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May 08, 09 - 08:14 am Comment from: iPhoner

People who say that a true compass would not be useful must all be from the city. Try dirt biking 60 miles from the closest highway where there is no cell service and no GPS and you'll see how a workable compass would be awesome.

Technically, there is GPS but no Google map or Topo map to guide you. And the GPS only works when you are moving. If your bike breaks down, you cannot walk fast enough to keep it activated.

If the iPhone Topo Map apps could use the compass it would be great indeed.

Why would anyone want it? having to move around just to change the image presented on the device seems like a waste of energy.

May 08, 09 - 08:18 am Comment from: Jay-Z

@ Emil:

There's no saying that you won't be able to move it manually as well, just the option of having the phone orient itself so you don't have to figure it out.

As it's been described elsewhere, imagine actually being at the location and as you pass the iPhone in front of a building/landmark/restaurant/hotel/etc the iPhone not only brings up the relevant corresponding image of it on its own (because it "knows" where it is) but links to any relevant information about that object you might want.

Or imagine a "Street View" of the interior of a museum so that as you pass your iPhone in front of a work of art it brings up who did it, the history of the period, links (and maps) to other works in the museum associated with the one you are looking at.

"And besides you shouldn't be travelling at night." Ha ha...

Pole Star to you mate...

May 08, 09 - 09:08 am Comment from: Demon

There will be no magnetometer in the iPhone. Compass data for the iPhone is provided by the GPS system. Who has a Compass built into their car? Does it tell you more the N, NNW, NW, WNW, W, ...? Of course not, that's because the Car's compass is driven by a magnetometer. Small cheap magnetometer like the ones that drive built-in Auto Compasses are not very accurate so, the Auto makers stick to just broad generalization in directions. My Aston Martin being a high end luxury car has a Built in SatNav system and the dashboard compass is powered by the SatNav system. My 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that has a built-in Dash Board Compass and a SatNav system are not connected and the Build in Compass is very basic with it's direction and it must be adjusted from time to time to compensate for position and the magnetic pole.

See the First post on magnetometer in the iPhone for why a magnetometer is not coming to the iPhone.

Great... now we can finally walk down the sidewalk, while our iPhone tracks our every movement on Google Street View... we won't even have to look up at the sights around us... it will all be displayed in front of us on our tiny little screen.

Get a life people!!

May 08, 09 - 09:11 am Comment from: MacTony

@Emil

Are people too lazy to turn in a circle?

May 08, 09 - 09:14 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

I couldn't understand a damn word that guy was saying.
What the hell was I supposed to be seeing?

Fantastic!
Today, they're not signaling because one hand is at their ear, they're generally distracted, and instead of the road, they're looking at their phones while they dial.

And now I can also look forward to the drivers in this city swinging their phones around the cabin of their vehicles as they veer past or into me!

Wheeeee! - Life gets more exciting!

@ Noodle-Armed Choir Boy:

So we should just stop innovating because some people are dumb with appropriately utilizing the technology available to them? Let's just can the cell phone all together!

May 08, 09 - 09:42 am Comment from: alsoran

Anyone who sees this magnetometer as a bad thing is really quite short sited I am afraid.

May 08, 09 - 09:44 am Comment from: alsoran

Anyone who sees this magnetometer as useless could never get a job working for an innovative company such as Apple. Way too short sited for that I am afraid

May 08, 09 - 09:50 am Comment from: MizuInOz

@Demon - which Aston Martin do you drive? Interesting about your SatNav system. Have you ordered a 177? There are now two orders here in Oz - an order in Perth and mine. Goes for $ 3,000,000 AU plus change. Fly to the UK to get it fitted out for me. Looking forward to a very long drive in it.

on topic - I strongly doubt that there will be a magnetometer in any generation of iPhone - but who knows - we didn't think there would be video capabilities and rumour has it that there will be...

All I do know is that if the Apple rumour mill ground wheat, there would be no starving people in the world.

Cheers from the land downunder...

May 08, 09 - 10:18 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

I'm driven' a 1989 Honda Civic. This is a prime example of why we need Socialism. I say either put you guys in econo-cars or give me a friggen' Rolls!

May 08, 09 - 10:29 am Comment from: BC Kelly

Whatever they can come up with to put in the iPhone will be ok

However, I am pretty good at dead-reckoning, reading sky, reading maps, etc

So no big deal, for me at least, with compass or GPS etc


BUT

Sure wish they'd have some kind of audio voice translator

WTF were the people in the video here speaking ?

Think it could be Chinese, but at first sounded like thick Irish

If not some variation of Klingon


Now, if/when iPhone does has on-the-fly-audio-voice-translation

Complete with optional language package add-ons

(conveniently available from the App Store)

Let's hope one of the first translators is Politico-Double-Speak

You Betcha




BC

May 08, 09 - 10:37 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

BC,

I think they were speaking in tongues. It's some kind of new tech-worship cult. And I thought the Scientologists were a bunch of loons.

May 08, 09 - 10:42 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

BC,

Also, notice how the guy kept going in circles. Reminiscent of the Sufi whirling of the Muslim Dervish sect. I rest my case.

Maybe it's better to just open our eyes ?

