Garmin enters LBS platform market
Garmin has announced the availability of the Garmin LBS Toolkit, a flexible location-based service platform that can serve as the engine behind third party LBS applications. It incorporates Garmin’s navigation API, local search, real-time content delivery services, and mobile advertising delivery services, into one powerful platform. www.garmin.com

Spectra Precision Laser LG20 Crossbeam Generator
Trimble has announced new Laser portable tools – Spectra Precision Laser LG20 Crossbeam Generator, Spectra Precision Laser HR250 Laser Receiver and Spectra Precision Laser HD50 Handheld Distance Meter.
The easy-to-use, self-leveling Spectra Precision Laser LG20 Crossbeam Generator is a rugged, one-person tool designed for a variety of interior and exterior applications. The LG20 is a highly versatile hand tool that replaces a level, square, plumb bob, chalk, and optical instrument for faster completion and increased accuracy on the job site.
Feature-packed and developed for use with the LG20 CrossbeamGenerator, the optional HR250 Laser Receiver is a versatile, economical laser for longrange interior and exterior applications up to 75 m (250 ft). www.trimble.com

EU’s transport chief eyes military use for satellite system
The European Union should consider employing its Galileo satellite navigation program for military uses in addition to the civilian purposes for which it was designed, the EU’s transport chief said. “Galileo was supposed to be a civilian system only but I wonder whether we shouldn’t question that,” Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told a conference in Luxembourg. “Using it for military purposes, for defence purposes … would be very interesting in terms of paying for the infrastructure and the
investment,” he said of the multi-billioneuro project.
www.defensenews.com

China’s GI industry to exceed $10 billion by 2010
The geographic information industry is a burgeoning and fast-growing industry. Statistics from overseas authoritative institutions show that since 2000, the annual growth rate of the geographic information industry has exceeded 25 percent. More and more large international enterprises, such as Microsoft and Google.com, have begun to enter into this field. According to a recent report published in the China Economic Net website China has proposed in the Outline of the 11th Five-Year Plan for National Economy and Social Development “to intensify the construction of infrastructures and facilities for surveying and mapping, enrich, develop and utilize the fundamental geographic information resources, and develop the geographic information industry”. The report further says that the total output value (based on incomplete statistics) of China’s geographic information industry reached RMB 26 billion Yuan (more than 3 billion USD) in 2005 and the industry is becoming a rapidly rising burgeoning industry among modern service industries and a new growth point for the economy. The annual total production value of China’s geographic information industry is expected to exceed RMB 80 billion Yuan (more than 10 billion USD) by 2010. http://en.ce.cn

US agency says China used laser to jam US satellite
China has beamed a ground-based laser at US spy satellites over its territory, a US agency says. The action exposed the potential vulnerability of space systems that provide crucial data to American troops and consumers around the world. The Defence Department remains tightlipped about details, including which satellite was involved or when it occurred. The Pentagon’s National Reconnaissance Office Director Donald Kerr has acknowledged the incident, first reported by Defence News, but said it did not materially damage the US satellite’s ability to collect information. “Space is a much bigger part of our military posture than it used to be, so any effort by the Chinese or anybody else to jam our satellites is potentially a big deal,” said Loren Thompson, Defence Analyst with the Virginia-based Lexington Institute. Clearly, the incident sparked fresh concerns among US officials about the US ability to determine if satellite problems are caused by malfunctions, weather anomalies like solar flares, or targeted attacks.
www.theage.com.au

GPS coming to GSM handsets
After years of anticipation, GPS technology should finally arrive in a significant number of GSM mobile handsets in 2007, according to a new study by market research analyst ABI Research, USA. The report also says that 25 percent of WCDMA handsets will incorporate GPS by the end of 2008. The factors like government regulations covering location technology for emergency services such as E911 as well as a recognized demand for LBS will be responsible for the expected rise of GPS in GSM and WCDMA handsets, according to Alan Varghese, ABI principal analyst. www.eetimes.com

Leica GPro version 3.2 launched
With the new version 3.2 for its Leica GPro download and ground processing software, Leica Geosystems is now offering improvements and new capabilities to its Airborne Sensor customers, such as increased speed and simplified handling. In this new version 3.2, Leica GPro offers a new project information file structure, which enhances usability and productivity. Increased speed for pixel-wise orthorectification is provided. Plus, Leica GPro now supports the newly launched ADS40 2nd Generation sensor heads SH51 and SH52.
www.leica-geosystems.com

Ordnance Survey vision helps shape a VISTA for underground assets
VISTA (Visualising integrated information on buried assets to reduce street works) is a collaboration of 21 organisations developing an integrated infrastructure to enable data sharing for all buried assets across Great Britain. Ordnance Survey’s intelligent large-scale data OS MasterMap Topography Layer is the reference base underpinning preliminary trials by researchers at Leeds and Nottingham Universities to integrate disparate records of buried pipes, cables, ducts and wires. VISTA will combine this information with in-situ survey observations using real-time centimetre-level services provided by OS Net, Ordnance Survey’s GPScorrection network, and by Leica Geosystems’ SmartNet, which is enabled by OS Net. OS Net is a network of more than 90 GPS base stations that improves the standard accuracy of raw GPS readings to augment any application that requires GPS positioning. www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

LBS subscribers will total 315 million in five years
In 2011, the total population of GPSenabled LBS subscribers will reach 315 million, up from 12 million in 2006, according to a new study from ABI Research, USA. This represents a rise from less than 0.5% of total wireless subscribers today to more than 9% worldwide at the end of the study’s 5-year forecast period. The LBS market took off first in South Korea and Japan, driven by personal navigation and some family- and people-finder services. In the United States, Nextel and Sprint initially drove LBS adoption with a focus on fleet applications. www.abiresearch.com

Leica AT504 Geodetic Choke Ring Antenna now supports GNSS
With the introduction of the Leica AT504 GG, Leica Geosystems is announcing a brand new version of its successful AT504 choke ring antenna for permanent reference stations and networks. This new antenna tracks GNSS observations, supplying high quality GPS and GLONASS data when used in conjunction with Leica GPS1200 GNSS receivers. The design of the AT504GG choke ring antenna effectively suppresses multipath effects and has a very stable phase center making it ideally suited for geodetic applications using GNSS observations.
Leica Geosystems also introduces the new V2.2.0 for Leica GPS Spider software for GPS reference stations and networks. With this new update of GPS Spider, Leica Geosystems continues its policy of continued product development and improvement of its GPS Reference Station solutions. www.leica-geosystems.com