Our buddies over at RouteBuddy Ltd. have just released an major upgrade to RouteBuddy. Here's what they have to say about the 1.3 update...

RouteBuddy Ltd is pleased to announce the release of RouteBuddy 1.3, a major update to their powerful GPS mapping program for Mac OS X.

RouteBuddy provides native Mac OS X support for Garmin and NMEA GPS devices, and allows users to manage and display their GPS data using high-precision vector-based road maps.

This release provides turn-by-turn routing, and visual navigation to waypoints or points of interest. Navigation support includes off-route recovery, and spoken turn instructions using Mac OS X's built-in speech synthesis.

German magazine Focus is claiming that Apple is working with Mercedes on a car navigation and sound system that will be introduced in 2009.

The system is reported to include navigation, communication and maintenance. Mercedes will exclusively offer the new Apple system for six months (presumably followed by other auto manufacturers). The article also mentions the possibility of Google maps being the source of navigation data.

The new GPS-enabled mapping application, that we mentioned a couple days ago is now available.

RouteBuddy is a GPS mapping application for OS X. All the essential functions of your GPS device are supported; all you need is a Mac, a GPS, and of course RouteBuddy.

It looks like us Mac users are finally getting a robust GPS-enabled navigation solution for our Mac'd rides! The new application is called RouteBuddy and has many of the features that you would expect from a navigation application like live tracking of GPS data, instant recognition of GPS devices, and the personalization of waypoints with notes and custom icons.

RouteBuddy also imports GoogleMaps® and Yahoo Maps® GeoTagged URLs as well as instantly viewing your location in Google Earth® or Google Maps®.

MacVroom had a chance to chat with the folks at Garmin and are happy to hear that Mac compatibility will be phased into their entire product line. This includes their GPS sensors for laptops, so we may finally get a decent GPS solution for our Mac'd rides! Both the GPS 10 and GPS 18 Deluxe will come with a Mac compatible version of their nRoute application that provides turn-by-turn directions, voice prompts, points of interest lookup and detailed mapping. By the end of 2006, Garmin intends to have made all its popular hardware and software applications Mac OS X compatible.

It looks like our in-car GPS dreams may finally come true. MacVroom recently spoke with Directions Ltd., creators of the Navigator GPS navigation software, and they are planning on releasing a Macintosh version this fall. Navigator is a robust in-car navigation package with voice guidance, detailed street mapping, and enhanced turn-by-turn directions. The Macintosh version will contain the same functionality as the current PC version and will support NMEA compatible Bluetooth and USB GPS receivers. Navigator currently supports map data for Europe, Great Britain and Ireland with US mapping support coming soon. Complete feature specs are available on their website.