one of this book is over seven hours in length. Tapping the back and forward buttons will allow you to skip tracks, or restart from the begiining. Holding down the buttons will rewind and fast-forward through a track.

I’ve already mentioned that sound through the nuvi FM transmitter works well, but as with most in-vehicle transmitters you can expect to change stations as you move closer to an area that is broadcasting on the same frequency that the nuvi is using. If you’re just listening for directions, the output from the nuvi speaker works really well, but I’ve found that the FM transmitter is a necessity for listening to audible books. The nuvi also includes a headphone jack which could be used in vehicle that have an auxiliary input for the audio syatem. I don’t think the nuvi works very well as a standalone audio player as compared to an iPod or my Zen Vision M, but it is competent enough to use if you don’t want to carry a lot of gadgets around.

Other Features

• SD card slot
• Picture Viewer (slow with large files) allows for panning and zooming
• Clock that synchronizes with the GPS Satellite clock
• calculator
• sample tour guides from Fodor with text descriptions and reviews of restaurants
• currency converter
• unit converter

The device comes pre-loaded with a North American map. You can also purchase additional maps, and I believe Garmin updates their maps once a year. On the nuvi you can also view the map in 3D while driving. I prefer to use the 2D option, because for me this gives me two different views of the road: the view from my car and a traditional map view.Many people prefer the 3d map, but it just reminds me too much of the of the trench attack scene from Star Wars (as played on my Mattel Intellivision).

Wish List

The nuvi 660 does everything it claims, and I believe for the in-vehicle traveler market that Garmin is aiming at with this device, they’ve packed more than enough features for most people. There are two basic features I wish it had, but neither are critical.

First, you can only setup one waypoint for a trip. On my drive to SCOCA I usually drive to downtown Huntington, and cross the Ohio River there, rather than taking I-64 to the west end of town. I also use a shortcut over Rosemount Hill to bypass Portsmouth. With only one waypoint, I can’t setup this trip, unless I use a Point of Interest File (POI) which would require that I go to point A, then tap in the route to Point B, then tap in the route for Point C. True, since the nuvi will automatically re-route on a trip this really isn’t a problem, but it does require that I listen to voice prompts constantly telling me that it is recalculating a new route.

Second, I would ike to be able to download a track file after I finish a trip. a track file is simply a log that tracks your position during a preset interval (usually every 15 seconds). Track files are very handy for use in other applications, and Ill have an example in a later post from my Sony GPS unit.

I still have one more post about the nuvi coming up, where I’ll discuss a feature that I found to be really cool.

technorati tags:nuvi 660, garmin, gps

I’m learning so much about this device that i’m finding it hard to know where to start. I’ve decided to devote this post on using the nuvi to get from Point A to Point B. My basic configuration of the nuvi (which I’ll write more about in a later post) is:

Physically setting up the nuvi in the car is an easy process. Just plug the DC charger into your car lighter, plug the other end of the charger into the windshield suction cup mount, and then drop the nuvi into the holder on the mount, where it clicks into place:

When the unit is first powered on, I enter a PIN code (which would make the unit useless to anyone who would steal it), and then the Home screen appears:

To get started, tap Where to?;

As you can see, there are a lot of choices. In fact, under the Food Lodging… category there are actually over 6 million destinations listed, everything from restaurants, gas stations, hotels, attractions, museums, theaters, etc. The nuvi displays each category listed by type, and then nearest to farthest from your current location:

Just tap what interests you:

If you have your phone hooked into the nuvi via Bluetooth you can tap the telephone button and place a call to your destination. If you’re ready to drive to the destination, click GO, and the nuvi will calculate your route and provide voice prompts to direct you on your trip.

The pre-programmed destinations are fantastic, but I would say they are at least three years old. My favorite Mexican restaurant in Huntington is listed at its old address. Most of the time I use the on-screen keyboard to tap in an address and then save it to my Favorites.

The nuvi 660 offers a choice of voices, and I like the female Australian voice the best, although many posts from the blogsphere seem to favor the male British voice. The voice prompts are very clear (even when not hooked up through the FM transmitter), and give you plenty of “heads up” info on upcoming turns. The great thing about the nuvie is that instead of saying “Turn left in 500 feet” I will get accurate street and road names like “Turn left on 4th Avenue” Nice. If you need a prompt repeated, or if you want to know how far it is to your next turn, you can simply tap the button at the bottom right of the map:

Tapping the button on the bottom left will give you trip statistics:

Perhaps the best feature while driving is that the nuvi can automatically re-route you if you take a different street or road, and it works quickly, even in city driving. I can tell you that being lost and frustrated two weeks ago trying to find my way around Shawnee State Forest, the nuvi took me directly where I wanted to go this past Saturday.