@ iPhoner where are you getting no GPS? (over a large area)
I mountain bike extensively under heavy tree canopy and with over hanging ledges and very rarely does the iphone fail me (and when it does it is normally a matter of moving 10' or 20', so much so that I no longer carry my dedicated GPS unit except in 24 hr events where battery life is an issue)
(trails (gps app) rocks BTW, I have several GPS apps and it is by far my favorite)

May 08, 09 - 11:18 am Comment from: Demon

@ MizuInOz

It's just a DBS

May 08, 09 - 12:04 pm Comment from: Cubert

MacTony,
I think you didn't understand what the article was saying. As you walk and turn a corner (or just spin around in circles if that is what you want to do) or drive while following Google Maps directions, the map will reorient itself to your direction automatically.

My Bugatti Veyron , just delivered comes equipped with cute Alpha Centaurian bimbo with a vanilla compass in her hand. With her other hand she attends to my needs by energetically .....

May 08, 09 - 01:09 pm Comment from: ken1w

Great. I can stand at a street corner, and I'll be able to see virtually what is right in front of me, just by turning my whole body. That's progress and innovation!

May 08, 09 - 01:12 pm Comment from: Brau

@Demon
You are kinda missing the point. It doesn't matter *how* it is done or whether the iPhone actually contains a true magnomometer, only that the feature works. Most won't care about precise accuracy just as long as it is pointing them in the correct-ish direction and works without a network connection so they can find their way.

May 08, 09 - 02:10 pm Comment from: J Lib

Stalkers and thugs of the world, rejoice!

May 08, 09 - 05:58 pm Comment from: Road Warrior

iPhoner, love your post. When I was at Canada, it was pretty easy to tell which way was North and I never go lost in the bush. Vegetation was a good indicator, things like moss on the trees, south facing slopes favoured Aspen, north facing slopes favoured Spruce that sort of thing. Wind and water drying can also be a great aid. I hardly needed a compass.

Since coming to Australia a compass has been indispensible as I haven't figured out how to use the vegetation to tell direction and the sun, well it's overhead, helpful at dawn or dusk but not much during the middle of the day.

The cities are even worse, even with a map. Australians I think haven't figured out how to use/make a map. They use these huge books for the most part that are beyond confusing. I got into a discussion over this with some of the locals about this, who laughed at me until I pulled out a full version of the map of Toronto, all on one page. I did have a map of a city that I used but it had some serious shortcomings, Imagine seeing streets that starts at one spot, end at another and don't connect to any other street.

Pointing this out to the locals hasn't been a good idea. Unlike rednecks who will tell you "my way or the highway." I have found many Aussies cannot conceive that there could be another way of doing things.

It is probably why I have never found any Australian maps at any branch of the Canadian Automotive Association I have visited (although they have maps of nearly many other destinations).

So if the iPhone does indeed have a true magnetometer it would be a welcome.

There is no need for a magnetometer for the app Philip Elmer-DeWitt described. While it can be used to sense the initial direction of the iPhone, a magnetometer is pretty much useless to sense the up and down movements. iPhone already has an 6-degree-of-freedom accelerometer, which can be used to sense velocity and angular velocity which then can be used to estimate the position. Many apps already used the accelerometer as a control input. Some developers just need to integrate that idea to Google's Street View.

May 08, 09 - 07:11 pm Comment from: enzos

> Australian maps at any branch of the Canadian Automotive Association I have visited <

Flamin' Canuk drongo! Why don't you head down to the nearest NRMA office? More one-page maps (if that's what floats your boot) than the you can poke a hockey stick at!

Though between you and me, mate, I lived in Canada for a few years [was a member of RCAA] and it IS easier to navigate cities than in Oz. As to outdoors, the sun is always shining in Australia (unless you're in Melbourne) so, holding your watch up below and in front of your eyes, North is halfway between the hour-hand and the sun's reflection - simple. And the moss, where there is any, is on the South side of trees, etc. (Though if you're in the tropics then you're buggered!)

May 08, 09 - 07:39 pm Comment from: BC Kelly

Sir Gill

I'll give you a "cult" - of sorts - who definitely know "circles" and who can "see things"

Things the rest of us need technology to "see"

And this fits in with the general drift of the story and comments

Especially - enzos, Road Warrior, others



Polynesians

Them cats could find Hawaii in the middle of nowhere

And not need no compass, no magno-whatever-ometer, no nuttin'

And not miss

Now -- someone get THAT "app" running on iPhone






BC

May 08, 09 - 08:01 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

I'm not making any comments about islanders or natives or anything else. Last time I did I got tagged as a racist.
Just don't say anything about coconuts.

why wouldn't you be able to do this with an accelerometer?

Ah enszos, you make me smile. It is kinda of a long trip to go to the nearest NRMA office (say Sydney) when you are at a Canadian city. Remember I am a flamin' Canuk drongo, and even they are not dumb enough to make that sort of suggestion. I got a map mailed to me from there instead.

I do agree with you though, it is easier to navigate through Canadian cities. Maybe putting street names at corners is part of it. Mind you, Adelaide was pretty sensible, one of the few places that I found easy to navigate.

Thanks for the watch idea, I will test it. Just have to find an analogue watch, dang everyone has gone digital.

On another note, this farmer was on TV the other day and during the interview his dog kept running around in a circle chasing his tail. When asked what this was about the farmer said that the dog could predict the weather and ran around like that when it was going to be hot and dry. The dog would jump up and down when it was going to be wind. The interviewer asked him what the dog did when it was going to rain. The farmer replied "I don't know, I've only had him for 5 years."

Enjoy.