For the last few years, the Garmin 60CSx has been the GPS device of choice for many users; rugged, a decent viewable screen (without the touchscreen of the newer models it’s often easier to read in sunlight), and generally a good device, but things move on, and the new GPSMAP 62 brings a whole range of new technologies to this rugged range.

Although there are 3 models in the US, the top model includes  full US mapping, so may not be available in an equivalent in the UK, so let’s at least look at the two other models to see the spec:

“With a 2.6” sunlight-readable color display, up to 20 hours of battery life and a high-sensitivity GPS receiver and quad helix antenna for unparalleled reception (the GPS receiver features HotFix, which automatically calculates and stores critical satellite information and can use that information to quickly calculate a position), the GPSMAP 62 series features three distinct waterproof models to suit various activities and interests. The basic GPSMAP 62 includes a built-in worldwide basemap with shaded relief. The GPSMAP 62s adds a 3-axis tilt-compensated electronic compass and wireless connectivity for sharing routes, tracks, waypoints and geocaches between other compatible Garmin handhelds. GPSMAP 62s also includes a barometric altimeter that tracks changes in pressure to pinpoint your precise altitude. Users can also plot barometric pressure over time, which can help keep an eye on changing weather conditions.”

It supports the full paperless geocaching options of other recent Garmin GPS, and the Garmin Custom Maps feature that’s also supported on the Garmin Colorado, Garmin Oregon and Garmin Dakota models.

Here’s a nice touch for existing users of other recent Garmin GPS devices; “The GPSMAP 62 series is made even more versatile through its universal mounting system that is compatible with the same accessories as Garmin’s Oregon, Dakota and Colorado products.”

The Garmin GPSMAP 62 should be available in July, although we don’t have any confirmed UK pricing yet (I’d expect it to fit in above the Garmin Dakota range, but less than the most expensive Garmin Oregon models).

SatMap have quietly released a new firmware, v1.4, for their SatMap Active 10 devices.  As well as addressing a range of bugs, the full Changelog is included in this article.  Highlights include better Geocaching.com support, better power management, including hibernation support.  For the full changelog, read the rest of the article…

The full changelog for v1.4:

General Update

• New Splash Screen

Status Bar

• The Battery indicator has been reduced in size and set vertically, and has been improved to show more accurate power metering for Lithium batteries as well as showing when it is fully charged. Additionally there is now a Run and Stop icon beside the battery which shows the user if the Trip Log is running or is stopped.
• Small Battery Icon
• Improved Power Metering Optimised for Lithium Primaries and LiPol Rechargeables
• Run / Stop Icon for Statistics Log
• Toggle Icon When alternate mapping is available.
• WAAS/EGNOS Enabled GPS Icon turns blue Selective availability : WAAS (USA) EGNOS (Europe)

GPS Map Page

• Track Up (Low Centre Spot) Blue spot lowered option to allow more mapping to be seen ahead. Only 2 data boxes allowable to show max mapping.
• Toggle Function (Top Left Button). New concept of toggle maps. Satmap now has the ability to issue different map types. For example Aerial coverage can toggle to A-Z mapping, that then toggles to CAA mapping, and then toggles back to Base mapping (typically 1:50k or 1:25k). When an alternate map is available the status bar icon will show. On switchover, the name or type of the new map will briefly show (i.e. Aerial, A-Z or Base Maps)
• Satmap has always been able to display multiple map scales. On previous versions of software, these maps were viewed by zooming in and out. Now Satmap has introduced the ‘Map Toggle’ feature: this allows users to ‘toggle’ between different maps available at the point with a click of a button without zooming. It is accessed from the GPS Map screen and is the top left button (showing three layers of mapping stacked on top of each other). This feature requires specific map packs: at launch this will only be the custom map series, with National Parks available in Spring.
• Better handling of co-incident points i.e. a waypoint on a POI (list box now appears) allowing the POSITION INFO screen to be always accessed.

Large Map Areas / Aerial

• Better supported: Map packs treated in handy bite size to effectively allow unlimited mapping to be used (limited currently by 32GB SD card size)
• JPG tile format now supported leading to better handling of very large / hi res aerial imagery.

