GPS

May 2007 | Comments Off

INDUSTRY | LBS | GPS | GIS | REMOTE SENSING | GALILEO UPDATE

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

Navigation to become a focus of China’s car GPS market

CCID Consulting, the first Chinese consulting firm listed in Hong Kong, forecasts that “navigation” will become a trend in China’s car GPS market. In 2006, China’s automotive electronics market grew upto RMB 86.76 billion, up 39% over 2005. In 2006, automotive electronics products were upgraded, in particularly chassis control systems. New car electronic products such as GPS and TPMS also gathered pace in their penetration. In 2006, 815,000 sets of GPS were sold in China, generating sales revenues of RMB 4.19 billion. Compared with 2005, sales volume and sales revenues grew 50.8% and 107.3%, respectively. Starting from 2007, China’s car GPS market will enter a brand new period of growth. Japanese car-makers will continue to lead the pre-installed market, with all high-end Japanese cars and some new car models to be installed with pre-installed navigation GPS. www.sys-con.com

Taiwan to take up 50% global market share for GPS

GPS manufactured by Taiwanese companies are on course to take up 50% of the global market share, according to an analyst at the Institute for Information Industry. http://english.rti.org.tw

Fierce competition may send GPS chip prices down 10-20%

Competition in the GPS chip supply chain may send prices down by 10- 20% in the 2007. SiRF has come under price pressure after TomTom and Garmin were said to have adopted GPS solutions from Global Locate and MediaTek respectively. Further pressure has also come from improving relationships between Mitac International (the parent company of Mio Technology that markets Mio-branded PNDs) and GPS chip supplier Centrality, the sources said. www.digitimes.com

China launches Compass navigation satellite

may

China has launched “Compass” navigational system, which is expected to provide services to customers all over China and neighboring countries by 2008. The satellite system is mainly designed for the country’s economic development, providing navigation and positioning services intransportation, meteorology, petroleum prospecting, forest ﬁre monitoring, disaster forecast, telecommunications and public security, among others. http://news.xinhuanet.com

Russia to expand Glonass satellite group by year end

Russia will increase the number of satellites in Glonass to 18 by the end of 2007, according to the head of Russia’s Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos).

Space Agency (Roskosmos). A total of 9.88 billion rubles ($379.7 million) has been appropriated for Glonass from the federal budget in 2007, and 4.72 billion ($181.4 million) in 2006. A full orbital group of 24 satellites will be ready for global coverage by the end of 2009, but even with 18 satellites in orbit it will be able to start providing services for military and civilian users, covering Russian territory. www.gpsdaily.com

New device extends battery life up to 90 days in GPS units

Tracking The World, USA, recently released a hibernating battery case for use in compact GPS units that significantly conserves battery power by using motion detection extending battery life up to 90 days. www.prlog.org/div>

Researchers find GPS is impacted by solar radio burst

According to researchers at Cornell University, solar radio bursts can have a serious impact on the GPS and other communication technologies using radio waves. The findings were announced in Washington, D.C., at the first Space Weather Enterprise Forum. www.prnewswire.com

GPS Photo Mapping, Google Earth to deliver exploration reports

Waystar Inc. of Edmonton scouts exploration locations and provides reports with access routes and stream crossings to be used by the heavy seismic survey vehicles and crews to reach the exploration areas. These routes and crossings must be mapped in advance with their locations pinpointed in official exploration applications to the Alberta government.While scouting it takes photographs of every stream crossing with a GPS-equipped digital camera and downloading the photos to a laptop computer with GPS-Photo Link software, which automatically correlates each photo with the GPS-location where it was taken. It has a built-in function to export the photos to Google Earth. www.geospatialexperts.com