Jonathan's blog

No, I’m not savvy to some leaked press release or anything like that. But I was wondering the other day how long it might be before we see a Google sat nav device on the market.

Think about it – they already have maps of most of the world and software that is capable of route planning and they have an operating system suitable for mobile devices (Android). It’s only a small step to create a small touchscreen device with a GPS receiver that it designed to be used primarily as a sat nav.

I expect such a device would also have 3G so it could get hold of live traffic information faster than a TMC receiver. It would be able to sync with Google Contacts so your sat nav would know where all your friends lived. It might be able to send them a text message if you were going to be late.

And, of course, it would track you wherever you went. Scary.

Since getting my iPhone 3GS, I’ve been playing with a few apps. Today I tried one called Cyclemeter, which is a GPS tracker and can provide some interesting stats about your cycle rides.

I set it to track my journey to work (Speedwell – Clifton) and was quite interested by the elevation graph in particular. (N.B. this route is slightly shorter than my usual one, since the Bristol-Bath cycle path is currently closed near Lodge Causeway, so I’ve been taking a shortcut on main roads).

I’ve included some iPhone screenshots of my results:

Map of my route to work

Graphs of my route

Key points:

• I start at home, taking the roads
• At 2km, I join the Bristol-Bath cycle path at Rose Green Rd. You can see a dip in my speed where I stop and push my bike through the gate.
• Most of the cycle path is gently downhill towards the city centre
• At 5km, I reach the end of the cycle path and proceed through Old Market. It’s a bit stop-start in traffic.
• From 6km onwards, it’s a steady uphill climb (Woodland Road today, sometimes St Michael’s Hill instead) from about 85m to almost 160m above sea level!