Trimble and Nextel Communications announced Monday that the companies will launch Trimble Outdoors service in time for the holiday season. The service is an online solution that enables customers to plan an outdoor adventure, share their trip with friends and family, and research trips taken by others, including reviewing routes and points of interest on street aerial, or topographic maps covering the continental U.S. and parts of Alaska and Hawaii.

Targeted to outdoor enthusiasts, Trimble Outdoors’ users will be able to download, from the Internet, their trip planning information and maps onto several of Nextel’s mobile phones with global positioning system (GPS) capabilities such as the Motorola i710, Motorola i730, Motorola i830 and the recently launched camera phone, the Motorola i860.

With the Trimble Outdoors mobile GPS software, Motorola phones from Nextel can display:

  • GPS satellites that are available in the sky.
  • A navigation page with a digital compass showing heading, altitude, speed and bearing to waypoints.
  • A track page that shows where the user has been over time so they can find their way back to a location.
  • Digital topographic maps, aerial photos, and street maps complete with the users position and direction on the maps.
  • Digital photos, when using the Motorola i860, that are stamped with GPS location and time.

    The alliance, part of an ongoing effort to deliver location-based solutions to mobile devices, enables Nextel and Trimble to offer customers an economical and convenient way to add additional GPS functionality to their mobile phones.

    The solution allows the Nextel phone to act as a stand-alone GPS navigation receiver comparable to recreational GPS receivers offered specifically for outdoor activities.

    “We are re-entering the outdoor enthusiast market with an innovative GPS solution,” said Mark Harrington, Trimble’s vice president of Strategy and Business Development.

    “Nextel had the unique foresight to build its infrastructure to support GPS phone operation whether in or out of the network, allowing our Trimble Outdoors vision to become a reality. We’re excited to partner with Nextel for the launch of Trimble Outdoors.”

    “Trimble Outdoors provides our customers with an additional value-added service available on Nextel’s GPS-enabled phones, with the convenience of buying and carrying one device,” said Danny Bowman, Nextel’s vice president, Wireless Data Services.

    “Now, customers can turn their Nextel business phone into an outdoor recreation tool. They are able to embark on an outdoor adventure using a Motorola phone from Nextel for navigation, mapping, Push To Talk walkie-talkie services, and even taking photos.”

    Individuals with a subscription from Nextel can download the Trimble Adventure Planner application from the Trimble Outdoors Web site to allow seamless trip planning in conjunction with the Trimble Outdoors mobile GPS software.

    The Trimble Adventure Planner eliminates the need to purchase mapping software and makes planning trips easy with three different map types: street, aerial and topographic maps.