Planning Screen

• Distance measurement tools improved. Using the Set Marker function (joystick press whilst in Planning Map) it is now possible to measure distance and bearing (either Mag. or Grid) between any 2 points. Previously users could only measure from their own location.

Position Info Screen

• Lat/Long (DD MM.DDD) and any other supported Grid Ref system can be display simultaneously (E.G UTM or MRGS)

Hibernate (on the latest Platforms (09.02.15 and higher))

• Effectively a Stand By mode – default set at 2 hours (during which time the satellite data is saved (ephemeris and almanac) so unit does NOT take 20 seconds to load Windows, and does NOT take 1:30 to get satellite lock. Typical lock time out of hibernate : 3-10 seconds. Essentially this means that the useful battery life can be extended by switching on for a quick lock and then switch off. Note: logging and snail trail does NOT occur during hibernate.
• Hibernate timeout added to Advanced Power Control (0-8 hours)

Screen Capture

• On backlight boost button now saves a jpg of the screen display (with date time stamp to a. SD card, or b. Flash if no SD card available). Press the Back Light button for 2 seconds and a camera icon appears on the status bar to indicate that a screen shot has been captured.

Settings

• More options to set target speed
• Memory Status : More detailed and clearer information about memory usage (SD Card, Flash and RAM). Low memory exclamation mark added in Memory Status area.
• Backlight many more low settings (1,2,4,6,8.10,20,30% etc) to protect night vision.
• Red Backlight; also to protect night vision.

Data

• Moon Phases added for Data boxes.

Datum Support

• Enhanced: New maps and datums now self-contained on SD cards, so they will plug and play without the need for fresh software updates for new countries.

Routes

• Routes Menu tidied up functions now on buttons list is for actual routes only.
• Folder concept now supported
• Better handling of very large routes and high numbers of waypoints. More strict filtering to restrict on required waypoints to be displayed.
• Invisible / Inactive routes now do not load in memory at all.
• Inactive routes can be set to show only start point  allowing many more routes to be loaded.
• Better track to trail convert; better filtering to retain fewest WPs but best shape.
• Better visibility of active routes; the current leg contains blue arrows and has a blue border.

POIs

• Warning radius increased to 3km (i.e. total diameter 6km) and red hatched for warning purposes.
• POI-Set by Postcode now available (for the UK units with Postcode data).
• POI-Set by Co-ordinate added.
• Enhanced support for Geocaching.com data (i.e. full hints and geocache log are supported)
• Folder concept supported.
• POI Icon selection extending to spots, geocaching and other common symbols

SatSYNC 1.4

• Folder manipulation on both the Internal Storage and SD Card available on units with platform 09.02.21 or higher.
• Imported Routes and POIs now available immediately in their respective menus without the need to restart the unit (platform 09.02.15 or higher)

World Map

• Routes and POIs display more accurately now.

TRIP LOG Screen

• Buttons rearranged for more function and clarity.
• Clearing the ‘snail trail’ (or ‘crumb trail’) is now done from the Trip Log screen. In place of the reset function is now a Menu button that gives access to all the features needed to set the Trail info and the Trip Log.

Power

• During Critical Battery shut down unit will now be revived if connected to external power; previously it would always shut down.
• Battery fully charged Icon now supported (previously not available)

Google Earth

• Google Earth is a great resource and now the Active 10 can interact with it more effectively, allowing routes to be created, downloaded and uploaded between Google Earth and the Active 10.

This is an impressive list of new features, and we are especially pleased to see SatMap continuing to innovate and provide feature updates to their existing customers.  A small note though; to benefit from the Hibernation features, you need to apply the update via SD card, and not via download; the SD card can be purchased from SatMap directly.

If you want to read how all these new features fit into the working of the device, head to the SatMap website and read the full (updated) user manual here.

This article was originally published at Mapomatic.

