‘Two-way GPS connectivity to increase’

GPS devices that facilitate two-way connectivity are set to increase, a report has predicted.

Personal navigation device (PND) vendors such as Magellan, Mio, TomTom and Dash are seeking to develop devices consisting of two-way real-time connectivity based on cellular or Wi-Fi technology, according to ABI research.

A new study by the organisation predicted that 34 per cent of PNDs will ship with on-board connectivity by 2013.

Price reductions will force makers to be more inventive with their products, said ABI research principal analyst Dominique Bonte.

"In order to be successful, connected PND vendors will have to design seamless solutions and compelling services, and adopt the right business model. They will have to embrace open development platforms to stimulate the design of third-party applications," he explained.

Two-way connectivity allows PND vendors to offer systems that can provide information on fuel prices, parking space availability, traffic flow and online map updates in real-time.

PNDs could also be used for the upload of user generated content such as map corrections.