Part Foundry is currently working on a dongle that will bring the long-desired GPS feature to the iPhone. Branded as locoGPS, the device promises true GPS backed by open source software, but if the teaser video is any indication, it may not be the GPS experience you're expecting.

The photo you see above is only a concept design. In its current stage of development, the locoGPS is a rough piece of hardware that uses a slightly confusing toggle process to get GPS working on any Jailbroken iPhone (they are also in the testing phases for an iPod touch solution). The early software merely finds your coordinates and plugs them into the Google Maps application. For now, thats it. The beauty of the locoGPS is that it can be improved upon because of it's open source design. If this gets a real time navigational map and a few useful plug-ins, it could be a popular iPhone add-on.

But for now, the locoGPS raises eyebrows on potential alone. Part Foundry expects the locoGPS to start shipping in February 2008, and they're currently taking pre-orders for the $89 device. [Part Foundry via MacDailyNews]

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