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GPS Map Viewer for PSP Released 61

DCEmu writes "Deniska has released a GPS Map Viewer for the PSP. The program uses imagery from Google Maps, which currently has pretty good coverage of North America, Western Europe, Australia, Japan. There's also a video on YouTube." According to the post, map data can be retrieved via WiFi or an external GPS receiver. This story selected and edited by LinuxWorld editor for the day Saied Pinto.
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GPS Map Viewer for PSP Released

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  • Now, you see (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FireballX301 ( 766274 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @10:46PM (#15932061) Journal
    This is why I like the PSP platform - versatility.

    None of the games that came out for it are worth their cost and the cost of upgrading my 1.5 firmware. No thanks, I like being able to do awesome stuff like this on a high res handheld. Music, video, emulation, and all the homebrew you can ever imagine.

    Now, Sony, if you pulled your face out of your ass and stopped trying to screw the homebrew community over, maybe the PSP could have sold more units.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Abcd1234 ( 188840 )
      Now, Sony, if you pulled your face out of your ass and stopped trying to screw the homebrew community over, maybe the PSP could have sold more units.

      So people can buy what is ostensibly a portable video game device that (as you point out) has no decent video games, leaving them to settle for hobbyist software? Oddly, I really doubt that's going to convince your average consumer to drop the dough for one of these things...
    • I'm almost psyched for the Xbox360 Dev kit that's supposed to come out in a few months and only cost $100. I have so many ideas for simple, but fun, MMOGs. The problem with PC is someone can hack your game in a day. Now when it comes to hacking a console, theres more work involved and the hack doesn't spread like the plague.
    • None of the games that came out for it are worth their cost and the cost of upgrading my 1.5 firmware. No thanks, I like being able to do awesome stuff like this on a high res handheld. Music, video, emulation, and all the homebrew you can ever imagine.

      For curiosity's sake, what make the PSP better than the Nokia 770 for hi-res homebrew? It's got higher res and Maemo to help with the homebrew. Is it a cost thing? Does the PSP have a stronger processor for multimedia?

    • by kwark ( 512736 )
      1.5 is a great firmware in the PSP, so keep it at that version.

      If you feel the need to run software requiring a newer version (up till 2.71 ATM) 1.5 allows you to run http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devhook [wikipedia.org] which lets you load firmware from the MS without touching the firmware in the PSP itself.

      It also lets you run UMD images from MS.
    • by si618 ( 263300 )
      So go support (buy) GP2X if you want hackable portable hardware that's open. Do you really think Sony is the company for that?
  • by crazyjeremy ( 857410 ) * on Thursday August 17, 2006 @10:55PM (#15932097) Homepage Journal
    Aww, yes... for that large "handheld gaming/gps self-positioning" demographic. Glad that group is good with serial ports, cause they're going to need to fall back on that to get active GPS data to the device.
    • by Abcd1234 ( 188840 ) on Thursday August 17, 2006 @10:59PM (#15932109) Homepage
      Aww, yes... for that large "handheld gaming/gps self-positioning" demographic.

      It is an excellent demonstration of how confused I think people are regarding what, precisely, the PSP is intended to be. Is it a video game device? A movie player? A music player? Honestly, I don't know! The movies are crazy expensive, so it's not terribly good for that. As a music player, it's mediocre at best. And we've heard time and again how lack-lustre the game lineup is. So... what is this thing? Frankly, I doubt even Sony really knows the answer to that question...
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I don't care what Sony or anyone else for that matter thinks it is. The kids and I share it. We use it to play official games, browse the internet from the national Linksys network or I use my iPass or Tmobile wifi credentials supplied by my employer, watch movies and shows that I convert to its native format (automated tools make that conversion easy), listen to music, and for a temporary file carrier (well, that is really only a function of the memory card). I was doing home brew for a while but since
      • by gbobeck ( 926553 )

        Is it a video game device? A movie player? A music player?