There’s still a lot more to tell about this device, and I’ll have more posts later this week.

technorati tags:nuvi 660, garmin, gps

The ad below was on Technorati this morning when I went there to do some searching. People who know me are aware that I tend to use shall we say, “colorful” language, and I’ve gone out of my way on this blog to keep things at a “G” level. However, this ad makes me want to launch into a string of obscenities. It’s soooo annonying.

Hey espin. Spin this.

technorati tags:marketing

I was really frustrated the past two weekends on my photography trips. Before leaving, I generally download the State Park or Forest map, and then go to Google maps and print out directions. The problem is that the road names on Google maps don’t always match the road names on park maps. Twice I ended up driving aimlessly for a couple of hours, never finding some spots i wanted to photograph. I decided to try an audible GPS, and ended up buying a Garmin nuvi 660. You can find tons of reviews online for this unit, or you can click the link at the end of this article and read about it on Amazon and check out the user reviews. Generally, public and press have given this unit top marks. This is Part One of a brief series of posts I’m writing about my experiences with the nuvi this past week.

The first thing I want to say is that the nuvi 660 is one of those rare devices that does everything it claims, is incredibly easy to use, and outside of a couple of free downloads to upgrade the device to the latest version, and to install some added optional functionality, requires no extra purchases to achieve the functionality you want. As a comparison, my Creative Zen Vision M is a great device, but the software and firmware upgrades are confusing, and the software on the PC is a bit buggy and prone to crashing. Additionally, both the power supply and cable to play audio and video through your home system are optional purchases. The nuvi comes with an AC wall charger, car DC charger, and a USB cable for installing upgrades or transferring Points Of Interest (POI) from your PC to the device. It also includes a bracket for mounting on your vehicle windeshield or dashboard. There was no software to install on the PC as everything you need is on the nuvi.

My favorite features of the nuvi 660 are:

• large, bright screen
• very easy to use
• clear voice directions that speak road, street and exit names
• FM transmitter to play the nuvi audio through my car stereo
• Bluetooth connection to my phone works well, and I can even voice dial

There are lots and lots of other features of the nuvi 660 and I’ll have other posts about them.

Amazon.com: Garmin Nuvi 660 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant: Electronics

technorati tags:nuvi 660, garmin, gps

I’ve been using audible.com for a long time, and it is one of only two DRM-enabled services that I like (I have a Rhapsody subscription for music). I’m generally out in my car on weekends, and having audio books is an excellent way to pass the time. They are also great for listening during my 70 mile drive to SCOCA HQ.

I love history, so that is the bulk of my listening, and I try to always get unabridged versions. When I’m ready for lighter listening, I’ll go with an author like Clive Cussler, whose books I consider to be adult versions of the Hardy Boys.

Audible works with most popular Digital Music players, or you can burn the books to CDs (LOTS of CDs). When I first used Audible I burned books to CD, but when you’re listening to over 15 hours of something like Nothing Like It In The World, It’s just too many CDs to cart around. Audible never supported Sony’s Minidisc format because MD players used the proprietary ATRAC format, so what I ended up doing was burning my books to CD-RWs and then burning those to Minidisc. I could fit the 15 1/2 hour book onto three Minidiscs, but as you can imagine it was a long process. I now use my Creative Zen Vision M player and a new device that i’m going to write about later today.

I encourage you to give Audible a try if you’ve never listened to an audio book before. You can create an account and get a good deal on your first book, and they offer other “listener discount programs” and book discounts all of the time.

technorati tags:audible.com, audible, book, audio books

One of my favorite blogs is Final Frame from the Photography Staff of the Lexington, KY Herald-Leader. Not only do you get the “story behind the picture”, but they also sometimes give helpful technical information about a photograph. It’s a great site to get an inside look at the life of a photojournalist and to view some great photographic work.

Some of the readers of this blog may have noticed a recent trend for newspapers to add video on their web sites. We’ve had this feature for about a year for the Huntington Herald-Dispatch here in West Virginia. Here’s a nice post from the Final Frame blog on how their photographers are coping with this new technology and the different demands it requires during and after shooting.

technorati tags:photography, video, photojournalism

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that my best friend is a pro photographer in Lexington KY. He’s been shooting for a long time and started with film SLR cameras in the late 1970s. Soon after he married and moved with his wife to Lexington, he switched to a Nikon D100 Digital camera, an expensive camera when it was released. He mainly shoots for the City of Lexington Government and also does wedding photography.

