Dash Navigation is releasing a big upgrade today, adding features, fixing issues and plugging a few holes that they knew needed plugging but couldn't get around to it before the launch. Only a few months after the launch, and thousands of units on the streets, the connected GPS generation is starting to demonstrate what is possible, when you are connected to a wide pipe worth of data. This June 08 update will need to come down over a WiFi connection.
"Unlike existing GPS devices, the Internet-connected Dash Express, is the first system designed to keep learning and getting smarter over time," said Paul Lego, CEO of Dash Navigation. "Today's software update is just the beginning. We're interacting with our customers on a daily basis, gathering their input and incorporating it into the product. With our newest features, we're able to help our customers quickly get the answers they need during their daily commutes."
I will be downloading this today and checking it out; stay tuned for more on the June 08 update.
My Route - Basically, you are smarter than the GPS sometimes, and the Dash will learn your favorite route from A to B, and it can be permanently stored in "My Routes". When you want to navigate this pair again, your My Route comes up as an option and is at the top of the alternatives that are presented. I've been waiting a long time for something like this to hit a GPS, and am looking forward to trying this out.
Developer Applications - So there will be up to 30 applications hitting the wires with this release, including EveryBlock, which is a news feed for your city, tapping into outlets for all kinds of news and delivering it to your Dash. Available for NY, San Francisco, and Chicago for now.
Search Along Route - Something they needed in the original release, but added the exact feature that you need to judge how far off the route the Point of Interest is. In the screenshot to the right (click to enlarge), you can see that there is a column of data that shows the number of miles off your current route; very cool and useful in deciding if you want to make the detour for gas at that station a mile off your route, or the other one the next exit up that is 0.2 miles off your route.
Performance Enhancements - faster map draws (by 50%), quicker toggling between 2D and 3D, better panning of the map, etc.
More after the jump from the Dash press release........
Just got confirmation yesterday that the Dash Express is going to $299 as an everyday price. The Dads and Grads promo must have driven demand and the volumes are up when the prices are down. The Dash is the first next generation device that connects the GPS to the internet and to other Dash drivers so that you have the most up to date traffic information possible.
From my use commuting into Boston, the Dash has an amazing read on traffic congestion and offers alerts when traffic is shifting or changing. The unit has a cellular radio in it to get up to date traffic feeds, while sending back anonymous updates on what traffic you are encountering. Combine these feeds with the other Dash users and you form a network of buddies patrolling the trafficked roads for you. Pretty cool.
Dash has snagged a couple of nice awards for the launch of its Fully Connected GPS device. The first is an award for the best navigation system from the Telematics conference. Not a bad award to have. Also they were the only GPS to be put on the PC World list of The 100 best Products of 2008. (Huh, didn't know it was over, but hey it's a pretty cool list - check it out at PC World). Via Dash Blogs
The Dash Express is available for a new low price of $299 At Amazon. (Thanks Jim for sending this in.)
Dash Updates and Opens Platform - New Apps on Dash Express
Cool stuff ahead with the Dash - they have opened up their platform to other developers as they roll out applications that illustrate the capabilities. The Dash is a pretty amazing GPS with 2-way connectivity that allows for a platform to push information to the unit while you are on the road. Given the flexibility, they are starting to push a lot of things: real estate information, weather, red light cameras, and even geo-encode their Outlook calendars to route right to the address of their next appointments.
Thought I would pass this along; Dash must be moving some units because the Dash Express is the #6 GPS at Amazon. Granted there is an exclusive deal with Amazon for the first 30 days, so this is the only retailer you can buy the unit at (Other than the Dash website), but hey it's notable nonetheless.
Dash is the first internet connected GPS offers Yahoo! local search, up to the minute traffic, historical average speeds and a networked traffic capability where you learn about traffic from other Dash users.
I have only had the Dash Express a few days, but what I can say is that there is a new revolution out there in GPS devices, and I think it's been quietly brewing since they announced the idea to the public so long ago. There are a lot of features and capabilities that are here that make one think there is something a lot bigger than just directions here; there is real well thought out design work to make your life better by using the Dash.
Is the Dash perfect? No, and I think the people at Dash would say the same thing, but they already have plans to improve. With the connectedness, the Dash units are capable of frequent firmware upgrades that allow Dash to tweak and improve as they go. To be clear, they are starting in a very good place. I am of the impression that they took the time to get to market and used it wisely.