        You left out "personal intimate massage unit" and "spinach stuck between teeth removal device"

        I doubt even Sony really knows the answer to that question...

        I think Sony thought it would be a Nintendo DS (or Nintendo DS Lite) kille, and would injur or maim the iPod. They must have decided that giving it the ability to do everything would cause it to dominate the market. Unfortunately, they ended up producing the handheld version of the Bradley tank (

    • by TEMMiNK ( 699173 )
      This could be great for those Real Life games, someone could write a homebrew GUI that gives people clues or whatever and they need to find different places, or like the RL Pac-man or assassination game. I think it would be great. GW
    • Why a GPS enabled PSP?

      So I can justify having my office buy me one?

  • by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday August 17, 2006 @10:58PM (#15932107) Homepage Journal

    We're halfway between a bunch of mushrooms with a plumber jumping around on them and a checkered landscape full of gold rings a hedgehog is running around trying to collect.

    Well, maybe some kids will take a break from playing games to do some GeoCaching.

    • Ok, I admit that I live in Texas, where every thing really is bigger. What? You don't beleive me. Well, look at this [metroplextbc.org]. Yeah, it's nearly 60 miles...

      Now that we've settled that, you'd be surprised what isn't covered by Google earth here. We've been shopping for property and most of Texas, outside the major metropolitan areas isn't included in any detail. When Google finally decides that it's worth covering, maybe I'll spring for the app. Till then, I'll stick to my old school Mapscos. They're much

    • Ahhh, but you must have never played Lumines...
      *absent minded drooling*

      Pretty lights...
      Flashing lights...
      Pulsating Music...
      must...pay...Sony...more...money...and install...root-kit...willingly...
      *drool*
      brains....

      Ah yes... Lumines... legal crack for the Y-Generation. -- This post brought to you by Sony Mind Control(tm).
  • I feel sorry for the PSP after all the crap that goes in its way. On paper, it was a great thing. You can play videos, music, games, and it looks cool (is the white version available elsewhere outside of japan?). But it didn't have that killer must-have game it needs to compete with the DS. Sad, so sad. Too bad it has to resort to hobbyist software (which isn't enough) and other niche stuff to be noticed.
  • There exists a J2ME mapping software - and I've seen it being tried on a GPS receiver paired with a Bluetooth-enabled Blackberry - map is retrieved from the network much like Google maps, and looks pretty cool...
    • by z4pp4 ( 923705 )
      link please?
    • My Sprint phone came with a trial version of this Rand McNally [randmcnally.com] application. It was really cool while it lasted. Had a little 'locate me' feature that would pop up a map of my exact location. I played with it while the trial version lasted but refuse to pay Sprint 5 bucks a month to keep using it. I really wish the new Google Maps [google.com] mobile app supported GPS.
  • This reminds me of Maemo Mapper [maemo.org] for the Nokia 770.
  • No guns? It said North America support didn't it?
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Posting anon on this one..

    Going by Google's TOS.. uses of google imagery/maps like this are a huge no-no in their books. Funny thing though, there are a lot of sites out there that use GE imagery in a TOS breaking way.

    Wonder what will happen when Google finnaly decides it has to put it's foot down globally and stop the "It is ok for you, but NOT ok for you" game.
  • The article, supposedly written by the developer, says you can hook up a GPS through the PSP's serial port. Last time I checked, the PSP doesn't have a serial port...
  • Give me more games, not more wierd shit. While I love Valkyrie Profile, can I have some good games that are not Playstation ports? Gamers by game systems to play games, so game makers should focus on giving us games to play.
  • Natrium42 [natrium42.com] made the exact same thing [natrium42.com] a year ago, and I don't recall this being mentioned on SlashDot [slashdot.org] before..
  • With global positioning, a mapping tool, and wi-fi all on the PSP we can get an accurate real-time map of every landfill in the United States.

IF I HAD A MINE SHAFT, I don't think I would just abandon it. There's got to be a better way. -- Jack Handley, The New Mexican, 1988.

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