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

Geospatial Intelligence Standards: Enabling a Common Vision
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has issued a new document that provides guidance and direction to develop an overall baseline for common geospatial standards used to share, manipulate, and exploit digital geospatial data. The document, “Geospatial Intelligence Standards: Enabling a Common Vision,” outlines the standards that will be used in the National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG). The NSG is the combination of technology, policies, capabilities, doctrine, activities, people, data and communities necessary to produce geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in an integrated multi-intelligence, multidomain environment. www.nga.mil

Hemisphere GPS Innovation Wins FinOvation Award
Hemisphere GPS has announced that the Outback S2 GPS guidance system has won a FinOvation Award by Farm Industry News. The Award recognizes the most innovative new products published in Farm Industry News during the past year. The guidance system combines Crescent® GPS Technology with a simple guidance interface. When combined with Outback eDrive and the new BaseLineHD, it provides the most affordable one-inch pass-to-pass automated steering system available.
Hemisphere GPS has also introduced centimeter-level accuracy through a Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) application for professionals working in precision agriculture, marine navigation, surveying and others. It also provides the same accuracy as dual-frequency RTK systems but at a fraction of the cost. www.hemispheregps.com