SatMap, the makes of the SatMap Active 10 (and SatMap Active 10 Plus), have this week released a new version of their PC software, and a new firmware for the Active 10 devices to go with it.   For us, the key new feature is the support of geocaching.com GPX files, giving you a full range of information about the geocaches; offering hints, cache descriptions, terrain, difficulty, and logs.  The changes to the PC software include:

• New graphical display: the new layout of the user interface makes operation clearer and easier.
• GEOCACHING.COM compatible: users can install either .LOC files or .GPX files. The .LOC files contain the latitude and longitude of the cache, and the .GPX files contain the full information offering hints, cache descriptions, terrain, difficulty, logs, etc. This compatibility allows users to fully enjoy the growing international sport of Geocaching.
• Google Earth compatible: so users can download .KML and .KMZ files for both routes and POIs from Google Earth onto the Active 10. The .GPX files from the Active 10 can still be uploaded and viewed on Google Earth.
• Microsoft Virtual Earth compatible: so users can download .KML and .GPX files for both routes and POIs from Microsoft Virtual Earth onto the Active 10. The .GPX files from the Active 10 can still be uploaded and viewed on Microsoft Virtual Earth.
• Enhanced Windows XP compatible: this allows users to run SatSYNC in guest accounts on their computers.
• Direct links to Satmap Online Route Planner and Route Share Network: this allows users to access the online web applications rapidly, making it faster and easier to move routes around.
• SD Card transfer of routes: users can now insert the SD Card straight into their PCs and do the import and export of files (using the Convert buttons) without needing the Active 10. This should make it easier for users to share routes or access routes as it means they don’t have to restart the unit to view any new routes when the card is inserted into the Active 10. It also makes the transfer of route files faster.

As for the firmware, which is needed to support these new features, it also includes:

Updates

• Zoom Floor lowered from 1:1,000 to 1:500 for improved viewing of aerial photography products when released.
• Support for Spanish and Catalan languages.
• More flash memory freed up for map handling, allowing bigger maps to be loaded in future.
• Updated support for German, Italian and French languages.
• Routes now saved by default to SD card (if present), allowing for optimal use of memory resources.
• Faster screen responses as soon as the Active10 acquires satellite lock, allowing for faster cold start times under certain conditions.
• Minor improvements for use with the SatSYNC application.
• Better handling of routes which have been “reversed”.

To us, the addition of the geocaching support really brings this device forward as a single, all-encompassing device which provides the benefit of OS maps as well as acting as an all-round device suitable for anyone who spends time in the countryside.

When we covered SatMap’s new Route Planner and Route Share last week, we noted that this would no longer be free to new purchasers of the Active 10 from today (and existing purchasers only have until the end of March to register for free access).  Well, SatMap have today extended their range with the Active 10 Plus, which will include free access to both these services.  On top of the standard Active 10 device, it will also offer postcode based lookup facilities, a new function not previously available on the Active 10, and due to license limitations, will not be available for retro-fitting to the Active 10 either.

The Active 10 Plus will retail for £379.99, compared to £299.99 for Active 10.  As well as access to the Route Planner and Route Share services (via a voucher in the box), the Active 10 Plus also ships with a World Base Map, a Lithium Polymer Battery (the unit will also take AA Batteries), a wall charger (with multi-country adaptors), and another voucher for 1/3 off a 60km² site-centred map (worth £35).

The new 1:5 million World Base Map allows better use of the device outside of the UK (or the main area you have bought maps for), providing some basic level of mapping.  For comparison, the Active 10 Plus ships with this 1:5 million base map, a UK 1:1 million high level OS map, and a 1:250,000 raster road map of the UK.  For those existing Active 10 users who would like this world base map, it is available as an upgrade for £39.99 plus postage.

The World Base Map is part of the European wide launch of the device, with plans to release OS type mapping for a number of Western European countries by Easter this year, including The Netherlands and Norway, where the device is already on sale.

Given the range of extras the Active 10 Plus ships with, it’s likely to count for the majority of sales moving forward.

Although still a little expensive (even as a waterproof GPS unit with access to UK OS Maps), if SatMap improved their geocaching support within the device’s software (and their FAQ says they are looking to incorporate in the future), we think they would sell even more units.

More information direct from SatMap here.

Mapomatic, who produce free Garmin maps from the OpenStreetMap data, have published their review of the Garmin Oregon, and considered whether it, or the Garmin Colorado is a better device for going geocaching.

