TomTom Announces an Open Source GPS Technology 177
TuringTest writes "According to OStatic, European company TomTom (which recently settled a patent agreement with Microsoft) has announced a new open source format OpenLR for sharing routing data (relevant points, traffic information...) in digital maps of different vendors, to be used in GPS devices. The LR stands for Location Referencing. They aim is to push it as an open standard to build a cooperative information base, presumably to operate in a similar fashion as its current TomTom Map Share technology, in which end users provide map corrections on the fly. The technology to support the format will be released as GPLv2. Does that make OpenLR a GPL GPS?"
Excellent (Score:5, Interesting)
GPS should never replace maps and mapreading skills but it is a damn useful adjunct
GPL? (Score:4, Interesting)
If they truly want "wide scale adoption" as indicated in the referenced article, they would be better off using LGPL or BSD/MIT type license. It's not like supporting a transmission format is rocket science, so GPL seems a bit weird choice for a license.
One of tomtom's specs says that:
GPLv2 permits to use software & library in proprietary programs
I don't know where they came up with that idea.
Re:Handheld GPS and Linux (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a garmin etrex. I use it with a bicycle mobile phone case which clamps to a handle bar. I saw that gps in the shop the other day for 149 AUD. It should be pretty cheap wherever you are.
My etrex doesn't support maps though. I am mainly interested in marking locations of interest only to me.
How is their recent patent settlement relevant? (Score:5, Interesting)
What does there settling a patent lawsuit with Microsoft have to do with any of this? Alternatively, if patent litigation involving TomTom is somehow relevant, why did the submitter not mention any of TomTom's suits against other GPS companies?
Does it make OpenLR a GPL GPS? (Score:3, Interesting)
As it is, you can't even use TomTom with a Linux host system, since the interface protocol is a trade secret. So they have a long way to go.
Re:Better than GPX *how*? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Handheld GPS and Linux (Score:2, Interesting)
A few months ago I flew my mother and sister to visit in Los Angeles. My sister would be doing all the driving and not knowing her way around worried me a little. While not the best solution I ended up giving my sister and mother my iphone to use its gps while they drove around during the day. My sister would pull over, search for a location she wanted to go, hand the phone to my mom and start driving.
From all I gather they loved it and didn't have any problems using it. My sister also liked the Google street view for previewing the lay of the land so she would recognize things as she got close. Sure I will concede a Tom Tom sort of device would have been the ideal solution but you gotta admit the GPS on the phone did do its job. My 2 cents.
Re:Excellent (Score:3, Interesting)
When I can grab a set of co-ordinates off the web, add it to a contact on my phone, then bluetooth the destination to my car GPS, that will be a brilliant thing
I'm close- I can take the address off of a contact on my phone, place it in the copy buffer in Windows Mobile, paste it into iGuidance, and let it talk to the radio in my car to announce directions.
Now if only the steering wheel would obey the radio....
Open until otherwise (Score:2, Interesting)
IMHO, open-ness shouldn't measure how much crap I possess, but rather, how many hours does it take to get my crap in your hands for a useful purpose. Take OSM openstreetmap.org for example. I have spent close to two months trying to get speed limits in and out of their server. Me giving them speed limits is like Lee Iacocca trying to repay his debt to the Feds. One representative at OSM told me flat out that if I used Google maps, I quote, "we can't use your data, Kapish?".
So now, no doubt I will get flamed by OSM, but I re-submit to you, measure your open-ness, not your completeness. If that doesn't make sense, then go watch the movie Brazil, because thats what you will have become...
Re:Excellent (Score:2, Interesting)