GPSToday Review

One thing that really bothered me about GPS was the TTF (time to fix). This could be anywhere between instantaneous to several minutes and is dependent on several factors such including weather and coverage. To summarize, getting a fix can be a tricky affair. But what if you could always start the GPS on your device from a hot start, the one that gives you the fastest TTF, no matter when was the last time you used your GPS device? Would you be interested in getting it?

If you said yes, then you would want to check out GPSToday by GeoTerrestrial. It’s a free program and what it does is to basically turn your device on from time to time to get a fix and then turn the device off. If it could do that well, I would have been satisfied but it does more than that which I will describe later.

To get started, it would be best if you are using a device that has a built-in GPS chip such as the Eten Glofiish models or the AT&T Tilt as advised by the developer. On top of that, you would also need an unlimited data plan if you would like to use it’s other features as well. Otherwise, it is only good for getting quick fix.

The Today Plug-in

The Today plug-in is the first thing you see after the setup. It looks just like any other plug-in, not doing anything if it is not doing anything. But tap on the box on the left and it will fire up your GPS chip to get a fix.

How do you know it’s getting a fix? Well you will see the screen above where the box will now have a number to show you how many satellites it has locked onto. If you have gotten a fix, then you will also see your direction in the box containing binoculars and speed in the box containing the map.

But those 2 boxes are not as useless as you think because tapping on the binoculars brings you to a search box and the map will take you to the main program with a map.

The Main Program

This is what you see when you launch the program (by tapping on the map box) and is where most of the action occurs. From there, you can tweak your settings and navigate your way around the map. So just how great is this software? Pretty good for a free software I must say.

Quick TTF

Because the program gets a fix from time to time, you will always be launching your device from a hot start. This means that your navigation software will be getting very quick fixes from now on. No more having to wait for the device to lock on.

Contact Proximity

This is an interesting feature. What it does is show all your contacts that have addresses, their location on the map. So now you could see at a glance which contacts are near you and you could pay them a visit. Need to call before you do so? Just tap on the contact’s bubble and you will be taken to the contact details for dialing. Nifty!

Address Search

Not everyone of your friends has a GPS device so when they call you asking where you are, you can’t just give them the co-ordinates and expect them to get there. Instead. GPSToday will give you your location in an address-friendly format that you friend can understand and make their way.

Search Points of Interest

And if you are on the lookout for something, say pizza for example. GPSToday has a search function that allows you to do just that. It uses Yahoo Local Search and even integrated Yelp Reviews for these search results where available. Like the contact proximity, tapping on any of the search results allows you to call or open the website where possible.

Improvements

It’s a really great software but not without bugs. Here are the ones I encountered which I hope they can fix in the next version.

Soft Buttons

Sometimes, the soft buttons do not respond, especially when I am in the settings page.

Auto Fix Settings

It’s great that we can set the time we want to get an auto fix so that the device does not have to wake up in the middle of the night to get one. However, I would prefer if we also have the option of setting the intervals for auto fix. At the moment, I am not sure what the interval is so having the option would be really great.

Better Documentation

I had a bit of a hard time navigating the application because of the lack of documentation. You can find a mini help in the About section of the application but there are no scrollbars there (another suggestion to look into) for you when going through it. Even the application’s website does not offer much help.

Buggy Map

Sometimes when I drag the point across the map, the application quits for no rhyme or reason and I cannot figure out why. Maybe the developers can shed some light into this? Is it because I am not connected to the internet or because I have no fix?

Conclusion

GPSToday is a great application, one that I have been looking for quite some time now. It integrates some really nifty features that I have not seen in other free navigational applications and for that, it is definitely a recommended add-on to your device, especially more so if you are using devices with built-in GPS chips.

Download here

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