Head over to read their review, and if you own a Garmin device which can have additional maps loaded onto it, then you might want to try out their Garmin UK OSM Map, or their specialised Garmin UK OSM Cycle Map (which puts greater emphasise on cycle routes) or even their Garmin UK OSM Canal Map (which adds lots of additional canals and rivers, and even shows lockgates; useful for those planning a summer trip on the water).

I’ve been a big fan of TripIt for the last year or so. Whenever you receive an email confirmation of a flight, a hotel booking, hire car, even a train ticket reservation, you can forward this email to TripIt and they will convert it into a travel itinerary for you. This puts all your travel information into one single location. As they support iCal and RSS feeds, you can then get this information into other sources, such as your Calendar or other services.

About a month ago, TripIt announced a developer API program, which allows other companies (with your approval) to access this data, and the fruits of this are already starting to show with 2 iPhone applications now offering TripIt integration to enhance your travelling…

FlightTrack Pro (shown above, currently £5.99) is the first such app, which is designed to track all your flight details for you, with the ability to not only access the flight information, but also live weather, flight route maps, real-time flight status updates, airport time difference information, airport delays and closures, and will, in their latest version, also support importing the flight information from TripIt. Some of these features, including the TripIt support only come with the Pro version, so this is likely to be more useful to the regular traveller.

Now, most of this information is already available, but this app brings together a whole raft of different websites to bring that information onto a single screen, and that’s key to us; that little extra effort in integrating all that information can be so useful to some people. FlightTrack Pro should be able to link your TripIt information to airport information, thereby providing additional information such as last minute gate changes etc. It even features an offline mode to work whilst you are travelling at 30,000 feet and want to check the details of the airport you are arriving at, or even your next flight (although you won’t have information to the real-time updates).

If your travel plans don’t always revolve around flights, then TravelTracker (below, currently £11.99) may be a better app…

This covers all type of travel, allowing you to enter information on flights, trains, hotels, car rentals, meetings and driving, but again, offers that ability to integrate with TripIt to collect the data. Given that TripIt can pretty much handle all of those types of travel, it seems a nice combination to provide easy access to your trip data. It’s not as polished in some areas, eg accessing real time flight status takes you to a web page, whereas FlightTrack Pro builds the information into the application itself, but it does support some simple expense management, and even will track your frequent traveller cards and programs. As well as supporting the iPhone, they also support the iPod Touch.

Which one would we choose; well that’s the nice thing; use TripIt to automatically process the emails you are sent when you book the travel in the first place (they also support the major travel agents which are commonly used by corporate travellers), and then get the data fed seamlessly into both application; given you the best of both worlds; FlightTrack Pro for the best handling of the flights, with TravelTracker handling the rest of the travel.

What about once you’ve arrived, and you want to make notes and record information about where you have been, and what you have seen; well, maybe Geotags for iPhone is a good solution for you…

Geotags for iPhone is a free map-based application for the iPhone, allowing you to keep a record of places and things you have seen of interest, by marking on the map where you found them. As well as written notes, it supports photos and short audio files. Once you have collected the information, it can be viewed in Google Earth. Of course, you can achieve similar things with other services, such as Brightkite, which also offers a wider variety of method of locating yourself, and offers more of an overall social networking experience via their Brightkite for iPhone client, which is also free.

Finally, if geocaching is your thing (and if not, why not?!) then we’ve covered geocaching for the iPhone before here.

This level of integration with services such as TripIt, potentially resulting in not having to enter the information by hand on any system appeals to me, and I hope that over the next few months, we start seeing similar TripIt integration into Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile applications for non-iPhone using travellers.

Some content about Geotags for iPhone from TUAW; thanks to Mark at Automated Home for the link.

Although it won’t appear for a few more days whilst the app goes through Apple’s review, the team behind Geocaching.com have written their own iPhone client.  The cost of the application is $9.99 (UK price to be confirmed) and has the functionality you need to look up and seek out caches using the networking and location-based features of the iPhone 3G. It also works with the iPod Touch and first gen iPhone though you will need WiFi for the Touch and the compass won’t work.

The first release will not have the feature to log caches or filter hides and finds, but it will be included as a free upgrade as we add that functionality – hopefully over the next month. We wanted to get the application out as soon as possible since the demand was so high for it.

