NEWSBRIEFS – GPS

GPS-enabled mobile gaming gets out of the lab in Germany

Students from the University of Bonn, with the game publisher Ravensburger Spiele and T-Mobile have invented Scotland Yard – to go!, a wireless version. The players are equipped with a Ultra Mobile PC including a GPRS connectivity and a GPS receiver. The GPS-enabled device provides the current location of the different players which is fed to a webserver. www.gpsbusinessnews.com

City council backs public safety GPS tracking system in Poland

The City Council of Bydgoszcz in Poland has added Fleet Vehicles Navigation module based on distributed real-time GPS data. Vehicles are equipped with GPS/GSM unit and a client-server system passes GPS position data from the vehicles to the Command Center. Vehicle also alarm status and text messages can be sent between in order to control and supervise the operation. Moreover, areas on the GIS map can be defined as alarm zones and if a vehicle enters such an area, an alarm will be generated and followed on the map and all positions are recorded. www.sat-gis.utp.edu.pl

GPS to help reduce Mumbai traffic woes

Infrared and GPS may soon be the answer to the traffic woes on the streets of Mumbai, India. IT company Mastek has been commissioned to evolve a toll system based on infrared and GPS that would make it mandatory for motorists to pay a premium for using the roads during busy hours. http://inhome.rediff.com

Need to redirect China’s GPS market

According to CCID Consulting report, there are over 1,000 GPS operators in China with over 1 million vehicles currently in the network. Currently, GPS operators in China mainly include GPS terminal makers which integrate the development, production, sales and operations of terminal products and system software into one body; software developers, who mainly develop system software, also engage in operations, while third parties operate independently. China’s GPS operation market is still at an opening stage and operators have yet to gain a mature understanding about automobile and personal services. Being new in the industry, GPS operations result to unsatisfactory quality of automobile and personal services provided. However, what cannot be ignored is that inadequate work on GPS hardware and software is also an important reason for the staggering quality of GPS operation service in China.

GPS navigation services with high precision and high stability require high quality GPS terminals, however, GPS terminals in China remain at an assembly stage. Manufacturers rarely produce their own technologies, in return, they are not able to control product quality or able to introduce new functions.

Currently, domestic GPS operators mainly offer assisted navigation and automobile safety protection. Much-demanded driving guides, vacant parking slot indication services based on dynamic road conditions, vehicle speed and route restriction information have yet to be introduced. Also, poor service quality and basic service content have caused a passive situation for operators in which users already join in the network are leaving, while new users can hardly be attracted to join. www.eetasia.com

Lockheed Martin to add GPS demonstration signal to GPS IIR-M

A Lockheed Martin-led team has begun production activities to reconfigure a modernized GPS Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite to include a new demonstration payload that will temporarily transmit a third civil signal following a successful review with the Air Force. Lockheed and its navigation payload supplier ITT are on-schedule to develop and integrate a payload that will provide an on-orbit demonstration capability for the new civil signal. www.lockheedmartin.com

India’s regional Sat Nav on track

According to G. Madhavan Nair, secretary of the Department of Space and chair of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the ISRO was nearly ready to build a prototype satellite for the navigation system. The satellites’ design is more or less complete, he said. He suggested that the first launch should take place in 2010, with all seven satellites in orbit and functioning by 2012. http://sidt.gpsworld.com

Leica Geosystems to offer a compliance path to all GNSS systems!

By the end of this decade, four independent GNSS will be operational – GPS GLONASS, Galileo and the Chinese Compass system. China and Europe have begun their deployments with the launch of test satellites. With Leica System 1200, all GNSS sensors can be upgraded to support all four constellations to offer additional benefits in performance and survey efficiency. Although system providers have not fully defined what signal restrictions they will apply, Leica can offer a compliance upgrade path to all four systems which is based on publicly available system definition.

Bush accepts Pentagon position on GPS

President Bush accepted the Pentagon’s decision to stop buying GPS satellites that can intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals used for a myriad of purposes. The move coincides with the Air Force’s solicitation to purchase the next generation of GPS satellites known as GPS III. http://ap.google.com