Have you had the heart sinking feeling of opening up the mail and finding a traffic ticket, with a $100, $250, $375 fine or higher? Yet you were never pulled over by a policeman – so how did you get this violation? Are your insurance rates going to go up?

The ticket has a picture of the back of your vehicle with the license plate clearly visible. You have been caught by an automated red light camera or speed camera system. Cities across the country are installing these systems to free up officers, catch all violators regardless of time of day, and hopefully cause drivers to be more careful.

As a professional truck driver, limousine driver or delivery driver – your earnings are diminished by traffic fines. Even the typical driver can’t ignore the possibility of getting a ticket and then having to fight the traffic ticket, or pay the fines and risk your insurance rates going up.

A growing solution is to use your GPS as a traffic camera warning system. First, how does a red light camera system work? The city pays for cameras or speed detectors to be installed at intersection or road locations where many traffic violations take place. Cameras, sensors and lights are installed so that when a vehicle drives too fast, or runs the red light, the lights flash and the cameras capture the vehicle making a violation. No officer intervention is needed. The license plate is read by the computers and through vehicle registration databases a ticket is issued and sent to your home.

So why not use a radar detector? First, many states have made radar defectors and jammers illegal. Second, most radar detectors can’t detect red light cameras since they are not sending out a signal like a radar gun.

Your GPS is the answer. There is a feature on every GPS called POI, or Points of Interest. A POI database holds locations of any address or location of places you may want to be acknowledged about. For example, a relative’s home, or a hotel, restaurant, or park. You can add that location to a POI database so that when you approach the location, the GPS will beep as you approach and display what the location is. Whenever you save an address that you want the GPS to give you directions to reach, that location becomes a Point of Interest (POI).

You can load a database of POI into your GPS and have it signal when you approach any of those locations. So companies are now providing many POI databases for red light camera locations, speed camera locations, and others. This works for any GPS – Garmin, Tom Tom, Magellan and others.

Is this legal? Yes, and most police departments endorse the use of GPS POI databases of red light cameras and speed camera locations. The departments goal is to have vehicles slow down and be careful through those locations. Your GPS is not a radar detector, it does not jam any signals. Since you have it in your car, why not turn it on and have it warn you of any upcoming speed traps or intersections with traffic cameras?

Here is what you should look for in obtaining a POI database for your GPS. You want a database that has the largest number of locations in the database. Hundreds of cameras are being added across the country daily. One firm has over 140,000 locations in their database already. If you have less than 10,000, you’re not doing yourself much good.

You also want the database to be easily downloaded to your particular brand of GPS. Make sure the provider has their POI database formatted for your brand. Some have a generic database that takes a few steps of reformatting for your brand. It is easiest to have a database already formatted for your particular GPS brand.

You want the database updated often. While you may not upload the POI locations everyday, you want a provider to be updating the database every day. That way when you do choose to refresh your database, you are getting the latest locations known.

Lastly, you want to be able to upload your database as often as possible. People who drive for a living may want to refresh their database daily. Some providers limit the number of times you can refresh your database in a set time period.

Costs can vary for the database. While some are free, in general, those tend to be the smallest amount of locations and hardest to load. You can buy a monthly subscription, yearly, or the best bet seems to be the lifetime subscriptions. For $99, a lifetime subscription can allow you download the speed light cameras locations onto your GPS anytime. They tend to have the most locations and are usually formatted for the major GPS brands – making it the simplest and fastest method of updating your GPS POI database. If you think $99 is expensive, think how much just one camera ticket violation will cost. Avoiding just one ticket will pay for your lifetime subscription itself.

You can reduce the chances of getting an expensive traffic ticket from red light camera and speed camera locations by using your GPS. It is legal and makes better drivers of us all.

Can you afford a $250 traffic ticket? Avoid automated camera and ticketing locations. Matthew Chase participated in a review for the company 1217 Research on GPS Red Light Camera Alert systems. See the review results and recommendations at http://www.GPSSpeedTrapAlert.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Chase

Today I noticed that they were offering the Garmin Nuvi 250 for only $ 129,  that’s a great price and I think I’ll get one of these myself.

The Garmin nuvi line is already known for being the easiest-to-use automotive navigation system available – now it’s priced to fit any budget, as well!

Garmin International and Tiger GPS are pleased to announce the nuvi 270, nuvi 250 and nuvi 200 affordable GPS navigators. These newest models in the popular nuvi family feature a sleek, ultra-slim design with automatic routing capabilities. With an easy-to-use touchscreen display, nuvi can route to addresses, restaurants, hotels and more with turn-by-turn directions and voice guidance. The nuvi 270, nuvi 250 and nuvi 200 GPS navigators offer all of the functions of a premium in-dash system at a fraction of the cost.

The nuvi 270 comes preloaded with highly detailed City Navigator NT road maps for North America and Europe. The nuvi 250 offers full coverage mapping for the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. For additional cost savings, nuvi 200 is available with coverage of the lower 48 states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Garmin is able to provide the nuvi 200 at a jaw-dropping price by reducing the amount of preloaded mapping. The preloaded map data features nearly six million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and attractions. The map data is provided by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping.

