PSP Homebrew developer Art has released a modified version of Deniska's GPS navigation tool, MapThis! Art's mod has three specific changes, including having the auto load option to always be active. Check out the rest of the changes in the full article.

Download: MapThis! v0.5.20
Download: MapThis! v0.5.20 (mod v1.00/1.50)
Visit: QJ.NET MapThis! 0.5.20 Modified Version Forum Thread

Those of you looking forward to Deniska's PSP port of the DOS shooter game Tyrian would be glad to hear that the program, OpenTyrian, is expected to be released tomorrow. No other details have been given other than the reported release date.

Even hard working homebrew developers need to work on fun stuff every now and then. Deniska, the developer behind the homebrew application MapThis!, has decided to work on a PSP port for the old-school DOS shooter game Tyrian.

So far, Deniska has come up with a preview of the ported game that he's been working in between coding the latest updates for MapThis! Check out the video preview of Tyrian for the PSP right after the jump!

Homebrew developer Deniska has just released a new build for MapThis!, bumping the application up to version 0.5.20. This particular program is actually a Global Positioning Navigation tool for the PlayStation Portable.

You'll be happy to know that this build comes with a lot of new features. More details on this after the jump!

Download: MapThis! v0.5.20

Homebrew developer Deniska has just updated one part of the highly useful Global Positioning System navigation tool for the PlayStation Portable known as MapThis! This build, currently on version 0.5.01, focuses on the GPS receiver.

Before we continue, take note that you will be needing the full version of MapThis! v0.5 to use this update. MapThis! v0.5.01 does not come with a Readme.txt file since it is not a full update to the program.

If this is the first time you are using this application, it would help to refer back to v0.5 for further instructions and discuss it with other users to avoid any problems. Anyway, here are the changes for this build:

• Disabled map boundary restrictions: you should be able to follow a route off the map w/o the annoying pop up message.
• Better shared objects handling (seems to be very robust under 3.51 FW - no crushes yet)
• Fixed relaxed lookup bug
• Better zoom in/out logic
• New sounds
• Better "speed limit" logic/graphics

Deniska mentioned that this is just a beta build and it is possible that you will encounter some bugs. If you do, the developer would like to ask your help by reporting it to him. You can do so through our comments section below.

Download: MapThis! v0.5.01 (beta)

We're letting the PSP owners know that developer Deniska has released the much-awaited version 0.5 of the MapThis! homebrew application. And as the past few teaser vids have indicated, this latest release of Deniska's GPS navigation tool for the handheld carries a ton of new functions- here's but a few:

• Birds Eye mode
• Inverted colors (night) mode
• Voice Prompts / Alerts support. (* see notes below)
• Missing zoom layer rendering (only for gpsfs maps). MapThis! attempts to render a missing zoom layer with shrinked
• tiles from the next zoom level.
• Screenshots are saved in ms0:/PSP/PHOTO now
• Icons/sounds can now be located in either a particular map directory or system (system/sounds or system/icons) directory.
• POI and WAYPOINT files can now also be looked up from ms0:/PSP/COMMON

The rest of the new functions list can be found over at the full article, as well as a note from Deniska for those using a Holux GPS. We also strongly recommend would-be users to view the readme included in the file bundle - most of the information you need is available there. On a last note, the author (via the readme) is requesting users to view Google Map's "Terms of Use" agreement, given that Map This! receives its image data from the said service. 

Download: MapThis! 0.5 (1 Year Anniversary Edition)

Good news for the travel-savvy PSP owners, in case you're waiting for word on Deniska's latest MapThis! version. The coder is letting the guys know that the GPS navigation application's version 0.5 has recently been going through internal testing, and is almost ready for release.

And like the "voice prompt" video from before, Deniska updated today with a new teaser video to let the guys know about another feature that's been added - 3D Mode:

As for Deniska's notes on the video via DCEmu:

I used the arkon mount that attaches to a vent (came bundled with gpslim 236)
It does not work well with psp-290, but...
The holux receiver is behind the odometer panel - you can see the cable going to it...

