Posts Tagged ‘global positioning systems’
Friday, October 12th, 2012
I’ve been wondering what would happen with in-car navigation as a result of the new turn-by-turn navigation now available in smartphones. In-car navigation is much more expensive than the $50 app that allows you to use turn-by-turn navigation on your cell phone. The big plus of in-car navigation is the fact that you don’t have to hold your device while trying to navigate busy streets. But the higher price tag of in-car navigation has car manufacturers thinking up ways to utilize the smartphone navigation system.
Solutions are in the works, according to an article in today’s New York Times: Ford has teamed up with the navigation company Telenav to enable Telenav’s Scout software to run on compatible vehicles outfitted with Ford’s Sync system and software called Applink. A $25-a-year app, Car Connect, lets drivers connect Android phones to the dash. (An iPhone version is in the works.)
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Tags: geospatial, GIS, global positioning systems, GPS, iPhone, maps, navigation, smartphones, TeleNav, turn-by-turn navigation
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Thursday, January 26th, 2012
In an article in the National Journal yesterday, it was reported that the company LightSquared had come before the Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee because “Tests indicate that LightSquared’s proposals would interfere with global positioning systems. LightSquared says it has solved the interference problems, but representatives of nine federal agencies concluded on Jan. 13 that no practical measures can allow LightSquared to overcome interference with GPS.
The finding, a significant blow to LightSquared’s case, prompted a furious response from the beleaguered wireless startup, which accused the government panel of “a systematic disregard for fairness and transparency.”
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee said he has met with representatives from both GPS companies and LightSquared in hopes of figuring out if there is an “engineering answer here.” He said he got two different answers.
The FCC says it will not give LightSquared final approval until tests show that the network can be safely built, but the agency has come under fire for its handling of the process.” –
Walden Questions FCC handling of Lightsquared
[GISCafe Voice November 21, 2011]
Tags: controversy, Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee, engineering, FCC, geospatial, global positioning systems, GPS, Lightsquared
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Monday, November 21st, 2011
In November a gathering of 150 GPS engineers convened in Stanford at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to discuss the $110 billion GPS market for military and commercial aviation systems, consumer mapping services in cars and automated agricultural machines, among other related industries at the fifth annual Stanford University symposium on Position, Navigation and Time.
A big topic on the table is that GPS is no longer the only navigation and tracking system on the planet any more. According to a November article in Wired, there are four things threatening the future of GPS:
- Next-generation mobile broadband services angling for a piece of the electromagnetic spectrum relied upon by GPS
- Cheap GPS jammers flooding the highways, thanks to consumers worried about invasive police and employers surveillance;
- Cosmic events, like solar storms
- Future location technology that will ultimately push those services to places where GPS hasn’t been able to go.
What’s on the horizon is the new mobile broadband company, Lightsquared, that has been said to threaten GPS signals with interference from a neighboring spectrum. Lightsquared appears at first like it will solve a lot of problems to broadband, by offering cable – like bandwidth to mobile customers through LTE, a next generation wireless service. What’s more, the Obama administration has endorsed Lightsquared – which resides in the same spectrum that runs GPS, which is lower power and gets interference easily.
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Tags: aviation, broadband, FCC, global positioning systems, GPS, Inmarsat, jammers, Lightsquared, location, LTE, mapping, military, mobile, navigation, Obama, PCTEL, positioning, satellite, Stanford University, sun spots, tracking, WAAS
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