Consumer demand for GPS increasing: CEA report
According to a research report by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), GPS – Exploring Ownership and Interest revealed an 80 percent owner satisfaction rate, which was strongly influenced by the ease of use and display quality of the devices, which are used primarily for navigation assistance in a vehicle. While GPS ownership is still relatively small at 18 percent of online consumers, the research demonstrates shipment revenues nearly tripling between 2005 and 2006. Nearly 24% of online consumers are planning to purchase a GPS device within the next year, spending an average of $410 resulting in sales reaching $4.1 billion in 2007. The study shows that 33 percent of future GPS buyers are interested in owning a cell phone with a GPS. Rest of the other uses are hiking 18%, walking16%, boating 14% biking 7%, running 6% and flying 4% www.webwire.com

NRCan offers digital topographic data for free
As of April 1, 2007, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) began offering its electronic topographic mapping data for free over the Internet. It is now permitting people to freely redistribute this data, helping to ensure that users receive accurate and consistent information. It will make its data collections available through GeoGratis (geogratis.gc.ca), which is a portal, provided by the Earth Sciences Sector of NRCan.

Mobile industry set to boom with GPS technology
As per the RNCOS report, “Globally, the GPS market is expected to exceed US$ 30 Billion by 2008. The two segments under this technology namely people tracking & handset market will have maximum growth rate, about 9%.” Mobile industry is set to boom in 2007 with mobile giants, application developers, and OS managers planning to introduce various large-scale rollouts of GPS technology. Most phone manufacturers will introduce devices enabled for navigating with a GPS like Nokia has plans to introduce a personal mapping program that’ll let users to send messages to each other and also have instructions on how to congregate, delivered to the handset. www.rncos.com

Galileo – the European Programme for Global Navigation Services for civil purposes is an initiative led by European Union. We provide regular updates to our readers on the Galileo programme.

China cracks down on illegal surveying, mapping
China continues cracking down on illegal surveying and mapping and investigate and punish leaks of state secrets, said an of?cial from the State Bureau of Survey and Mapping (SBSM). Seven government departments including SBSM, Ministry of Information Industry and National Administration for Protection of State Secrets have pledged to strengthen control of the geographical information market. A total of 759 cases of illegal surveying and mapping were found in 2006, and many of the cases involved foreign organizations and individuals. Last year, two Japanese scholars were ?ned a total of 80,000 yuan and deported for mapping the coordinates of an airport and water facilities in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It was feared their results could be used for military purposes.

GIS ILWIS migrates to open source
The Integrated Land and Water Information System (ILWIS, http:// www.itc.nl/ilwis) is a PC-based GIS & Remote Sensing software, developed by ITC. The ITC directorate has recently decided to make current ILWIS software free of charge and to migrate it as such to open source software under the 52° North initiative. Leading research organizations in the ?eld of geoinformatics (ifgi, conterra, ITC, ESRI) participate in 52° North’s innovative development for establishing open spatial data infrastructures (SDI) and transformation of these into practical technological solutions.

Nokia N95 smartphone with GPS capabilities starts shipping
Nokia N95 has started shipping in key European, Asian and Middle Eastern markets. The phone is an all-in-one multimedia computer with a unique 2-way slide design, integrated GPS functionality and many other features. www.nokia.com

New Magellan ProMark™3 RTK alters the RTK Landscape
Magellan has announced the introduction of its ProMark3 RTK, designed to provide surveyors with centimeter accuracy in a realtime solution and complete postprocessing and mapping capabilities. It operates in two modes; base + rover and rover only. The rover can be connected to a real-time network through a GPRSenabled cell phone using NTRIP and direct IP. The base + rover, employs plug-and-play spread-spectrum radio solution that does not require a license or separate con? guration integrated with ProMark3 RTK. cgeffroy@magellangps.com

Galileo – the European Programme for Global Navigation Services for civil purposes is an initiative led by European Union. We provide regular updates to our readers on the Galileo programme.

Abu Dhabi to introduce new road maintenance system
Abu Dhabi is preparing a unique Road and Bridge Asset Management System. The system would establish a satellite-aided geographical database by using the GPS. It will also feature an e-archives for road executive designs and an e-connection with other working systems. The system seeks to standardize the methods and costs of maintenance work of the 20, 000- km road network and 90 bridges in the emirates, according to an official at department for Municipalities and Agriculture. www.khaleejtimes.com