LBS

UK startup Focal Point offers smartphone positioning technologies

U.K.-startup Focal Point Positioning has unveiled two new positioning technologies. S-GPS and D-Tail represent step changes in consumer GPS processing and smartphone indoor positioning, the company said.

S-GPS is a new signal processing, sensor fusion and machine learning scheme that dramatically improves the accuracy and availability of satellite-based positioning signals. The patent-pending S-GPS technology provides increased sensitivity and multipath mitigation capabilities that allow modern smartphones to maintain accurate GPS fixes deep indoors and in complex urban environments.

D-Tail is a human motion modeling system that can accurately track users in three dimensions using the inertial sensors in their smartphone or wearable devices. The result is a precise trace of the user’s motion, better than the detail and accuracy provided by dead-reckoning and Wi-Fi fingerprinting techniques. It is designed to improve the performance and accuracy of activity tracking apps and LBS analytics.

TomTom and Microsoft join forces to bring LBS to Azure

TomTom and Microsoft have formed a partnership that aims to bring enterprisegrade location-based services to Microsoft’s Azure platform, based on TomTom’s maps, traffic and navigation software. http://www.itsinternational.com

Parkopedia launches Premium In-Car Parking Service with Mazda China

Parkopedia, the world’s largest parking service provider, announced that it has launched its premium in-car parking service with Mazda China.

This new premium parking service is provided in partnership with MXNavi, China’s leading in-vehicle navigation system and location based service provider. It includes space availability information, which allows drivers to go directly to an open spot as opposed to circling the block searching for an opening. http://www.parkopedia.com

Twitter cuts off geospatial data access for police intelligence centers

Police across the US will now have a harder time singling out individual Twitter users. Twitter announced today that it has cut off all geospatial intelligence data being sold to police intelligence centers, also known as fusion centers.

The geospatial intelligence tool was being provided by Dataminr, an analytics firm partially owned by Twitter, which has exclusive access to the company’s live data feed or “firehose.” Dataminr introduced the system in March, and the ACLU of Northern California found evidence that at least one center had access to it for months afterwards. After a review, Twitter confirmed that the tool is no longer in use by any such agencies. http://www.theverge.com