Stick around in case we hear more from Deniska, or this much-awaited MapThis update.

Wondering what developer deniska's been up to for the past few weeks? Guys looking out for the new versions of the MapThis! application may want to take a gander at this video that deniska's posted via Youtube, which features a preview for MapThis! 0.5. So, what's new in this latest release of deniska's custom map viewer for the PSP's accompanying GPS attachment? The ultimate in backseat driving: Voice prompts.

deniska expects to have MapThis! v0.5 ready by within the week - stay tuned in case more details for this latest release are found.

Thanks to Ranmax09 from our forums for posting this interesting bit up on the site! Atari800 has just released his Unofficial MapThis homebrew application for the PlayStation Portable over at PS-News. Of course, he gives proper credit to Deniska, In7ane, and MIB.48 as the "REAL brilliant wizards behind this."

Anyway, according to Atari800, this is based on 4.99 beta and should contain the following changes:

• added speech for:
• searching for satellites
• satellite found and fixed
• only does this once when starting up
• when you go GPS mode onI automatically drop CPU to 111 mhz
• once your fixed - I bump it back up to 333mhz
• It speaks to you
• left turn ahead
• right turn ahead
• arrived at destination
• Adjusted the warning distance based on the speed you are driving
• adjust WARNINGDISTANCE=30 in config file for how much area to search when at a stand still. If you go 20 miles an hour - the warning distance is 50
• Placed circle around you to show warning distance when driving - you can see the area get bigger as you drive faster and smaller as you slow down

He adds in a note that you may actually change any of the voices. Cool, eh? "They are MP3 files in the system directory 128 bit 44khz - I set it to mono but stereo is ok, too... Speaking doesn't work ibn TOP UP mode - searching for and found satellite works, regardless."

As for what's up next with this project, he says he'd like to go see if he can take the BEARING (direction we are going) and look ahead only. Also, he'd like to get into a small neighborhood with lots of quick lefts and rights. But this, unfortunately, could just be his last build for him.

Anyways, you may find out more about his plans, as well as his request on not to be bugged for additional features like pinging for wifi hotspots or whatnot, over at our forums, which you may access through our link below.

Oh, and this works with the official PSP GPS Receiver and Custom Firmware 3.40 OE. Enjoy, guys!

Download: Unofficial MapThis!
Discuss: PSP Development Forum

Everyone remembers Deniska's homebrew, right? Yeah, his work's been welcomed by a lot of you guys, and here's an update to be welcomed even more. It's Map This! v0.03 Mapviewer, and it gets better and better. We gave you a video before, and even a tutorial. It's right about time (and place) to give a version upgrade.

Lots of new stuff for you guys to tinker around with:

• Multiple POI icons support - a few types of POI can now be merged in one file for simultaneous display.
• POI files: removed icon size definition (the size is read from the image itself, this should be backwards compatible with prev definition though..).
• speed up in menu responses
• NMEA buffer increased to 1024 - this may help some GPS devices map size bug fixed. Now it should support maps up to 1024x1024
• Basic trip computer in gps mode. Display of elapsed time, distance and average speed.
• Set mark. In gps mode, displays distance & direction to mark.
• Scrollable menus in map/poi selectors: ability to display/scroll through up to 100 items.
• Numerous improvements in gmdl tool by in7ane: new map/poi sources added, POI converter, custom map import, routing tool, etc.
• Ability to disable top info bar and scale for maps with custom scales and projections: just remove coords.txt
  

There are other new stuff, especially about the config file, in the readme, so we suggest you guys read that too. Besides, the installation is pretty tricky, but if you read our past coverages (the links above) and the readme file, you'll be fine. He's even got a wiki site! But, if all else fails, just comment here about your problems and everyone can help each other out.

Download: [Map This! v0.3 Mapviewer]