LBS

Fujitsu to get oldsters out the house and thoroughly caned

Fujitsu exhibited a prototype of its GPS-enabled walking stick at Mobile World Congress recently in Barcelona. The futuristic stick is aimed at getting older people out of the house, but would be equally at home slung over the arm of an Apple hipster while their iPod Nikes are in the wash. The user can configure their route on a PC before downloading it to the stick via Bluetooth. As you tap along the street, a display on the top of the stick shows you when to turn – removing the need to muck about with smartphone maps while you’re trying to pay attention to your surroundings. www.theregister.co.uk

TCS and Cellfind partnership

TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) and Johannesburg-based Cellfind, South Africa’s leading location-based mobile services provider, has announced a partnership agreement where Cellfind’s offerings will now include the LBS infrastructure solution provided by TCS. www.gpsbusinessnews.com/

Google launches indoor maps feature in Singapore

Google has launched its indoor maps feature in Singapore, making the city state the second country in Asia to have it. Android phone users will be able to use the online mapping system to help themselves find their way inside shopping malls and large buildings. www.dnaindia.com/

Smart satnav drives around the blue highway blues

Endlessly frustrated by congested roads, computer scientists at California State University, in Fullerton have developed a satellite navigation system, GeoTNavi, which hooks into historical traffic data and current vehicle movements to find the shortest commute and avoid the traffic jams. They point out that “sat- nav” systems have built-in updateable maps, while some are linked to web-based mapping services. There also exist services that monitor traffic flow and alert drivers to potential trouble often based on calls from drivers to local radio news and road authorities depending on where you are in the world, while some systems have automated reporting from a select group of sat-nav users. There is a third source of information based on historical traffic movement databases. The team has now brought these various pieces of traffic information – maps, historical data and real-time driving conditions – together in a prototype system that could see an end to traffic jams. www.eurekalert.org/

GPS Fitness Watch Market to Grow 50% in 2013

The GPS fitness watch market is set to reach $1.07 billion in 2013, according to ABI Research’s latest quarterly “GPS & GNSS” Market Data which forecasts fitness watches split by price tier. www.abiresearch.com/

LBS revenues in Europe to reach € 825 million by 2017

According to a new research report by Berg Insight, mobile location-based service (LBS) revenues in Europe are forecasted to grow from € 325 million in 2012 at a compound annual growth rate of 20.5% to reach € 825 million in 2017. The North American LBS market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 9.2% from US$ 835 million in 2012 to reach US$ 1,295 million in 2017. www.berginsight.com/News.aspx

MapMyIndia launches GPS and navigation app for BlackBerry Z10

MapMyIndia has launched its own GPS and navigation service on the Z10. The app has quite a few features such as the ability to mark places as “Home” so that you can quickly get a route to take you home. The app from the BlackBerry App World is for free, but it is only available on Indian handsets. http://tech2.in.com/