Researchers from Finland’s University of Oulu might have cracked one of the biggest problems with location-based services – how to provide accurate navigation services when users are indoors and do not have reliable GPS signals to guide them. These researchers, lead by Dr. Janne Haverinen believe that the Earth’s magnetic field could hold the solution. Dr Haverinen and his team have founded a company, IndoorAtlas, which aims to provide indoor navigation services for app developers and device...

Your smartphone helps you smoothly navigate highways and streets of an unfamiliar city. But once you enter a mega mall, its global positioning system (GPS) goes blind. But now researchers from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute in collaboration with the Bosch Corporation and others have devised a navigation system for interiors. It cleverly combines sensors, enabling the device to track the movements and position of its user with precise detail. (more…)Google+

MapmyIndia, in association with Telenav, has released Navigator house number search app for the iPhone and iPad users in India. The Navigator app will be the first mobile app in the country that will do the house number searching for you and will also offer voice-guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation as well as moving maps. Users can search and navigate to house numbers, of course via the shortest route possible, across 36 Indian cities. Hit the break below to read about its other features and to find out from w...

MapMyIndia will unveil its brand new Android based in-dash navigation systems at the AutoExpo to be held in New Delhi. The devices will be Internet connected and will enable users to browse the web on the go. Other features include access to Android Marketplace, Live TV, and the ability to track ones vehicle from anywhere. These navigation systems will be powered by MyMapIndia’s latest Aura 3D navigation technology. (more…)Google+

Nokia has already made it public that its Windows Phone smartphones will run Nokia Maps and not Bing Maps. However, what it has not announced, yet, is an HTML5 version of Nokia Maps (erstwhile Ovi Maps) is already in the works. The eagle eyes at The Handheld Blog have spotted the mobile web version which is still in beta. However, you can still plot your route via your Android or iOS smartphone’s web browser, fire up the on-board GPS and get going. Hot the source link for a video of the stuff in action....

Google has updated its Maps app for Android to include navigation for public transport in over 400 cities across the globe. Version 5.7 of Google Maps will help you navigate in Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation Ltd, Delhi Metro, Chennai MRTS and Kolkata Metro. Once you hit navigate, the app will let you know when it is time to get off the transit system to reach your destination. It works in the background too by vibrating the phone and initiating a notification in the notification bar. However, si...

A new series of emails were made public on Monday as a result of Skyhook Wireless’ lawsuit claiming Google interfered with a contract the LBS company had in place with cell phone maker Motorola Mobility. The emails, which were sent to and from numerous top executives at Google including CEO Larry Page and SVP of Mobile Andy Rubin, detail the company’s shock at losing out to Skyhook. The internal emails also reveal Google’s admission that Skyhook’s location product is better and more ac...

Google and Apple testified before the Senate on Tuesday, where both firms were grilled on collecting location information from mobile phones. During the hearing, Senator Al Franken was particularly vocal on the issue. “My wireless companies, Apple and Google, and my apps, all get my location or something very close to it,” Senator Franken said. “We need to address this issue now, as mobile devices are only going to get more popular.” We covered Apple’s response on Tuesday, during...

One of our Apple sources has just informed us that Apple isn’t wasting anytime fixing the infamous location tracking issue in the iPhone and other iOS devices — it’s going to be addressed in an update within the next two weeks, possibly sooner, in iOS version 4.3.3. We’ve been sent the OS and while we haven’t loaded it on our iPhone just yet, here is what we have been told it will address:The update will no longer back up the location database to iTunes.The size of the location datab...

Break out your tin foil hats, people — they’re out to get you. Apple finally issued a statement on Wednesday regarding the recent uproar over iOS devices tracking their owners’ locations, but a new report from The Wall Street Journal will ensure that consumers can continue to cry foul. According to the WSJ, Apple and Google both track users’ locations not only using mobile devices, but also using computers. Apple allegedly collects location information each time its Mac computers scan for ...

Apple has finally broken its week-long silence over the location-tracking database scandal surrounding iPhones and 3G iPads running iOS 4 and higher. The company states that it never has, and never plans to, track users’ iDevices, and that the purpose of the database file in question — consolidated.db — is to “help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.” The company noted that a software update will limit the size of the location file and be available ...

In what is purported to be an email exchange with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, a MacRumors reader sent in the following:Q: Steve,Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.A: Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.Sent from my i...