Some non-obvious features:

• You can look up travel bugs and find out their goal while out on the trail
• Saved Items allows you to save a cache listing and navigate to it, even when you are out of network range
• The application starts in beginner mode which only shows traditional caches. Advanced shows all types
• To help with speed issues on, say, the Edge network, you can restrict the number of results to 5, 10, 15 or 20

Some more screenshots:

Pictures courtesy of Geocaching.com.

If you like geocaching (see geocaching.com for more information if you don’t know what’s involved), and have recently purchased an iPhone with GPS, then this article will be for you. TUAW have written up a full step by step guide on Geocaching with an iPhone. We’ve since heard at least one person is working on a true geocaching application for the iPhone, but until it’s out, this seems the best option.

Picture courtesy of TUAW, Story via Multimedia-PCs, and thanks to Mark at Automated Home.

Although it’s only been out a few months, a new software update has been released for the Garmin Forerunner 405, Garmin’s newest GPS based training watch. If you head off to the Forerunner 405 software page, you’ll find more details about the new version. If you have already set your Forerunner to connect to your PC, then you should be able to simple connect your ANT USB Stick, and update the device wirelessly. Unlike most Garmin GPS / SatNav units, this device does not use the traditional Garmin WebUpdater to update, but does take advantage of the Garmin Communicator plugin (which is commonly used to get geocaches from sites such as Geocaching.com into yoru GPS). Right now, this plugin is Windows only, but Garmin assure us they hope to have Mac support in Autumn 2008.

The feature list of v2.2 includes:

• Added timeout setting to the Training Options menu that disables the automatic timeout to power save mode when the watch is in training mode.
• Changed all settings in the Training Options menu to be specific to the current sport mode setting.
• Made adjustments to instantaneous pace filtering.
• Calculate calories, averages, and Virtual Partner time ahead/behind only when not auto paused.
• Added small navigation arrow on course timer page.
• Added locating satellites page before allowing user to mark location or mark position for the mark and lap auto lap by position option to ensure that the user’s current location is the one that is saved.
• Improved reliability of unit-to-unit transfers.
• Fixed issue where watch could freeze with bezel, accessories, and GPS not working.
• Fixed issues that could occur when using back to start feature.
• Corrected issues related to using the foot pod and GPS at the same time.
• Fixed issue where auto pause would not work if GPS was off and user was using only a foot pod or a bike sensor and not a heart rate monitor.
• Corrected issue with auto wheel size calibration for bike sensor.
• Fixed issue where total times greater than 24 hours could be displayed incorrectly on the totals page.
• Prevent start/stop or lap/reset from triggering if one button is released before the other after locking the bezel.
• Automatically classify activities with a foot pod as running and activities with a bike sensor as biking before sending data to the computer.
• Updated translations.

Like many software updates, we would recommend you think carefully before applying this update, although we’ve generally found Garmin updates to be well worth applying.

Whilst everyone is covering the iPhone story in greater detail than we could do it justice, we’re going to cover the formal announcement of the Garmin Oregon.  We covered much of the spec earlier in the week here, but here’s some more formal information from Garmin, including some comparisons with the Garmin Colorado range.

The 200 (above left) will just have the basemap, whereas the 300 (above right) has the shaded relief worldwide basemap.  The 400 series adds particular US maps (just like the Colorado), so will not hit the UK.  Neither the 200 or 300 have detailed maps preloaded, but both have a microSD card, as well as their internal memory for storing those additional maps.

The 300 also includes the wireless support, for the exchange of tracks, waypoints and geocaches between other Oregon units and Colorado models. It’s also equipped with a barometric altimeter and electronic compass and is compatible with Garmin’s heart-rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors (all of these features are missing on the 200, so we suspect the 300 will be the biggest seller).

Geocaching is even easier with the Oregon, which quickly downloads online information for every cache, such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description, so that you don’t have to take printouts with you. Oregon users can experience Wherigo™, the newest GPS-based activity from Groundspeak, the people who made geocaching a worldwide phenomenon. Wherigo (pronounced “where I go”) is a toolset for creating and completing adventure games, historical tours or other innovative activities in the real world.

With the 3″ touchscreen, we think this is going to be a big seller in the coming months.  All models should be available in the US by the end of the month, although we’re still waiting to hear when they’ll be on sale in the UK.

