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 Founded in 2002, PocketGPSWorld.com Ltd. is trusted by hundreds of thousands of Satellite Navigation enthusiasts and GPS industry professionals from every corner of the World to provide them with unbiased and comprehensive news and reviews. It also hosts one of the busiest forums on the Internet. We attract one million visits to the site every month.
Firmly positioned within the top 0.001% for monthly unique visitors out of over 200 million web-sites, PocketGPSWorld.com is proud to be one of the most visited sites (of any category) worldwide.
We have 3 types of audience:
Pre-sales users
Pre-sales users are able to research the GPS market and compare functions and features of the products. It also enables them to seek pre-purchase advice from our huge GPS end-user community.
Post-sales users
Post sales users are able to use us as a resource for information about all of their GPS technology. It allows them to keep abreast of any updates and modifications. It also enables them to share information and seek advice with any issues that they are facing.
GPS Industry
The GPS Industry look to us to find out what is happening within the industry. They actively participate in our forums offering advice and using the comments of the community to further develop their products. The industry is aware that in many cases we offer a first-line support facility for their products. They, in turn, support our popular free GPS Expos through generous sponsorship.
The PocketGPSWorld.com Speed Camera Database
 The Safety Camera Warnings can be used within several different SatNav applications either for alerting of speed and red light cameras, or just to display their positions.
The first comprehensive database of its kind, it is widely regarded as the most used, most trusted and best available in the UK. We have been informed by several directors of SatNav companies that our product is the one that they use personally in their cars. All tell us that others cannot compete for volume and accuracy.
A True Virtual Entity
We first started as a 'hobby' site. The idea originated from a group of like-minded people who met on the Internet and struggled to find information about GPS/Satellite Navigation products. Our main objective was to help others in our position by creating an information portal where users could find accurate and independent data. With the invaluable help of our dedicated core of Moderators, we believe that we have achieved this.
When PocketGPSWorld.com was first conceived, the core of the website was created and implemented without any of the founding members having met each other. Indeed the site had been in place for six months before we had our first 'real-world' meeting.
When we formalised the business, one of our aims was the removal of the reliance of fixed locations for any part of the operation. The team, although UK and US centric, are not based in any particular location. Most of the work is done in remote offices, exhibition halls, press conferences, airports, planes and hotels.
Extensive travel allows us to keep abreast of all new developments within the SatNav industry. Our expertise is often called upon by manufacturers before their products are launched. It also enables us to meet regularly with the captains of the World's GPS industry whether it be in Toronto or Taipei. This of course puts us in the very privileged position of having an almost unique World view of the Satellite Navigation industry as a whole.
We sincerely hope you enjoy the PocketGPSWorld.com community as much as we do!
About the Team
Darren Griffin
Editorial/Operations Director
Darren has been involved with computers since the glory days of the home build Sinclair ZX80 (his didn't work first time!) and was using modem's to connect to bulletin boards and conferences before the internet had arrived. A love of gadgets and electronics was studiously ignored when he chose to pursue a career in the Police and then the Army. Having served 13yrs in the Military Police he finally succumbed to the temptation of life on civvy street and joined the IT industry working as a field engineer and finally running an IT Consultancy. In 2002 he co-founded PocketGPSWorld Ltd and now devotes all his time to the company.
Involved with PDA's since the Apple Newton (he still has one!) and GPS since it became commercially available, Darren who lives in Hampshire, England is a confessed gadget freak and after a many years using PC's he is now convert to Apple Mac's. His long suffering wife has become used to the myriad of computers, satnav's and assorted other gadgets littering his house and his daughter has become a gadget obsessed computer wiz too!
Hobbies include aviation, cars, motorcycles, photography and more! When not spending every waking hour working on the web-site he can be found at the gym.
Mike Barrett
Editorial/Technical Director
Mike Barrett was one of the group of students to take the first GSE 'A' Level in Computer Science back in the 70's. Following on from that he started working with computers with 8k (yes kilobytes) which filled an entire computer room. In the early 80's Mike started programming the Acorn Atom and later the BBC Micro before the IBM PC was originally invented. Mike's experience encompasses the entire range of industries from Finance, to Manufacturing, to Retail. He has been involved in the complete development lifecycle for software projects commissioned for some of the World's best known corporate names.
