Okay, now that everyone has opened their brand new Earthmate PN-Series GPS devices and are excited to get outside and use them I wanted to share a few screenshots from our 3.2 firmware update that is scheduled for early 2011. Our new icon based UI has been so well received with the PN-60/60w we decided to bring that ease of use to the Find page. We’ve replaced the old drop-down lists and text fields with a more recognizable set of icons to help users navigate from Places to POIs to Waypoints to Geocaches or wherever else you need to go.
We’ve created a new wizard for the Places search to guide you through state, city, street, and address entries for creating waypoints, viewing locations, and creating routes. This approach is also used to specify the city and state for “Near Other Location” searches.
There has been lots of discussion about geocaching these days so I’m hoping our update is especially interesting for people who want improved geocache searches. We’ve added the ability to search through the geocache attributes within your pocket query. With this new feature users can create pocket queries that hold every geocache in their area and then run special queries on the device depending on their geocaching needs. For example, when I cache with my nieces I use the following search to make sure we come away with a win…
For those that travel to the same locations regularly we’ve added a Favorites option to all details pages allowing points to be added to a list for easy access through Find.
One last exciting feature… we’ve brought the Trails search from Topo North America to the PN. Now you can search for a trail by name, within the entire state. For example, I’m not sure what town or city is associated with Baxter State Park in Maine but the Helon Taylor Trail is one of my favorite hikes. Now you can search for trails within a state and get results to start your trip.
I hope this sneak peek gives you something to look forward to this winter. We’re planning a January/February time-line… I’d try for a more specific date but most of you know my track record with estimates. Keep an eye on the blog for more details and feel free to post comments or questions.
Enjoy those new GPS devices, regardless of what brand or model you received… and Happy Holidays from all of us here at DeLorme!
Take care,
Chip Noble
Team DeLorme
Posted by Chip Noble - Design 
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