Motorola launches GPS-based touchscreen phone
Motorola has launched its touchscreen GPS-enabled phone offering navigation maps and landmarks of 30 cities in India.
http://economictimes.indiaticommes.

Magellan News
Real-Time Data Server software
Magellan is also introducing new PC software called Real-Time Data Server (RTDS) that allows GPRS communication between one base and several rovers. The base could be a fixed base (with a direct/local connection to the RTDS) or a mobile base (connected to RTDS through GPRS)

The issue of FDI in GPS systems came up recently in a series of meetings held by the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB). Of late, many Indian companies have evinced interest to manufacture GPS devices in joint venture with foreign counterparts. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

ESA shortens list of bidders for Galileo
The ESA has listed 11 industrial groups invited to compete for contracts to get Europe’s satellite-navigation system, Galileo, into orbit. They are Italian, Dutch, French, British and German. Galileo now aims to launch its 30 satellites by the end of 2013, giving Galileo users more precision that the current American GPS coverage offers. Europe has already spent 1.6bn euros on Galileo. http://www.euronews.net

GeoEye-1 in orbit: 0.5m resolution imagery starting this fall
GeoEye has announced the launch and deployment of GeoEye-1, the world’s highest resolution, commercial Earthimaging satellite. GeoEye-1 will now undergo a calibration and check-out period before imagery products will be available for sale. GeoEye-1 will simultaneously collect 0.41-meter ground resolution blackand- white (panchromatic) images and 1.65-meter colour (multispectral) images. Designed to take digital images of the Earth from 423 miles (681 kilometers) and moving at a speed of about four-and-a-half miles (seven kilometers) per second, the satellite camera can distinguish objects on the Earth’s surface as small as 0.41-meter or 16 inches in size. Due to U.S. licensing restrictions, commercial customers will get access to imagery at half meter ground resolution. www.gpsbusinessnews.com

Govt Approves Modern Navigation Project GAGAN
In a bid to provide seamless navigation over the Indian airspace and waters, the Indian government has approved the implementation of a Rs 774-crore GPS aided futuristic project. The GPS aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) project would place India in a select group of nations, like the US, Europe and Japan, to possess such a system that would not only guide aircraft over its airspace, but also provide them straight-line fuel-efficient routes and precision approach landings.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the implementation of this project which is being developed jointly by the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Airports Authority of India. The GAGAN system would provide coverage of oceanic areas, which is not possible by the terrestrial systems that are in place now.

It would also improve airport and airspace access in all-weather conditions and provide precision-landing approaches to aircraft even at airports, where Instrument Landing Systems do not exist. Press Trust of India

India map in 3D satellite imagery
A new project to map all areas in the country using a three-dimensional satellite imagery would be launched soon, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal said. http://www.hindu.com/

Trimble to acquire RolleiMetric. Introduces Multi-GNSS CORS Receiver
Trimble Navigation has agreed to acquire RolleiMetric from Rollei GmbH, Germany. RolleiMetric is a provider of metric camera systems for aerial imaging and terrestrial close range photogrammetry.
Trimble has introduced the Trimble® NetR8™ GNSS reference receiver. It can operate as a campaign receiver for post processing, as a Continuously Operating Reference Station receiver, portable base station for RTK applications or as a scientific reference station collecting information for specialized studies.
Specific applications include high-accuracy positioning as part of a Trimble VRS™ network, support for DGPS MSK beacons, and integrity monitoring of networks and physical infrastructure such as bridges, dams and mines. It has 76 channels and supports GPS L1, L2, L2C and L5 signals as well as GLONASS L1/L2 signals. There are also four channels dedicated to tracking SBAS.http://www.trimble.com

US businesses expected to spend 11 billion dollars on mobile apps by 2012
According to CompassIntelligence.com, businesses in the U.S. will spend roughly $11.6 billion on mobile applications by 2012. This year U.S. businesses are expected to spend an estimated $4.9 billion on mobile applications. This market is poised for double-digit17 growth over the next 5 years, driven by the growth in remote and telecommuting employees, the movement in “open Mobile Devices,” and the explosion of new and emerging free and fee-based mobile applications available for download. This research is part of Compass Intelligence’s Applications and Business Wireless
research. http://www.gpsdaily.com

Industry officials predict current procurement plan will delay
The heads of Europe’s two biggest satellite prime contractors urged the European Commission to accelerate its procurement of the Galileo satellite navigation system or face what might become politically unacceptable delays in getting the service started.
Attending an information conference of European Union space ministers here July 20-22, the chief executives of Astrium Satellites and Thales Alenia Space said the current Galileo procurement process, which began July 1 and is scheduled to continue through
May 2009, is unnecessarily slow “The procurement has been substantially delayed and this schedule introduces more delays,” said Evert Dudok, chief executive of Astrium Satellites. “We need
procurement decisions in 2008 to keep to the service introduction date.” Dudok made his remarks here July 21 during a tour of Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport as part of a delegation that included French Research Minister Valerie Pecresse and European Commission Vice President Guenter Verheugen.
Dudok was addressing Pecresse because France assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union July 1. Dudok said France, which has identified space policy as one of the key priorities of its six-month presidency, could use its influence to accelerate the Galileo procurement. Dudok urged Pecresse and Verheugen to use
their influence to get the European Commission permission to remove what he said were needlessly complicated rules on the Galileo procurement.
In an interview, Dudok said it is his understanding the commission has the leeway to bypass some of its procedures to speed up the procurement as long as the major concerns — fair bidding and
inclusion of subcontractors that are not part of the prime contractor’s corporate family — and other concerns are respected.
Thales Alenia Space Chief Executive Reynald Seznec agreed. In an interview, Seznec said Astrium Satellites, Thales Alenia Space and its major subcontractors have assembled a contract proposal that
distributes work throughout Europe and limits the prime contractors’ dominance in a way that complies with European Commission concerns. “We really believe we have come up with a contracting profile that responds to the commission’s concerns and that we could negotiate a final contract much sooner” than mid-2009, Seznec said.
The European Commission, which has assumed overall authority for
Galileo and has delegated the European Space Agency (ESA) as contract oversight authority, issued detailed procurement rules July 1 for the six Galileo work packages. www.wibw.com/
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