The demise of the stand-alone GPS device may have come a bit closer yesterday with the announcement that Nokia would give away professional GPS software for use on its devices.

The move came in response to a similar move by Google, a relative newcomer to smartphone market.

The intensifying competition in the smartphone market raises anew questions about the viability of stand-alone GPS devices.

Many of the devices made by market leaders TomTom and Garmin offer much bigger screens, which can be important for rendering maps. But, these recent moves will likely eat away at the market for dedicated GPS devices.

For more details and analysis of the Nokia announcement, see:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/technology/companies/22nokia.html?hpw