Product Features and Specifications

* Sleek, ultra-slim design fits easily in pocket
* Easy, touchscreen interface
* Turn-by-turn directions with voice guidance
* Bright 3.5″ diagonal color display; 320 x 240 pixels; QVGA TFT display, with white backlight
* Preloaded with City Navigator North America NT – nuvi 270 includes detailed maps of North America and Europe; nuvi 250 includes detailed maps of U.S., Canada & Puerto Rico; nuvi 200 includes detailed maps of the lower 48 states plus Hawaii and Puerto Rico
* High-sensitivity GPS receiver for improved performance and reception
* Trip computer records mileage, max speed, total time and more
* Built-in travel kit includes features such as picture viewer, world clock, currency & measurement converters and calculator
* SD memory card expansion slot
* Includes Garmin Lock anti-theft feature
* Configurable vehicle icons – allows users to select a fun, customized car-shaped icon; users can download additional choices from http://www8.garmin.com/vehicles/ (Requires optional accessory USB cable – see right.)
* Offers a three-dimensional mapping perspective, or 2D overhead view
* Unit dimensions: 3.8″ W x 2.8″ H x 0.8″ D
* Weight: 5.2 ounces
* Built-in lithium-ion battery
* Battery life: up to 5 hours depending on usage
* Includes sturdy suction cup mount that allows for easy adjustment and quick release
* Simplified PC connectivity, similar to a digital camera, using USB mass storage with access to either the SD card slot or to the unit’s internal memory directly from your PC desktop. (Requires optional accessory USB cable – see right.)
* With the POI loader program, users can set up proximity alerts for school zones, safety cameras, create custom POIs and more. (Requires optional accessory USB cable.)

Not sure which nuvi is for you? Check out our exclusive Garmin nuvi Guide.
Keywords: Garmin GPS Specials, Garmin Nuvi 250, Garmin GPS Sale, Nuvi 250 On Sale

How small do you think GPS tracking devices will get in the next few years? Ra­k­on, a 39-y­e­ar-o­ld N­e­w Ze­alan­d-base­d c­o­mpan­y­, h­as de­ve­lo­pe­d t­h­e­ wo­rld’s smalle­st­ GPS re­c­e­ive­r. C­laime­d t­o­ be­ as t­in­y­ as t­h­e­ s­ize o­f­ a­ ba­by­’s­ f­in­ger­n­a­il­,

T­his tiny GPS r­ecei­v­er­ chi­p i­s sm­all eno­ugh t­o­ b­e f­i­t­t­ed i­nt­o­ dev­i­ces such as wat­ches, cellpho­nes and other devices as small as a jump drive. As GPS b­eco­m­es co­m­m­o­nplace i­n o­ur­ ev­er­yday gadget­s, we can b­e sur­e t­hat­ t­hi­ngs wi­ll get­ a li­t­t­le m­o­r­e i­nt­er­est­i­ng.  Here’s a few uses of this miniature GPS chip that comes to mind, ever loose yur best pen?  Fire up your favorite online tracking program and find it on your co-workers desk.  How about the remote for your TV?  With this GPS chip installed you could tell exactly what couch cushion it was hiding under.

B­r­ent­ R­o­b­i­nso­n, R­ako­n’s M­anagi­ng Di­r­ect­o­r­, also­ m­ent­i­o­ned t­hat­ t­heir new GPS r­ecei­v­er­ chip wi­ll hav­e sensi­t­i­v­i­t­y go­o­d eno­ugh t­o­ pi­ck up weak si­gnals, per­f­ect­ f­o­r­ ur­b­an env­i­r­o­nm­ent­s wi­t­h hi­gh i­nt­er­f­er­ence. Let­’s see ho­w lo­ng b­ef­o­r­e t­hi­s tiny GPS chip get­s plugged i­nt­o­ ev­er­y o­f­ o­ur­ f­av­o­r­i­t­e po­r­t­ab­le gadget­s.

A few limitations of this GPS chip are that it still needs a power source and a GPS antenna.  I’m curious to know how long it will take Garmin, TomTom and other GPS manufacturers to pick up on this and start development of a whole new world of GPS devices.

Pay less at the pump this holiday season with the TomTom Fuel Price Service

Gearing up for holiday travel? Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer? TomTom, the world’s leading navigation solutions provider,  announced that the TomTom Fuel Price Service is now available for consumers to purchase at retail. With the TomTom Fuel Price Service, TomTom customers* can load and access one year of daily fuel price updates to their devices.

TomTom Fuel Price Service, enables TomTom customers to find – and navigate to – gas stations with the lowest fuel prices. Upon activation, users will be notified of the most up-to-date fuel information each time they log into TomTom HOME.

“TomTom is the first portable GPS company to sell this type of service at retail,” said Tom Murray, vice president of Market Development for TomTom. “TomTom’s Fuel Price Service allows our customers to access the lowest gas prices directly on their device wherever they go – a crucial feature in the midst of today’s economy. The Fuel Price Service makes a helpful and practical holiday gift for any TomTom owner.”

With this service, users can select from their device whether to list gas stations by location or price, and can request the lowest gas prices on their route, nearby or within a user-selected mile radius. Travelers can also choose which type of gas they would like tracked: regular, mid-grade, premium or diesel.

The TomTom Fuel Price Service is on shelves now at major retailers in the U.S. for a one-time fee of $19.95 for a one year subscription. The service can also be purchased online at www.tomtom.com.

Surprise your favorite TomTom owner this holiday season with the perfect accessory for his or her device.

* Service available for GO 720 and GO 920, ONE v2, ONE v3, ONE XL, Rider I, Rider II, ONE 130, ONE 130S, XL 330, XL 330S, GO 730 and GO 930 devices. A free software update is necessary to support fuel on some of these models.

Key Features Of TomTom Fuel Price Service:
• Get updates from more than 80,000 service stations across the United States
• Pricing data for most grades of gasoline: regular, mid-grade, premium, and diesel
• Unlimited updates via TomTom HOME (or over-the-air*)
• One time fee for 12 months of service

I think this is a great way of saving money and I’m sure that other GPS manufacturers will be coming online soon with this new way of finding cheap gas with their GPS.  If you think about it, your GPS can pay for itself with the money you save on gasoline.