ALK Brings Intuitive GPS to Smartphones

CoPilot Live 7 tailors itself to drivers with multiple views, route planning, and on-the-fly directions, right from compatible smartphones and PDAs.

While plenty of smartphones and PDAs have built-in GPS hardware, few of the software options out there are built specifically to dole out directions on the move like a dedicated GPS navigation system. The latest release of ALK Technologies’ GPS package, CoPilot Live 7, attempts to change that by mimicking the large display, intuitive controls and voice navigation of a dash-mount GPS.

CoPilot will run on both Windows Mobile systems and those with the older PocketPC operating system, giving it a wide range of compatible devices. Like many built-in GPS solutions, it has 2D and 3D maps, points of interest, a handful of different routing options, integrated traffic reports, and a speech engine that gives drivers audible cues for their turns in real time.

The latest version of CoPilot includes map updates in more than 600 North American counties, more than 100,000 miles of new roads, and updates on more than 750,000 miles of road. It includes maps for North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Australia, Russia, South Africa, and the Middle East.

CoPilot Live 7 is on sale now from ALK’s Web site for $199 as a 2GB MicroSD card, or for $299 as a full GPS package that includes a Bluetooth GPS receiver, in-car and home chargers, splitter cables, and a mount.