NEWSBRIEFS – GPS

Misdirecting GPS maps appear in Chinese markets

A number of people in China are having trouble with GPS navigation systems in their cars, because they are installed with counterfeit electronic maps, but authorities are doing nothing about the problem as there are no laws regulating the industry. Over the past six months, the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping has granted eight companies across the country a certificate allowing them to produce electronic navigation maps.

Industry sources, however, say the number of fake maps on the market far exceed the number of genuine ones.. The electronic maps allow the system to tell drivers the best route to take to any destination. Legal maps cost more than 1,000 yuan (US$123) a piece, while counterfeits can sell for as little as 15 yuan.
www.shanghaidaily.com

GPS to track delivery of readymix to construction site

Delivering readymix concrete at this time of year is a battle against the clock as well as the thermometer. As the temperature starts to rise, any delay in the delivery of readymix to site can result in the cement solidifying and spoiling before the contractor gets to start the pour. And with traffi c congestion becoming an increasing problem in many construction industry hot spots throughout the Gulf, delivery delays are becoming more common. But one Bahrain-based concrete supplier hopes that receiving angry calls from contractors demanding to know what has happened to their delivery will be a thing of the past, thanks to a new tracking system, which allows them to keep tabs on their trucks. The Eastern Asphalt & Mixed Concrete Company (Eamco) is set to fi nish installing MobiApps, a fl eet management system, on its 45 cement mixers and 15 pump trucks by the end of the month. The system will allow Eamco to monitor its drivers’ activities in near real time, which will then enable management to keep a better watch on staff and also to inform customers about delays as they happen.
www.itp.net

Earth`s crust pulsates in the Amazon basin

Earth`s crust pulsates up and down in the center of the Amazon basin, new research suggests, according to researchers in Brazil and United States. A GPS located next to the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers in Brazil, recorded the station`s altitude from 1995 to 2002. During that period the station oscillated up and down within a range of about 75 millimeters, or 3 inches, which was 3 to 9 times larger than observed at GPS stations around the world. Michael Bevis of Ohio State University in Columbus, working with a team of colleagues, compared vertical crustal displacement with the fl uctuation of the water level in the river and found an almost perfect anti-correlation. As the river rises, the ground sinks. Conversely, as the river level falls in the dry season, the solid earth rebounds.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com

Truck fi rms in Philippines urged to use GPS

The Calabarzon police offi ce in Philippines has asked the association of trucking companies in the region to immediately install GPS gadgets in their trucks to thwart hijacking and highway robberies. Although the number of reported hijackings had declined in the past months, the threat was still high. Once installed the GPS could show the exact location of the trucks at any given time. In case a truck is taken by criminal elements or during an emergency, the police and its owner can easily detect where the truck is headed. Then police units can be dispatched to go after the truck at once. He said despite the availability of such technology in the country, the number of trucking companies using GPS in their units is still negligible. The most common reason cited by companies, he said, was that GPS units are expensive. http://news.inq7.net

Massive sunspot causing problem to GPS equipments

A sunspot fi ve times the size of Earth could wreak havoc with satellites and radio communication systems, scientists warn, as it moves across the face of the sun and Earth and moves directly into its fi ring line. Seven huge X-class fl ares have already erupted from the spot, including one of magnitude X17 that made it into the record books as the fourth largest ever seen. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that the fl ares have already caused problems with some electric power systems, radio communications and global positioning equipment. www.theregister.co.uk

GPS modernization begins with Delta rocket launch

A Boeing Delta 2 booster launched the fi rst modernized Global Positioning System satellite to build a bridge from the navigation network of today to the advancements of tomorrow.

The two-ton GPS 2R-M1 spacecraft rode its three-stage launcher into a temporary, looping orbit stretching from 150 to nearly 11,000 miles where the Delta successfully released its payload nearly 25 minutes after liftoff. Ground controllers will spend the next several days guiding the $75 million satellite to its final destination by fi ring an onboard kick motor to raise the orbit’s low point. The power-generating solar panels will be deployed and antennas unfurled during the critical early days, too.
justin@spaceflightnow.com

GPS device to track down racehorses

Racing has got a new piece of hitech kit, which monitors racehorse performance and simultaneously relays the information anywhere in the world. The new system has been developed by Cambridge Design Partnership together with British Endurance Riding Association Team member Dominique Freeman in U.K. It combines a GPS receiver with biological and environmental sensors in a single lightweight package carried by the horse. The device can simultaneously monitor the horse’s performance, physiology and environmental conditions. This can be displayed in real-time to the rider and transmitted live around the world. www.cambridge-news.co.uk

GPS to monitor sex behavior of giant pandas

Chinese and American scientists are using the GPS to monitor the sex behavior of giant pandas in deep mountains. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Zoology and the US Zoological Society of San Diego are joining hands in a three-year giant panda observation program in the Foping Natural Reserve of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, which costs 660,000US dollars. Hypogenesis and incretionary disorder make female giant pandas hard to get pregnant. Scientifi c statistics indicate that 78 percent of female giant pandas are unable to get pregnant while 90percent of males are sterile. Tracking them with advanced technologies and observing their sex activities might help us find ways to avoid their extinction. GPS and other computerized geographical systems could help scientists track movement of the surveyed in different seasons and the animals’ behavioral change in different environments.
http://news.xinhuanet.com

History lessons now equipped with GPS

A new project is linking history with new technology. Sixth formers are to use GPS to show tourists historic sites in a Denbighsire town in U.K. The history students at Ysgol Brynhyfryd will be equipped with palm-held computers showing Ruthin’s historic buildings via GPS. Data will be accessible via the computers close to sites when students act as tour guides later this month. The Alevel pupils have already digitised documents found among the archives in the town.
http://news.bbc.co.uk