His wedding business has suffered because of the rise of inexpensive digital cameras. “Everyone thinks they are a photographer now, so I get less business. ” Personally I would never shoot a family member’s wedding. There’s too much emotion riding on having great pictures for those future memories. My friend has been doing this for years and he knows what he is doing. To me, it’s better to “cowboy up” and get what i pay for rather than trust Uncle Steve with his Sony Cybershot. Having said that, I do believe the line between amateur and pro is definitely changing in the digital age.

If you look at a site like flickr, there are thousands of amazing pictures taken by amateurs. Where once I looked at the work of professional photographers for inspiration and knowledge, now I wish I could shoot as well as these amateurs. In a previous post on this site about British Photo Magazines, I didn’t mention that many of the most beautiful shots displayed in these magazines were the work of non-professionals.

This “Digital Democratization” is also having a profound affect on traditional news media. the PBS show Frontline had a fascinating documentary (see part three) on not only how blogs have changed from alternative news sources to primary sources, but also how a site like Craig’s List can cut into a newspaper’s advertising revenue.

My work is also involved in this trend. With Open Source CMS, Wikis, Forums, and Blogs, it’s a simple matter for individuals and organizations to setup a compelling web Site. As long as you don’t need applications that require a professional coder, there’s no need to bring in specialized talent to design a site.

It is going to be interesting in the coming years to see where all of this is going to lead, and what changes will take place.

technorati tags:blog, news, media, photography

Taste of Tech » Write Right

In the same way, when I read poorly written or grammatically incorrect text, it lowers my opinion of the author. Tech people are notoriously bad about this. I’eve seen brilliant technology people attacked for their poor writing skills. In a school environment, it’s especially important, because academic institutions should have higher literacy standards than anyone else.

I’m not kidding when I say the above post by John Schinker has bothered me for weeks. Honestly, I used to be a good speller, and at least fair at grammar. I know that if the nuns who taught me at Sacred Heart School would read my blog posts, yardsticks would be flailed at my body. I’ll try to do better in the future.

Similarly, this post from Alvin’s Blog brings up some interesting common spelling errors. To add to this, I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the word “walla” used instead of “voila“. Fortunately for me, I’ve never committed that fox paw.

While I’m on this general subject, I want to say something to the youth of America. When you write something like “I want u to know that I meant to get this 4 u”, it takes those of us with a smattering of knowledge of the English language longer to process what you perceive to be shorthand. Grow up, or I’m calling out the nuns.

technorati tags:blog, grammar, spelling

Google Maps Mania: Google Maps Elections Mashups

This links to a story on how the Charleston Gazette is using Google My Maps to create a Ward Map with markers for the candidates. My Maps can create a KML file, and the Gazette embedded it in their own site. Also note. how the drawing tools in My Maps were used to create the Ward boundaries. This is a great example of how Google has opened up Google Maps so that anyone can create a map app that until a few months ago only developers could do.

technorati tags:geotag, geomap, k-12, google maps

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a short post about the Google My Maps Tool. Yesterday, SCOCA’s Distance Learning/Curriculum Coordinator, Melissa, called me with a request to map all of the INFOhio Video Conference sites for this school year. She sent me a Word Doc with building names and addresses, and I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to use the Google tool to get the project done quickly. I started yesterday afternoon, and continued this morning until about 11:30AM.

The actual process of using the tool is very simple. Enter an address in the search box, add it to the map and give the location a name. You can also add HTML , RTF, or plain text descriptions, as well as pull graphics from a known URL (which I did for SCOCA) for each of your markers. I was also able to use different markers to represent Schools, ITCs (Information Technology Centers),. and other agencies such as Education Service Centers and Special Education Regional Resource Centers.

I had a couple of glitches in the process that made the project take more time than it should have. Address spelling errors and addresses that didn’t match anything were a problem. I believe Melissa used the published school directory from ODE. When I ran into a problem, I used an application I wrote for SCOCA, The State Districts Directory, and it seemed more accurate. The application is based on a file we receive regularly from the state called DISBLD. It is a fixed length file with over 13,000 buildings listed in it. I converted it to MySQL for use online. If you check it out, you’ll see that searching is very fast.

The other problem I had, which took the most time, was setting the MIME type for the .kml file that you can generate from My Maps for Google Earth. We use Microsoft IIS6 on Windows Server 2003. According to Microsoft you can set GLOBAL MIME types for the server that will work across the site, but it wouldn’t. I ended up setting the MIME type in the directory the file was located in, and that did the trick. Here’s the Google Earth KML file for the project:

INFOhio Video Conference Sites KML

Here’s the project at Google Maps:

INFOhio Video Conference Sites

technorati tags:educational technology, geotag, geomap, google maps, google earth, k-12, infohio