MSN Direct ‘Send to GPS’ API

Microsoft announced today that they are opening up an API so that developers can harness the power of the ‘Send to GPS’ function currently found on the MSN Maps site. So what does this mean? If you currently have the MSN Direct service on your GPS, you might know that you can use MSN’s Live Maps service to lookup a location, and then send that location over the air to your GPS.

But of course the downside to that method is that you were limited to the MSN Maps service. Now, Microsoft has developed a way for developers to incorporate that technology into their own websites. This is very similar to what Dash has done with their Send 2 Car function and somewhat similar to the TomTom AddTo function, although the TomTom function requires the GPS be connected to your computer.

So think of it like this… you are planning a weekend getaway and are looking up websites of quaint hotels. You visit the website of a hotel, decide it is the perfect place for your weekend, and book a room. Then through a confirmation email confirmation page on the website, you simply click a link to send the address of that hotel to the GPS that is sitting in your car.

You head out to the car, fire up the GPS, and the location is wirelessly accepted by your GPS and you are on your way. No need to worry about tapping in the right address!

“MSN Direct opens up opportunities for Web sites in a variety of areas — real estate, travel, event planning and food service — to make it fast and simple for visitors to have access to turn-by-turn directions on their navigation device,” said Joe Coco, product unit manager of the MSN Direct initiative at Microsoft. “MSN Direct helps consumers get the most out of their navigation device, while also helping businesses drive more customers to their locations.”

Developers can get details on the free API here:
http://www.msndirect.com/developer

Located in GPS, GPS Maps, Garmin on Jul 29, 2008