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INDUSTRY | LBS | GNSS | GIS | IMAGING | GALILEO UPDATE

Police urge hill walkers to use maps and not apps

Northern Constabulary are urging hill walkers not to rely solely on ‘smartphone’ apps for navigation. On two occasions in recently, both Police and Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team have been involved in the rescue of lost walkers who were relying entirely on apps which proved to be insufficient on their own.

Aviemore, Scotland, Inspector Kevin MacLeod stated: “When you consider the dangers of getting lost in the mountains or of taking a false turn, it would be difficult to over-state the importance of being able to navigate accurately. ‘Smartphone’ apps are a great innovation but, on their own, they are not reliable enough for navigation in the mountains.

“In addition to being suitably experienced and equipped, walkers should have, and know how to use, a map and compass or other suitable navigational device.” http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk

skobbler Leverages Skyhook to Enable Location in ForeverMap 2

Skyhook has announced that skobbler has integrated Skyhook’s Location Engine in ForeverMap 2(tm) to provide location services for the first time on NOOK(r). ForeverMap 2, available for FREE on NOOK Apps(tm), is the first-ever map app on NOOK, enabling users to experience and explore their surroundings like never before. http://www.finwin.com

JiWire Rolls Out ‘Location Graph’

Location-based ad company JiWire has unveiled a new ad service designed to help marketers target specific audiences based on the billions of pieces of location data it has collected. The company’s Location Graph harnesses that data to create anonymous user profiles based on the types of places people visit, from beauty parlors to drug stores to airports. Instead of defining audiences by social connections, like Facebook’s famed social graph, JiWire’s new targeting capability relies on historical (and present) location data to improve campaign performance. http://www.mediapost.com

Real-time traffic alerts by Tata Docomo

Tata Docomo has launched a traffic SMS alert service for its prepaid and postpaid subscribers in Bengaluru, India. This service will allow subscribers to choose a start and an end destination and a specific time to receive real time traffic information along the route. This is Tata Docomo’s second LBS initiative: it had launched an SMS and WAP driven location based service called Route Finder in its 3G circles and Mumbai in June last year. http://www.medianama.com/

Drive your cars using Smartphone App

Australian scientists say they are developing technology which will enable your smartphone to drive your car. Researchers say they will be road testing a vehicle which uses a phone’s satellite navigation technology and camera to drive along the street within a year. Dr Jun Jo from Griffith University and his team have built a prototype car which they are using to test the software. The vehicle has an onboard computer, radar system and sensors which communicate with the phone.
The race is on to develop driverless, or autonomous, vehicles with many motor manufacturers investing in research. In the US, Google has just been issued with the first licence for an autonomous car in Nevada. A Toyota Prius has been fitted with the company’s driverless technology. http://news.sky.com/

Indoor Navigation on Mobile Devices for guidance

STMicroelectronics has worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei to enrich the experience of visitors to Taiwan-based Chinese film-director King Hu’s works exhibition through the use of indoor navigation. This technology transforms mobile phones and other smart consumer devices into the most convenient source of real-time information about the exhibition. Accurate indoor positioning is the key enabler for LBS, widely considered the next “killer application” in the mobile world. http://www.reuters.com/

Scout Drive Button: GPS Navigation for Websites

Telenav has launched Scout Drive Button, a widget for anyone to add onto their website to provide visitors the ability to instantly launch voice-guided, turn by turn, GPS navigation to their store, restaurant, salon, dentist office, etc. Mobile users can click the button from their phone and navigation will start from their mobile browser, without the need for a separate GPS navigation or mapping app.

Nokia, Samsung, Sony join forces to improve indoor navigation

Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Sony and Qualcomm have formed the In-Location Alliance, which will work to improve the accuracy of indoor positioning, which is the next frontier of mobile services. Finding out where you are in a mall or a sports arena using a smartphone is difficult today because GPS coverage usually isn’t available. Besides improving navigation accuracy in those kinds locations, the In-Location Alliance will also prioritize low power consumption and making the technology both easy to implement and use. The primary underlying technologies will be Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-fi. http://www.computerworld.com

Trimble adds RFID capabilities to AllTrak

Trimble® AllTrak™ Asset and Tool Management System includes an RFID scanner for its Trimble Nomad® outdoor rugged handheld computer running the Microsoft® Windows Mobile operating system. It allows building construction contractors to more easily track and manage their jobsite assets and tools. In addition, the system increases return on investment by improving asset utilization and monitoring equipment to avoid losses. http://www.trimble.com