Conference calls for company quarterly reports are usually dull, but this week, Garmin's call highlighted the state of the GPS market in these turbulent times, and shed some light on the company's approach to the emerging competitive threat from smartphones. Sales in the automotive and aviation segments decreased in the third quarter, but sales of fitness GPS devices, such as the Garmin Forerunner and Edge, increased 11 percent, a real bright spot for the company. Garmin representatives laid out their case for dedicated personal navigation devices over smartphones, and said there is no Garmin standalone smartphone app in the works. Read on for more. Image © Garmin

GPS has transformed private aviation, putting powerful navigation, airport, and safety information at the pilot's fingertips. Garmin makes the most popular portable aviation GPS models by far, and this week introduces a brand new series that looks much like the well-known nuvi car line, but is fully loaded for aviation use as well. The aera series (models 500, 510, 550, 560) may be used in a plane, or for auto travel.  Very handy for the pilot, and it cuts down on the amount of equipment needed for a plane-car trip. Pilots will want to get into the technical specs for these new models, which range in price from $875 to $2,199. Image © Garmin

A more in-depth look at the new Motorola-Verizon Droid smartphone and its free Google Maps Navigation GPS turn-by-turn nav feature. Yes, it has some nice new features, and free is great, but I discuss why it's a game-changer, not a game-ender in the GPS navigation race. Also a few things the breathless early reviews have overlooked, such as the downside of downloading maps on the fly, and a look at the "net cost" of navigation in the smartphone ecosystem. Image © Verizon

Google has been assembling all of the pieces necessary (a huge and costly task) to offer turn-by-turn navigation on mobile platforms for some time. Still, many in the industry were surprised (witness Garmin's steep stock price drop) by Google's announcement of Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 today. This new beta application includes 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance, and automatic rerouting. Google also states this application differentiates itself by taking full advantage of mobile devices' always-on Internet connectivity. Add search by voice, and street view, and you have a powerful package. Keep in mind, however, that it runs only on mobile phones and devices running the Android 2.0 operating system. This OS will become more common (first phone running it is the Droid from Verizon), but you won't find it on the Apple iPhone, for example. Today's New York Times story on the announcement includes some good analysis, and I'll be providing more information and analysis on the new app here. 

If someone on your gift list already has a GPS or personal navigation device, or a GPS-enabled smartphone, such as the iPhone, consider an affordable accessory gift. Inexpensive cases can prevent screen scratches when storing a GPS in a glove compartment, purse, or briefcase. A larger case can hold the GPS charger, plus other electronics, such as a camera. Other gifts, such as portable chargers, keep an iPhone alive while using juice-guzzling GPS applications. There are some GPS accessory gifts here for the athletes on your list, as well. See the newly posted GPS accessory gift guide.

Update: The Car Kit may now by ordered in the U.S. with no shipping delay indicated.

The TomTom Car Kit windshield mount for iPhone is now available for pre-order in the Apple Store for $119.95.  The ship date is listed as two to three weeks. The new product page provides some new views of the Car Kit, per the side view and landscape mount photos shown here. The product page also includes questions from potential buyers, including whether the kit includes a car power port charger cable (yes, it does) and if it includes an audio-out cable (no it doesn't but it has a 3.5mm audio-out jack). Total cost for the U.S. & Canada version of the TomTom for iPhone app plus the Car Kit is $220, so you may want to wait for the first hands-on reviews (I'll be doing one here) to see if it's worth the investment. The Car Kit has some good features, such as an additional GPS chip and a built-in speaker, but the price is steep. Image © TomTom

Today is the launch day for the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, and this better and faster OS has some built-in goodies for developers of location-aware applications.  Windows 7 includes a new "sensor and location platform" that is designed to make it easy for GPS chips and other sensors, such as those that detect orientation, light level, and motion, to be connected to applications that you use every day. Out of the box, Windows 7 comes with drivers that work with the Microsoft Streets & Trips GPS device. Other GPS hardware makers and software developers have ready access to Microsoft's sensor and location platform code, so they may make use of the platform as well. We'll see only a trickle of software applications and computers that take advantage of this feature at first. But Windows 7 is built for the future of GPS integration into laptops, netbooks, and other portables. I look forward to seeing what designers and developers will create. See About.com's upgrade guide for more on Windows 7. Image © Microsoft

Advanced GPS users sometimes need to obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates of a specific location. Google Maps is a readily available, free source, but the site does offer a menu option for displaying coordinates. There are several ways to pull coordinates from Google Maps, and this how-to covers the two best methods. Image © Google

Garmin provides free vehicle icons and voices through its Garmin Garage site, and these often include seasonal items. The updated Boo! bundle includes vehicle icons, such as the broomstick shown here; a hearse, a zombie, skeleton hand, candy corn, and more. The bundle also unleashes a deep and scary "Dr. Nightmare" GPS voice. If you are not sure how to download and install free Garmin icons and voices, juts follow my how-to, and then fly over to Garmin's site to get the Garmin Boo! bundle. Image © Garmin

The MotionX GPS Drive app for the iPhone is a competent turn-by-turn navigator, with an interface that is different from dedicated GPS devices, as well as the recent crop of navigation apps. Price also differentiates MotionX GPS Drive. The app sells for just $2.99, with an optional $2.99/month or $24.99 per year fee to enable voice guidance. Read on for the full, on-the-road test and review. Image © MotionX