The big thing with the Dash is that it is the first connected generation of GPS units to market. Expect the others to come rushing in, but this is it right here, the next generation of GPS units. The unit has both a WiFi antenna and a mobile phone radio in it to connect back to Dash servers and connect to some limited internet capabilities. This allows you to search on Yahoo! Local search, and get all kinds of traffic data back from Dash. You are also acting as a traffic probe and sending your own traffic and road speed data back to them anonymously so that you can help out other fellow Dash users (and yourself) by mapping traffic patterns. I've already done my share of traffic mapping over the last few days; hope you other Dash users in Boston can appreciate my tracks.
Part of the coverage of the new Dash Express GPS that ships today is to show you what comes with the Dash Express and a little peek inside the box. I was told the other day by Dash that they are doing their best to get Dash Express units out to people who pre-ordered their units for delivery this morning. Yes, that's right, you stuck with them, were nice when they delayed shipments on the units for a month, and now Dash is giving a little back so that they are getting units on your doorstep Thursday, the day that the rest of us though the unit would simply ship, not deliver!
Here's a look at the Dash Express inside the box.
Pull out the Dash Express to reveal all the goodies in the bottom of the box.
Here's a side view of the pretty sturdy mount.
What's in the Dash Express Box: 1) The Dash Express Unit, 2) The Suction Cup Mount, 3) A Mount Extender for getting it away from the windshield and closer to you, 4) An AC wall charger, 5) A Mini-USB cable, 6) A Car Charger that plugs into the mount, 7) A Dashboard adhesive disk, 8) A Dash Express travel pouch, 9) A Getting Started guide and 10) a Dash Express Installation guide.
Dash Express on Sale At Amazon - New Lower Price $399
It's been a long time coming, but the Dash Express is finally shipping, and they made sure that they will make some headlines with an exclusive partnership for the first month's sales through Amazon.com, as well as a BIG price drop from the early numbers of $600 - $800, and down from previously advertised level of $599; now available for $399.
I was told the other day by Dash that even those of you who pre-ordered will get the new lower price.
The Dash Express is available for purchase immediately at the Dash Store at Amazon
How long until you get your hands on your pre-ordered Dash Express connected GPS? I had the chance back in December to ride along with some folks from Dash and see the Dash Express in action, and have been looking forward to a real review unit showing up for me to play with for an extended amount of time.
The original ship date was going to be February, but after CEO Paul Lego's delay announcement last month, the new ship data of March 27th is fast approaching. So, I am sure the big question floating around in people's minds is if they will hit that date.
I don't know if they are or aren't but I am hearing that things are looking pretty good that in 2 week's time, you'll start to have shipments hitting the roads. This should be an exciting time for GPS navigation, as the launch of the Dash Express represents the next generation big leap in GPS capabilities - connected search, networked units and historical average speeds to help get better traffic reporting to you the user. In the meantime, you'll just have to sit back and wait (while sitting in traffic).
Readers from all over are sending in their emails that they got from Dash Navigation today announcing that their units will not ship until Late March. Citing their concern for shipping a product that was technically ready, they want to make a few more changes. I used to work for a consumer products company and it was never a good thing to slip a ship date once you made it public, so if you had to, it must have been a pretty big reason.
There is always a lot happening at CES, and this year is no different, but in looking at the models that came out of CES and where the GPS world has changed I think that it can boil it down to four things:
1) Connected GPS - With Dash going pre-sale recently, TomTom launching TomTom HD in the Netherlands, and now Magellan getting on the connected bandwagon, there is a strong move to the connected GPS. Now it remains to be seen if the market will develop for a unit that is at the high end of the market in terms of price and comes with a monthly fee. See my post on Connected GPS: The Next Generation.
2) BIGGER SCREENS - A lot of GPS makers must have been at the same focus group. While Garmin had the StreetPilot 7200 out a while ago with a 7 inch screen, these new units are coming out with a nice in-between size of 4.8 - 5.2 inches. Noticeably larger than the widescreen units on the market today. The Garmin Nuvi 5000 is the biggie in their line now. With all that screen real estate, I wonder how the battery life will be driving all of those beautiful pixels.