The current rumours flying around the internet are that Garmin is going to release a new range of GPS devices in the next few weeks. The Oregon range will be a similar device to the Garmin Colorado although it will be slightly smaller, and feature a touchscreen. One colleague we recently spoke with said he was always trying to use the Colorado screen as a touchscreen, so welcomed a true touchscreen unit.

Although Garmin are usually tight lipped about new devices, it appears that somehow these devices made it onto both Amazon and Buy.com before being removed. As such, a fairly reliable spec has been obtained, and this includes:

• High sensitivity GPS receiver for improved performance and reception
• Easy to use, touchscreen interface
• microSD card slot for optional mapping and data storage
• Electronic compass, barometric altimeter, temperature sensor
• Built in 3D Basemap /Digital Elevation Model
• 3D elevation view
• Wireless exchange of user routes, tracks, waypoints, geocaches and images
• Unit dimensions: 4.5 in x 2.3 in x 1.4 in
• Display size: 3 in color, touch screen
• Pixels / H x W: 240 x 400
• Waterproof standard: IEC 60529 IPX7
• Battery type: two high capacity or lithium ion AA batteries
• Weight: 6.8 oz with batteries

The specs above are for the 200 unit, with a 300, and a range of 400 units (similar to the Colorado 400 range) will also be available in the US. Given the main difference between the Colorado 300 and 400 models is the amount of memory to fit in the included US maps on the 400 range, we suspect that again the 400 range may not make it to the UK, leaving us with the 200 and 300 though. The main missing feature from the Colorado will be the Naviwheel, which isn’t needed due to the touchscreen.

Story via the Groundspeak Geocaching.com forums (no registration required to view).

GPXView started out as simply as a viewer for the geocaching.com GPX files used by geocachers. However, it’s now expanded, and offers a near paper-less experience for those who own a Nokia Internet Tablet, and even has basic GPS support for those with a Bluetooth GPS or an N810 (with built in GPS).

The author plans to integrate the program into Maemo Mapper or into navit, but in the meantime head off to his website for more screenshots and the install link.

Garmin have announced agreements with MapQuest and Google Maps to allow you to send trips and destinations direct from the MapQuest / Google Maps website to your Garmin GPS. For MapQuest, this will utilise the “Send to GPS” option which will become Garmin compatible sometime this month, whereas the function is already available from Garmin. This will use the Garmin Communicator Plugin, which is already in use on other websites, such as Geocaching.com to transfer information to Garmin GPS units. Not all devices support full trip (route) details being transferred to them, but all seem to support a single destination being sent.

Even before the Garmin Colorado starts shipping in any serious quantities in the UK, Garmin have updated the firmware in these units based on user feedback. The main features added are:

• Displays geocaches on the main screen
• Doubles the number of caches supported to 2000
• Adds the ability to mark the cache as found
• Provides support for Colorado Field Notes, which can be directly uploaded to geocaching.com

Some more details about the new Garmin Colorado range have been released by Garmin…

Most importantly, at this stage, only US mapping-based models have been announced, although we suspect that units with European-mapping will not be far behind. The range features a number of different models, mainly with different US maps built in. Optionally, more detailed maps can be installed via the SD card slot.

The 400t model, for example, features “state of the art” 3D elevation perspective and topographic mapping.

All units have:

• High sensitivity GPS receiver
• Innovative Rock’n'Roller wheel
• SD card slot
• 5 User configurable profiles; automotive, marine, recreation, fitness and geocache
• Support for Geocaching.com GPX files for additional details (location, terrain, difficulty) and hints on the geocache
• Wireless sharing of tracks, waypoints, routes and geocaches between units
• Dimensions of 2.4″ x 5.5″ x 1.4″, 7.3oz, waterproof to IPX7
• Battery Life of upto 15 hours from 2 x AA batteries
• Electronic Compass, Barometric Altimeter, Temperature Sensor
• Compatible with Heart Rate Monitor and Speed / Cadence Sensor (both optional)
• JPG viewer (from SD card)
• Support for Garmin Connect (the new name for MotionBased.com)

Some additional screenshots:

Screenshots courtesy of GPS Tracklog.