We were quite impressed when we heard about the MyMotionBased application (requires login to view) for Facebook written by Matthew Underwood.
This application allows Facebook users to integrate their recent MotionBased activities into their Facebook profile and see their friends’ activities.
Here’s what the application looks like in my Facebook profile view:
Two detailed tab views are currently available. The first is the Activities view, which includes a Google Map that draws out my selected activity and displays it in addition to my activity summary data. Take a look:
As you can see, the “MB GE GM” icons allow you to view each activity individually in MotionBased, Google Earth, or Google Maps.
The feature I really like is the second tab view, called Friends Activities. I can see a summary of my friends’ recent activities and map their tracks, too. Check it out:
Pretty sweet. The application is still in its early stages of development so I’m really looking forward to seeing how it evolves.
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Posted by dchow on August 16th, 2007
News Category: Websites
GPSies helps you find tracks for all kinds of fitness activities around the world. You can also contribute to the community by uploading your own tracks.
With the Communicator Plugin, Garmin fitness users can download their tracks of interest directly to the device from the site. Here’s how:
First, find a track you’re interested in. You can find a track by region and also by type of fitness activity. Each track is represented by a bubble icon representing the kind of activity it is (bike, shoes, car, and others). Click the bubble icon once, and then click “View” to see the track laid out on the map:
Once you’ve found and displayed the track, select “Garmin Course TCX” from the drop-down menu, and then click “Export to Garmin GPS”, displayed below:
A transfer window will popup. Click the “Send GPSies file to Garmin GPS device…” button shown below:
Now you’re good to go! The track will appear in the Courses menu of your fitness device.
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Posted by dchow on August 10th, 2007
News Category: Websites
Great news, Mac users! As promised, we’ve now made available the Communicator Plugin 2.2.0 for Mac. This plugin supports Firefox and Safari. Developers are advised to work with Firefox for this plugin. The plugin matches the features available in the Communicator Plugin 2.2.0.1 Windows beta version.
Such features include course, workout, and user profile fitness transfers, as well as GPX data transfers to SD cards.
Developers, we’ve provided a preview release of the Communicator API to support the Mac plugin. It is a snapshot release, so please play around with it and give us some feedback as we improve it for the official release.
8/9/07 update: This is an early release meant for developers, before we release the next version of the API to the public. The plugin will not work on sites using the older API, and this includes the Garmin Communicator Plugin Test Page that is typically used after the installer.
Instead of using the official test page to test the plugin, use our demos. The control demo is a good one, and more demos for the Mac plugin can be found on the 1.3-SNAPSHOT API page.
8/15/07 update: Also, for now it seems that the required OS X version is 10.4.10.
The Institute of Transport Management recently awarded Garmin with the prestigious honor of “Innovation in Fleet Management 2007.” Garmin was chosen as the manufacturer most able to meet the challenges of the efficient movement of
people and goods vehicles through its comprehensive product offering in Automotive and Fleet Management innovation, as well as customer service excellence.
Commenting on the award, Patrick Sheedy, ITM’s Media and PR Director said, “The Fleet Manager is becoming increasingly dependent upon technology to operate a successful fleet. Support for this technology is paramount to successful operations, and customer service from the supplier is a key element. In it’s findings, the Institute’s fleet research team found the levels of customer service and satisfaction at Garmin to be of the highest in the entire fleet sector. Customer service is always key in the list of criteria outlined in overall success and Garmin more than excelled in this area.”
Sources:
Garmin Blog: Garmin Honored with Prestigious Award
Garmin UK press release: Garmin wins top industry award [PDF]
Institute of Transport Management: Garmin wins “Innovation in Fleet Management 2007″
NY Times published an article on web tools and mapmaking, and included MotionBased as one of these tools. MotionBased is a web application that translates GPS data into functional analysis and online mapping for endurance and outdoor athletes. Communicator allows users to upload activities from their devices to the MotionBased server for analysis and mapping. Developers can take advantage of the Communicator API and provide these services on their own site.
(Source: With Tools on Web, Amateurs Reshape Mapmaking)
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Posted by dchow on July 27th, 2007
News Category: General
A new beta version of the Communicator Plugin is released at version 2.2.0.1. This version supports course, workout, and user profile fitness transfers, as well as GPX data transfers to SD cards.
Communicator API 1.2 currently supports course writing to work in conjunction with the beta plugin. Full fitness support in the API is in the works.
Mac plugin is on its way!
The announcement of TakItWithMe made headlines yesterday over at GISuser.com. TakItWithMe combines the API of Garmin Communicator and Google MyMaps to provide users the ability to send their personalized Google MyMaps to their Garmin device. This is one great example of how developers can use Communicator with other APIs to create incredibly useful tools.
(Source: Google MyMaps + TakItWithMe + Garmin Communicator API = WOW!)
Transferring your favorite POIs just got easier!
TakItWithMe is a new tool that uploads Google My Maps directly to your Garmin GPS using Communicator. Users can also convert their My Maps to GPX format. Simply copy a My Maps URL into the form and click ‘Load My Maps’ to get started. They’ve also provided a rather slick video demo of how it all works.
The announcement of Garmin Developer in May was featured in eWeek Networking. The article also refers to Garmin’s Location Based Services toolkit (LBS). The toolkit allows you to incorporate Garmin’s GPS navigation directly into your current Java-based application. It also allows mobile device users to search for a given address; it triggers route calculation and navigation and receives GPS position information.
(Source: New Tools Tie Garmin’s GPS To the Web)
Just stumbled on this potentially useful resource for comparing Garmin software and firmware versions over at GPSInformation.com. The Communicator Plug-in is one of many included in this list.
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Posted by dchow on July 16th, 2007
News Category: General
A somewhat extensive article on the Communicator Plug-In API and other Garmin technologies was written in May over at GPSLodge.
(Source: Garmin Announces Developer Toolkit for GPS)
Mapicurious.com allows you to share your favorite points-of-interest (POIs) with friends. You can create your own map, search for existing ones, and display your map on your blog or site.
Mapicurious supports Communicator so you can easily transfer map points to your Garmin device by clicking the “Go to Garmin” link on the right side next to “Download to your Garmin GPS”. Here’s the Communicator in action:
