Apps, Apps And More Apps
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
We know that there are thousands of apps for mobile screens, but here are three new ones that we thought worth mentioning: 3DVIA Mobile, Traffic Live and ASafeDrive.
With just the touch of a finger, mobile users using Dassault Systèmes’ new 3DVIA Mobile, an iPhone and iPod touch application, can select, spin, pan, zoom and inspect 3D models in real time.
Dassault Systèmes of Paris, producer of 3D and Product Lifecycle Management solutions, this week launched 3DVIA Mobile, that allows users to search, share and interact with the growing library of high quality 3D models on www.3DVIA.com.
iPhone users who register at 3DVIA.com can quickly search thousands of high quality models posted by the 120,000 members of the 3DVIA.com community and 3DVIA’s premium content partners. In addition to the ability to examine models in 3D, this app allows iPhone users to enhance or augment photos with highly realistic 3D models from 3DVIA.com. For example, a home decorator or student wishing to refurnish her room can use her iPhone to take a snapshot of her room, search 3DVIA.com for furniture ideas and overlay 3D models on her photograph to get an idea of what her room could look like. She could also e-mail the saved image to friends and colleagues.
3DVIA Mobile will be demonstrated at the Dassault Systèmes Customer Conference, October 6-7, in Orlando, Florida. 3DVIA Mobile can be downloaded from the App Store for US$1.99, but is being offered free of charge for a limited time at www.3DVIA.com/mobile.
Another interesting new app is from Hamburg, Germany-based Navigon AG, which has announced live traffic capabilities for its iPhone navigation app. The feature, Traffic Live, will be available in October for the North American version of the MobileNavigator for the iPhone. It uses real-time traffic information, as well as historic data, to calculate better routes that avoid congestion and get drivers to their destination faster.
“By including real-time speed data from drivers on the road, we are adding a next generation traffic service to our app that goes beyond traditional traffic functions which work with radio transmitted messages only,” says Gerhard Mayr, vice-president worldwide mobile phones and new markets at NAVIGON. “This raises the bar for iPhone GPS applications. Providing the driver with instantaneous traffic conditions, and offering efficient, alternative routes to the congestion, saves time, fuel and money.”
Traffic Live uses real-time speed data from over i million drivers across North America, including commercial fleets such as trucks and taxis, as well as regular drivers with a GPS system. So if, for example, several vehicles on a road report slow speed, the system recognizes congestion and provides an alternate and faster route. The feature also uses an intelligent fusion of information from traffic cameras, speed sensors and conventional traffic messages coming through a radio network; includes historic traffic data to assist with the prediction of road conditions when calculating a route and other features such as iconic warnings indicating new incidents and congestion along the current route. With such information, it also automatically adjusts estimated time of arrival.
NAVIGON Traffic Live will be available as an In App Purchase for US$24.99, but for the first four weeks, it will be available for an introductory price of US$19.99. There is no month-to-month service fee.
Also for the driver out of Los Angeles-based ASafeDrive LLC comes ASafeDrive, an iPhone application that is specifically aimed at helping people maintain their car speed within legal limits throughout the Los Angeles area and soon to broadcast all of the United States.
This app is geared to help eliminating unnecessary speeding tickets as well as reducing the number of accidents that occur each year as a result of speeding.
The program uses GPS POI Data (Street Data) as well as reverse geo-coding with Google Maps. The screen shows the driver’s current driving speed in accordance with their car speedometer and compares it to the accurate street limit data of their current location. ASafeDrive displays colors from green to red in line with the drivers current vehicle speed, thus keeping drivers’ eyes on the road and within legal limits. Settings can also be made to access a number of different warnings when the speed limit has been exceeded.
Future speed limit data will be available in major North American cities with New York, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco already in the pipeline.
Also in the plans: Parental controls will be a major part of upcoming versions. For the first time, parents can be alerted via messaging if their child is driving over the speed limit and have the ability to lock certain application functions
ASafeDrive is now available from the Apple App. Store within iTunes for $0.99 and can also be found at www.asafedrive.com.
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