As per the textbook theory of market maturity in any country, the expected stages are that of market development, rapid growth, saturation or maturity and the decline. Having had the good fortune to predict the evolution of GPS Navigation market in India, here is a retrospective of the various phases, from both the vendor’s and consumer perspective.

Alternative location methods for absolute positioning in areas where no GNSS position determination is possible due to obstruction of the satellite signals are needed in mobile positioning. Active RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) can be used also for position determination, although the system was not only developed for positioning and tracking but mainly for identification of objects. Using RFID in positioning, different approaches can be distinguished, i.e., cell-based positioning if the RFID tags are installed at active landmarks (i.e., known locations) in the surroundings, trilateration if ranges to the RFID tags are deducted from received signal strength (RSS in RFID terms) values and location fingerprinting where the measured signal power levels are used directly to obtain a position fix. Using Cell of Origin (CoO) the achievable positioning accuracy depends on the size of the cell and is therefore usually several metres up to 10’s of metres using long range RFID equipment. Higher positioning accuracies can be obtained using trilateration and fingerprinting. In this paper the use of trilateration is investigated.

May 2008

International Conference: “Studying, Modelingand Sense Making of Planet Earth

1 – 6 June, 2008

Department of Geography, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Lesvos , Greece

http://www.aegean.gr/geography/earthconference2008/en/main_fr.htm

Navigation and Location Europe 2008

4 – 5 …

The potential of cell-based positioning for improving LBS
Markus Ray
Active RFID trilateration for indoor positioning
Guenther Retscher, Qing Fu
Evolution of GPS Navigation in India
Amit Prasad
Simulation of Galileo E5 Signal
Fantinato Samuele
GIS for lymphatic filariasis morbidity management and control
M Palaniyandi

Most of today’s Location Based Services (LBS) provide information based solely on a users’ location, not taking into account context knowledge about the user’s current situation and needs. This often results in low-quality and inappropriate information to the user. Hence, in order to provide user-oriented services, an improvement of the response-quality of information requests is required. Knowledge about the coordinates of places where the user regularly stays in her life combined with semantics about such places can provide valuable knowledge for LBS. Zhou et al.

Taiwan’s GPS makers to tap European market with new devices

According to industry sources, Taiwanese GPS devices makers like Mio Technology Ltd. and Asustek Computer Inc are actively tapping the European market this year, with new products. Global sales of GPS devices are estimated to top US$30 billion this year. Europe absorbs nearly 60% of world`s total annual shipment. Last year, sales in the European market sharply shot up 82%. http://cens.com//cens/

Predictions and surveys indicate a boom in LBS.
All across the world.
Maybe at different pace at different places.
And, might be in different stages.
…

Nokia launches global Ad campaign for GPS-enabled N82 handset

“The Urbanista Diaries,” is the new global campaign by Nokia to promote the recently launched Nokia N82 that features a 5 megapixel camera and integrated GPS. The campaign engages bloggers, journalists, and everyday people to promote the phone.

3D-Laser Scanning possible up to 2000m

RIEGL has recently launched 3D laser scanner LMS-Z620, especially optimised for long range topography and mining applications. It is providing a maximum measurement range of 2000m on natural targets and a reduced beam divergence of just 0.15 mrad, performance data which are unrivalled in the market of high-speed laser scanners. It has RiSCAN PRO´s backsighting and Multi Station Adjustment functionality as well. www.riegl.com

Special characteristic of spatial data is that it can be shared and used for many other purposes than the one, for which, it was originally produced. To facilitate its efficient sharing and reuse, it needs to be properly managed in the form of infrastructure i.e. Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). This is one of the reasons that many countries are developing National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). But the challenge of developing a successful NSDI depends largely on its implementation which is so significant that none of the two key stakeholder groups i.e. public or private sectors can address it at their own. Therefore, if efforts are made to implement such initiatives by only one of the key stakeholder groups then the result may be partially if not totally failure to get the tangible benefits truly intended from such initiatives. As an example, Indian NSDI is explored in this context.