Starting his career before the invention of the PC and the Internet as we now know it Mike has been involved in creating global communications solutions. In the late 80's and early 90's when the Internet was in an embryonic stage Mike was using the same technologies that were used to build the Internet. Currently Mike runs Black Widow Web Weavers Ltd a design company focusing on Web development particularly in the more technical areas including the design and development of database driven solutions. His hobbies include Hill Walking, Photography, and Emerging Technologies. Mike is an accredited TMB (Technology Means Business) Adviser and is a regular presenter of Seminars and Workshops for Essex BusinessLink.
Lutz Bendlin
Editor/Developer
Lutz started life in Eastern Germany, mainly in Dresden (some 150 miles south of Berlin). His first contact with a ZX81 was a pivotal moment, and from then on Lutz programmed any electronic device that couldn't run away quick enough. In 1985 he went to study Automation at a prestigious military university in Kiev (that's the capital of the Ukraine, a country formerly part of the USSR) - the study was held completely in Russian.
Just after Lutz successfully finished his study the Bundeswehr decided that his team's works were way too hot a topic to keep. Without much regret he then left the army and went to Bavaria, working for a number of high tech companies, starting in a department for production automation Other jobs included document management system setups, PC help desk, and complete office IT setups in exciting places like Greece, Turkey, Israel, South Africa etc. Finally Lutz found a professional calling in everything electronic commerce, but the gadget hobby was never out of sight.
Lutz came to GPS Navigation (and PocketGPSworld) after he heard that SA was turned off. A big impact was the phenomenal support received from the Mapopolis GPS application on his iPAQ while house hunting in Houston in 2003. When not torturing his family with the latest navigation software tests (often multiple devices at the same time for "comparison") he is spending his time programming for mobile devices, finding ways to "always be online", bicycling and hiking/mountain climbing. He specializes in navigation software usability, participating in a number of beta tests, and also writes reviews for mounting solutions and for alternative outdoors power sources like solar panels and crank handles.
Matthew Morley
Editor/Database Manager
Matthew (more commonly referred to as MaFt), started his computing life around the age of 8 with a Tandy TRS-80 and has been creating websites ever since. Self-taught (by viewing other peoples code as well as studying various books on coding and design), he has developed his skills in design, CSS, PHP and SQL Databases.
With a degree in Biochemistry and Biomedicine from Lancaster University he spent a number of years working in this field but never really enjoyed it; preferring instead to spend as much down-time as possible looking at gadgets (toys), writing blogs and listening to music.
With the advent of affordable consumer GPS, MaFt (well, actually his wife!) decided on a Garmin i3 as a cheap option to 'get into' the whole 'sat-nav thing'. Research during the usual downtime at work led to the discovery of PocketGPSWorld.com and the Speed Camera Database.
Following redundancy in 2006 he chose to reconsider his options. The choice between a relatively limited career in science and a seemingly unlimited career in the Web and computing was an easy one to make. Now working full time for PocketGPSWorld.com, MaFt specialises in maintaining the Speed Camera database and was paramount in setting up the unique verification team as well as pushing forward with worldwide camera coverage. As well as website development, MaFt also has en editorial role reviewing new products and attending various trade fairs representing PocketGPSWorld.com.
In his spare time MaFt is co-owner of a small, two-man, web design and PC repair company and enjoys music, spending time with the family and video and photo editing.
Robert Brady
Editorial/Marketing Director
Back in the early 80s, when Robert first got hooked on computing, he decided to write all of his own accounting software with his shiny new Commodore 64. Whilst he says this was very enjoyable and hugely satisfying, when all the code (and months of hard work) was complete, he actually found it quicker to use pen and paper! He decided to leave the coding side of things to others. After a brief fling with composing computer generated music on the C64 (painfully bad, he says), Robert never touched another computer for about 10 years.
Then came the World Wide Web. After a freelance career in customer service management and executive research, Robert got very excited about the possibilities and potential of this new tool for e-commerce. He established his first website, in 1995. It was the UK's first comprehensive online shopping directory.
Robert provides marketing and e-commerce services for several other websites, including multinational and international corporations, and has been successful in creating substantial and sustainable business for many companies. Along with fellow PocketGPSWorld.com team member Mike Barrett, he was recognised by the UK Government E-Commerce Awards for the marketing and development of the best new UK e-commerce site for 2003.
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