3) Better traffic with Historical Average Speeds - the capability to jam down a database of historical average speeds onto a GPS has been there for a while now, but has not debuted. With the advent of higher bandwidth connections and Historical Average Speeds, traffic solutions will take a big jump; combine that with a connected GPS model where other drivers act as traffic probes, and you;ve got a step change over the TMC solution on the market today. Magellan Maestro Elite 5340 + GPRS has Historical Average Speeds as a feature. Also Navteq announced that they are working with Intellinav to put historical average speeds on devices..... that's two makers with historical average speeds supplied by Navteq, the map maker for Garmin; their entry must be on the way.
4) 3-D Mapping - Forgot to mention this in the original version, but three dimensional maps with renderings of buildings and terrain are coming to the US, and hopefully soon. TeleAtlas is collecting info on what buildings look like, and is including it in Maps of the US. NavnGo demo'd the capability at CES; they currently supply several GPS makers with software. They also use TeleAtlas maps. It is expected that true 3-D with renderings of buildings will make for an easier navigation experience through urban areas.
With the recent announcement of Magellan joining the ranks of connected GPS makers with their announcement of the Magellan Maestro Elite 5340 + GPRS, I thought it was time to take a step back and look at what's going on in the next generation of the GPS market and see how things are shaking out.
There are four main benefits of having a connected GPS:
1. Map Updates can be gathered from and sent down to the fleet of GPS units.
2. Operating system updates can be sent down to the unit
3. Traffic reporting is enhanced due primarily to the increased bandwidth and flexibility of the cellular network, and the fact that you are now a "traffic condition probe", collecting data for others to use.
4. Connected search and interactivity of the unit to the internet to provide a more intelligent device.
Where did it all start and what's the product map look like?
Dash Navigation is planning a launch of their internet connected GPS device in the new year, and I was fortunate enough to take a ride with the unit last week and two folks from Dash, Gina Bender, Director of Communications and Eric Klein, Senior Director of Product Marketing. The newly designed unit is sure to be on display at CES 2008, and I was able to see first hand what's going to be the core offering of Dash. Dash also announced today that they are taking pre-orders for the unit at their website, with delivery happening in the first quarter of the year. The unit will cost $599, and will have a monthly subscription rate as low as $9.99 with 2-year commitment.
Connectedness is the key premise of offering a better user experience, allowing for updated maps, internet connected fuzzy logic search, the ability to "Send to GPS" addresses from any internet browser that you want. The Dash website has also been updated to provide some online capabilities so that you can configure your unit and save certain data sources and searches at your "My Dash" page.
Traffic alert and planning features are pretty important next generation offerings that are enabled by the design choices made by Dash. Not only did they pre-load historical speed data from Inrix, but because you are connected, you can receive traffic alerts that
are generated by other Dash users out on the roads. We were driving around Boston today and with about 50 of the 2,000 Beta users (out of 53,000 applicants) on the roads of Boston for the last couple of months, we saw traffic patterns that those units anonymously reported in. Construction near us showed up in red at a local intersection and as we drove around you could see the "trails" that were reported by those beta users due to other small construction projects. Very cool and amazing.
Finally, when we were looking at the unit, an update came available, and asked us if we wanted to download it. Oh, yea, connected GPS gets updates where ever you are, if you want. You had the option to delay, but it just underscored for me the fact that this thing is going to be up to date and the applications will be tweaked to make certain that they are the best possible experience that you can get. I was assured that this was not a regular enough event that it would be annoying. This asked because we had just turned the unit on, and as it was booting, it checked for an update.
Dash asking for an update - Always up to date software and Maps.....
Stay tuned for more news on Dash, and look for them at CES 2008.
Below you will find a video that Eric Klein did recently which mirrors a lot of what he covered with me personally here in Boston.
At Web 2.0 Rob Currie and Mark Williamson from Dash Navigation show off the Dash Express capabilities. They have had a 2,000 unit demo test going on for several months, and have some pretty intense stats to share as the users have logged over a million miles, and they are still driving with the unit on 80% of the time.
The impressive open source type applications that are available and that are to come may really make this an interesting ride. They demo Zillow, the real estate aware tool that ports to the Dash. Drive down a street and pull up Zillow's estimated values of the house; hit the button and pull up even more detail on the house itself. wow.
Search is a big part of the product, and they have teamed up with Yahoo Local search. Well apparently people are searching for ways to spend money and most often search for things at the Category level (i.e. Chinese food), at the store level (i.e. Starbucks), or at the product level (i.e. iPod). Their conclusion is that there is an ad supported search model out there. Huh; maybe Google will buy them.
Dash June Update - Big Improvements
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