GPS satnav maps: whereis vs navteq

So as most of you know – I like to have an up-to-date satellite navigation system. I run a chinese no-name GPS unit (with dual processor, wince5, word, acrobat, mp4 player etc and built in tv tuner). I also have it on my HTC touch diamond 2 phone. The software I prefer is igo (Igo My Way 8 by nav’n’go). It does the usual tricks with points of interests (POIs), built-in speed cams, speedlimits. lane info, text-to-speech (TTS) etc etc. The most annoying thing compared to garmin etc is the TTS does not haev an australian TTS voice, but the software is the most advanced and customiseable. Recently the maps have sucked and it has been very hard to get an up date. I was running the telstra 2008 maps then a december 2008 navteq map. There has been a constant battle between the two companies: sensis- whereis (Telstra) and Navteq (Nokia). Whereis was the gold standard for years and navteq sucked. Then navteq made a comeback in early 2008 with brilliant maps. Not quite as good for inner cities etc but great for rural/ parks and the like. Anyway there was a long delay with getting a new map update but now the R17 whereis (jan 2010) map is out and I have started using whereis again. I have to say I am impressed. So far the maps are accurate (in melbourne), lots more POI information, lane info, speed limits, traffic signs, school zones (that only show up during school hours). The maps aren’t perfect and a few speedlimits are wrong already but most of the new highway info is alrady built-in. I am sure navteq is still better for in the outback but I think whereis might finally be making a comeback (companies like navman and mio swapped from whereis to navteq as whereis was too slow in updating). I will wait till I get my hands on the new navteq maps though to make a true comparison. At least I won’t haev to change software just to get a new map now (yay) as I was starting to play with Navigon mobile navigator just so I could have a 2009 map working.

“Young” professors and 300,000 at RG

I got an email today from scopus with the awards for the “young” scientist awards in Aus. It’s pretty fun that most of these young researchers are already professors… I mean wtf. Maybe recognise some actually young scientists for once.

“Blah” The winners and finalists for the Scopus Young Researcher of the Year Awards are:

Award Category Result Name Affiliation Humanities and Social Sciences Winner Professor Peter E.D. Love Curtin University of Technology Finalist Dr Kylie Hesketh Deakin University Finalist Associate Professor Jennifer L. Hudson Macquarie University Physical Sciences Winner Professor Benjamin J. Eggleton The University of Sydney Finalist Professor Tanya Monro The University of Adelaide Finalist Professor Andrew White The University of Queensland Engineering and Technology Winner Associate Professor Dan Li Monash University Finalist Professor Rajkumar Buyya The University of Melbourne Finalist Associate Professor Lianzhou Wang The University of Queensland Medicine and Medical Sciences Winner Professor Prashanthan Sanders The University of Adelaide Finalist Dr Stephen Turner The University of Melbourne Finalist Professor Louisa Degenhardt The University of New South Wales Life Sciences and Biological Sciences Winner Professor Corey J. A. Bradshaw The University of Adelaide Finalist Dr Joern Fischer The Australian National University Finalist Associate Professor Frank Grützner The University of Adelaide For more information, please email Meiling at m.tang@elsevier.com

 

Anyway,

P.S. 300,000 members at ResearchGate now: