Google Maps Mobile Update With GPS
May 10th, 2007 (12:00pm) Judi Sohn 12 Comments
My 2005 Honda has a built-in navigational system. That thing has saved my you-know-what more times than I can count. It’s the first car I’ve ever owned with a GPS, and I know I’ll never own another vehicle without it. There is no end to the gizmos, gadgets and add-ons you can buy for figuring out where you are so you can figure out where you want to go.
The latest version of Google Maps Mobile (version 1.5.1) has GPS support! Press “0″ and the application will quickly pin-point your location with a blue dot. Google originally promoted this feature as being exclusive for the Helio Drift. Now they’ve quietly released an update that supports Blackberry OS 4.2+ and non-Helio Windows Mobile devices. I can happily report that it works just fine with the integrated GPS of the Blackberry 8800 and will likely work just as well with the built-in or Bluetooth GPS receivers on other mobile platforms.
No more sitting in someone else’s car as they aimlessly drive around lost, wishing I had volunteered to drive. Imagine…you’ll never worry again over where the closest Starbucks is…establish the blue dot and then “Find Business” to locate the nearest java fix.
Visit Google Maps Mobile from your phone’s browser to download.
12 Comments Post your own comment
ryanblain says: May 10th, 2007 1:00pm
Does the phone need to have built in GPS? I’m assuming yes but wanted to be sure…
Judi Sohn says: May 10th, 2007 1:19pm
I believe it works with bluetooth GPS solutions as well as built-in.
Jeff O'Hara says: May 10th, 2007 1:34pm
Unfortunately it does not work with my Blackberry 7100i :( The yahoo one does, but it is not as good and you have to pay for it. :(
Dameon Welch-Abernathy says: May 10th, 2007 1:58pm
Doesn’t work on the Nokia N95, which has integrated GPS support.
mattdabbs says: May 10th, 2007 3:59pm
One problem. If you tell it to go from any place in the U.S. to any place overseas (eg London) it will tell you to jump in the Atlantic Ocean and swim 3000+ miles. That may not work well in a vehicle and may get your GPS wet.
2BFrank says: May 11th, 2007 5:50am
Works great with the built in GPS on a HTC P3300
Judi Sohn says: May 11th, 2007 7:03am
Thank you, Frank! I was beginning to wonder if it only worked on the Blackberry 8800! ;-)
Christopher Price says: May 14th, 2007 6:48am
The Windows Mobile version of Google Maps for Mobile has always had GPS support. I still haven’t heard of any Java-based device other than the BlackBerry 8800 being able to take advantage of the new GPS support.
S60 TV » Google Maps Mobile update says: May 15th, 2007 7:25am
[...] read on WebWorkerDaily that what you need to do to activate the ‘find me’ GPS feature in the new version of [...]
atmasphere says: May 15th, 2007 8:16am
As Dameon already reported, it does not yet work on the N95. I updated the install today and it’s still a point release behind…
kriegspiel says: May 16th, 2007 10:18am
Well, the updated install on my E61 says it’s at version 1.5.1 (#1025), and there doesn’t seem to be any way to get it to talk with my external Bluetooth GPS device. I suspect only the Helio / WinMo / BB specific releases have the functionality for now, and the unwashed masses using the generic J2ME version are being left out in the cold for now :).
Bony says: July 22nd, 2007 10:37am
For the Nokia users, you can try
http://wap.mgmaps.com/
It has support for GPS with MG Maps, and there’s a release specifically for N95. Use the .jar files - installs easier using Nokia PC Suite.