GSM Treos get Google My Location functionality via MyLocation
By Sean Cooper 
posted Jan 22nd 2008 8:48PM
posted Jan 22nd 2008 8:48PM
An enterprising developer named Razix, when frustrated with the lack of support for the Palm Treo 600, 650 and 680 in Google Map's My Location -- for those not in the know, that's GPS-like magic sans GPS -- functionality decided to build his own. Piggybacking on top of the Google Maps app, MyLocation performs the same feats of mystery, intrigue, and cell tower triangulation that most other platforms are already enjoying and there's no need to wait for Palm to get it in a pile to do so. The program is free but ad driven, so if you want to do away with the location-based adds, you'll need to cough up $10 or more to end your suffering. We've not tried it but would love to see how you all get along, so if you do drop us a line, let's make a game of whose reported locale is closest to bein' true.[Via PalmInfoCenter]
Yep, works quite well. The tower locations seem to be coming from a database and are reasonably close to their actual location. The location shown on the map is the database location of the specific tower you're using, *not* 'your' location, there is no triangulation going on here, it's simply querying the tower for some data on itself. Beyond that, the author isn't saying how it works. :)
I've only tried it at work and at home, and both locations give me the same consistent tower location, and it's so far less than .2 miles from my actual location, so that's close enough for finding what's close by for shopping, etc. And it works reasonably fast, and probably even faster if you shell out the $10 for no ads.
Good to see this news. I wish they'd get this working on CDMA versions.
PS - You ought to include in the title that this is for Palm OS based Treos.
blackjack 2's come with this as an available download, iphones have it in firmware 1.1.3, some blackberry's have gps navigation...palm is late to the party. again.
To be honest, a 3rd party did it all. Palm hasn't even shown up at the coat check yet.
Kudos to the developer for taking the time to make this app for customers who would otherwise have to wait for deaf-eared corporations to act. I'd rather pay a hardworking developer $10 once or have him get paid via ads I see than pay a big fat slimy telecom $5 each month.
For WinMo phones, Navizon has been around for quite a while. Works very well and emulates a GPS so it can be used in any mapping software.