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Navigation 2.0 arrives today with Dash Navigation’s Dash Express GPS navigator (global positioning system). The gadget represents a new generation of smarter car navigation devices because it has two-way communication between Dash and the user.

One-way GPS systems from the likes of Garmin, Mio Technology, Magellan, and TomTom and can only be so helpful to you. They can show you where to go, using satellite signals to fix your location as you drive. You can search the on-board memory of the devices for “points of interest” that you may want to visit, like the city hall in a town. Some of them even send you traffic conditions over a one-way radio for a fee of $5 a month or more.

But Dash connects your gadget back to the company’s servers over cell phone (the nationwide GSM/GPRS network of Jasper Wireless) or Wi-Fi wireless Internet connections.

Dash uses “crowdsourcing,” where its own fleet of users communicates back their positions, speeds, and other data (including traffic reports from Inrix in Kirkland, Wash.) so that Dash can calculate traffic on both freeways and major side streets. This is a big advantage over other kinds of GPS navigation systems, and Dash recently decided to cut its price from $600 to $400. It goes on sale today at Amazon.com.

“There is an element of Web 2.0 meets GPS here,” said Mark Williamson, director of services for Dash. “Others get you from point to point. We can tell you what is around you.”

My colleague Matt isn’t so fond of the Dash Express, which I will acknowledge has some drawbacks. One of the problems is that it costs $12.99 a month to use some of the best features beyond GPS navigation. The question is whether users are going to care about all of the slight advantages that Dash has over other dumb GPS gadgets. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dash, the start-up offering the first car navigation device designed to be permanently linked to the Internet, has raised $25 million in a second round of funding.

The Mountain View Dash will launch its device in the Bay Area in late April, and nationally this fall, goes up against a host of other market incumbents, none aspiring to be as continuously connected to the Internet.

These other players are Garmin, TomTom and Magellan. Last week, Garmin released its own bluetooth gadget that turns your cellphone or PC into a naviation device.

Here’s our earlier coverage of Dash.

The round was led by Crescendo Ventures with new investors Artis Capital, ZenShin Capital Partners and Gold Hill Capital. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital and Skymoon Ventures also participated. Artis is the hedge fund with family connections with Sequoia Capital, and continues to benefit from that relationship. It is one of the few hedge funds that invests alongside venture firms in Silicon Valley start-ups. It won a coveted position as the only other investor beside Sequoia in hot video-sharing company, YouTube.

Back to Dash. The company won awards at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
last month. It is uses Yahoo for local search, so drivers can find things like bars, restaurants and movie times, along with maps. It uses Tele Atlas for maps, and Inrix for traffic pattern data, which can used to help drivers steer clear of traffic jams.

The GPS navigation market has been on fire this year, with the market tripling in 2006 compared to 2005, said chief executive Paul Lego. He expects the device to price within the $500 to $800 range, along with the existing leading devices.