Recently, I was thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could launch a mapping software and see all my friends locations?’ There were some software out there that allowed this but they expensive and only available on a few platforms. These software were mainly navigation software and supported this feature but I was looking for a software whose main purpose was to find friends first and everything else second. It seemed that no such software existed: one that was free (or at least very cheap for mass adoption) and supported many platforms. Then Navizon announced Navizon Lite and I found the software that fit my requirements.

For those of you not familiar with Navizon, it’s actually a software that allows you to pinpoint your location without the use of a GPS device or chip. It does this by triangulating your position based on cell towers or WiFi access points. Since everyone who uses a phone is connected to a cell tower, almost anyone with a phone will be able to use it. That’s because Navizon supports a wide range of mobile OS such as Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone, iPhone, BlackBerry, UIQ, S60 and even normal phones that supports Java. It used to retail for $24.99 (and still does) but the new Lite version is free but misses some features of the commercial version such as no supporting trails, a much lower accuracy and no positioning based on WiFi.

When you first download and install the software, you are given the full version. It will run for 15 days and if I do not purchase it by then, it would revert to the Lite version for me. Which is not such a bad thing since I plan to use it as a buddy finder and I have a built-in GPS which the software uses to give me the most accurate positioning. So how was my experience with the software? In summary, not too great but it does have a lot of potential.

Frequent Crashes

This was one thing that I constantly faced. When I checked the Forums, it appeared that I was not alone. Many other Windows Mobile users also had the same problem. One even posted a solution to the problem which involved deleting some registry keys and a configuration file but that did not help. Firstly, that would delete all your settings which means you have to run the program in default. Not something I wanted. And secondly when I tried to edit the settings again, the problem of crashes would come back. This was the biggest problem that I faced when I used the software and I would say it is definitely a grave problem for us Windows Mobile users. Hopefully, this would get sorted out soon because the potential of this software is pretty huge. Why?

Multiple Options For Positioning

While the GPS chip on my Eten Glofiish X500 is one of the best out there, it can take a while for it to get a lock on. And if I am underground or going through a tunnel, chances are, I would not be able to get a valid signal. But with Navizon, these problems are rectified as they use other means to fix your position. Besides GPS, it also uses GSM (or cell towers) and WiFi access points (for the paid version) to get your location. This means that you could be locked on within seconds of turning the program on by either of this options and then when your GPS chip finally gets a fixed, it switches over to the more accurate location.

In the end, it makes for a very handy navigation tool. I wish that other navigation software such as TomTom would use this option as well as it can really speed up the lock on process so that I do not have to wait to get a lock on before I start navigating.

Buddy Tracking

List of all your buddies…	And view info about each

Now this is a great feature that I was looking for. With buddy tracking, you can see where all your buddies are at one shot, in any part of the world. This is really great when you are meeting friends in a location that you are not sure off or if a group of you are going camping. Or you can even use it for something as basic as finding friends who are around you when you want to hang out. Rather than having to call all of them, their location is made available to you at a glance.

Of course if you do not want your location to be tracked, then you have the option to do set it as so. This is great when say you are in a situation where you do not want to be disturbed or you want to surprise your friend. However, for this feature to work, the users (including you) would need to have an internet connection to upload your location. A bit of a downer but with the more and more cities getting on the free WiFi bandwagon, this might not be a problem for long.

Groups

This is something like buddy tracking but on a wider scale. There are private and public groups and you can set them up as you wish. With private groups, you can have a password so only users with the password can join. This can be useful for family or a work when you need to track your sales force. You don’t have to add the user one by one because they are all in one group.

With the public group, it’s just the same as the private, minus the password. So anyone can join. There are quite a few groups out there and I have joined a few such as PocketPC and set up one called Eten Glofiish. If you do install Navizon, don’t forget to join the Eten Gofiish group.

GeoTags

For those not familiar with this term, its actually a point on a map that someone has left of something (usually) interesting. This could be the best place to find a Nintendo Wii or where they sell the best cheesesteaks. With such geotags, you can find out what others are thinking and see for yourself. And if you are in a new location, look up the geotags on the best eating places.

Search & Directions

Because Navizon is based on Google Maps (if I am not wrong because it sure looks like it), it has both Search and Directions functions built in. However, it further improves on these functions as you will soon see why.

With Search, when you search for something, all the results are listed in a page and you can make your selection from there. This is better than the one by Google Maps which just shows you the nearest location for your search. At the same time, you can view your Navizon search on the map to see exactly where it is and how far it is from you. And if that search is something you want to contact, you can easily add it to your address book.

Various results can be selected	View the directions in a list

With Directions, when you enter your destination location, there will be several options for you to choose from in case there is more than one such location. Once you have selected the start and end points, the route is shown on the map (if you choose to) and if you like, you can view a list of driving directions to get familiar with it. It’s really useful and if you have a mobile data connection, you could do pretty well with Navizon as your navigation program.

Rewards

If you have a GPS chip or device, you can download data regarding positioning such as cell towers and WiFi access point locations. These data can then be uploaded to the Navizon servers so that Navizon can help pinpoint the location of other users who do not have GPS chips pr devices. So what’s in it for you?

How about $19.99 in cash? If you managed get 10 000 points, that is what you will get in the form of a Paypal payment. This is to reward users who helped Navizon get more data. You earn 10 points for each new cell tower you discover and 2 points for a WiFi access point. Even if some one else has found that point, you still qualify for it if you have not. This is a pretty nifty rewards program which I think will get a lot of Eten Glofiish users to try out the program.

Conclusion

Navizon is a really great software and while their Buddy Tracking is great, that’s not just what they are good at. If you ask me, it seems to be a much better version of Google Maps and I would definitely be using this in place of Google Maps. However,the frequent crashes I am experiencing is really making this software unbearable at times and unreliable at others. I really hope that Navizon fixes this problem soon because it’s the only problem breaking such a great software.

For those of you wanting to give it a go, you can download the trial version here. It’ll be the full version for 15 days for you to try before it reverts to the free Lite version. If you have a GPS chip built-in, don’t forget about their Rewards program where you can earn cash. And don’t forget to join the public group Eten Glofiish. It’ll be nice to see where the users of Eten Glofiish are don’t you think?

Tags: free software