Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time for the greatness of Nokia’s own City Lens technology to be released into the wild, the same powerful beast shown earlier this year at CTIA and more recently on the Lumia 820 and 920 lineup! This software brings the power of Nokia Maps to the virtual universe showing an overlay of places and attractions on your real world view through your device’s camera. City Lens will be available for several Nokia devices for real, in a v1.0 version out of Beta, starting today!

If you use the Nokia Lumia 900, 800, or 710, you’re in luck. These devices will have access to City Lens starting today. All you’ve got to do is follow the following directions to grab it quite quickly! You’ll be using your device’s camera to see a QR-code first and foremost – from there you’ll get the download and you’ll be on your way! Note that you do need an internet connection to grab this download, so make sure data or wifi are on!

1. Press the Search button on your Nokia Lumia and then tap Vision
2. Scan the barcode
3. Tap on the link when it appears on the screen
4. Install the application from the Windows Phone Marketplace

You could also, of course, just go straight to the Windows Phone Marketplace, but that’s not nearly as fun a process! Have a peek at our hands-on with City Lens through the eyes of the Nokia Lumia 920 here, and note that the final version for the 920 and the 820 will vary just a bit from the version you’re seeing for your 900, 800, or 710 today.

With Windows Phone 8 as it appears on the 920 and 820 you’ll find some features that only appear on Windows Phone 8 devices and above. With this version of City Lens, you’ll be able to pin to start any category tile. You’ll also be able to add your own favorite searches, and you’ll be able to use City Lens in both portrait and landscape modes. Check our timeline below for more City Lens action!

[via Nokia]

Nokia City Lens released from Beta for Lumia devices is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

They say you should never learn how the sausage gets made, but we’re willing to make an exception for Google Maps. Talking to The Atlantic, Google has revealed just how much the human element figures into all that collected satellite imagery and road data. Many pieces of terrain information are tested and modified against what Google calls Ground Truth: actual driving, alternate sources and sign photos automatically extracted from Street View runs. Google isn’t just making the occasional correction, either. Mapping a country can take hundreds of staff plugging away at the company’s Atlas tool, even before we get a crack with Google Map Maker. The combination of man and machine helps explain why Google Maps is one of the most accurate sources of location information on Earth — although the firm does have some catching up to do in space.

Filed under: GPS, Internet, Alt

Google Maps creation put under the microscope, reveals a human touch originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 05:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  The Atlantic  | Email this | Comments

Beneath every Google map is a goldmine of data that’s hidden from the user; a series of logical statements about places and highways that help provide correct directions, can tell you when traffic’s bad, and generally makes the service so much more useful than a paper counterpart. More »

With less than a week before Amazon’s next press event, several new bits of information have been leaked showing off a new Kindle Fire tablet and tipping Nokia as their new Maps pusher. As Amazon continues to attempt to work with Google’s mobile OS Android with as little Google influence as possible, they’ve been tipped to be working with Nokia Oyj by Rueters where they say that not only will the next Kindle Fire model have either a GPS chip or Wi-fi triangulation, they’ll be working with Nokia’s own brand of GPS mapping rather than Google Maps. The other reveal happening within the last 24 hours includes a couple photos of the Kindle Fire 2 before it hits the press room.

The images you see below show off what The Verge has been tipped is a new Kindle Fire. This unit appears to have a slightly updated user interface working on it as well as a bit of picture-in-picture video chat. You’ll also see a front-facing camera sitting on the top of the long side of the tablet near a microphone hole as well.

This tablet appears to have a rather similar look to the original Kindle Fire with basically the same edge bumper and display size. The unit pictured here is likely a mock-up as some “pixelation” – if you will – does occur in each of the different poses. The border size on each model appears to be a slight bit different as well – it may be, however, that there are two models and one brand.

The image showing two tablets may be showing the 7-inch version of the Kindle Fire 2 while the upright tablet may be the 10-inch Kindle Fire 2. This would lend itself well to the rumor that there are indeed two units and that the smaller one is still a media-toting beast while the larger has a more powerful processor and the ability to work with higher-requirements media. The user interface also reflects the Android Amazon app store’s relatively new look as well – check it out and let us know if you agree!

Kindle Fire 2 leaked photos appear with Nokia Maps tip in tow is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks like Nokia’s strategy to become the go-to company for location-based services is gaining traction, as anonymous sources of Reuters suggest that Amazon will tap the Finnish company to provide mapping data for its upcoming tablet. The report contends that location-aware features will be core to Amazon’s Kindle Fire successor, which is widely expected to debut on September 6th. If true, the move represents a continuation of Amazon’s desire to create an ecosystem that’s far removed from Google own content offerings. On the plus side, it brings the possibility that some excellent offline navigation capabilities may be in the pipeline. Whatever the case may be, we’re sure to know the truth very shortly.

Filed under: GPS, Tablets, Software

Amazon reportedly licenses Nokia mapping technologies for Kindle Fire successor originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 21:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Reuters  | Email this | Comments