Garmin Chooses Sarantel Technology To Drive Development Of Next Generation Handheld
GPS Devices Printer Friendly
London - Jan 4th 2008 - Garmin has chosen Sarantel's award-winning GeoHelix GPS Antennas for its recently launched Colorado range of handheld GPS receivers. Sarantel (AIM: SLG) develops and manufactures the world's most advanced miniature filtering antennas for mobile, wireless and handheld devices. The technology is one of the most compact and yet accurate positioning antennas on the market today; designed with the varied and increasing demand for GPS technology in mind. Garmin is a pioneer and the worldwide leader in handheld GPS products and the Colorado series represents a dramatic step forward in innovation and usability in the outdoor GPS market segment. Users will benefit from a host of innovative features, such as world class positional accuracy, and will find its small size easier to use and more practical. The range of products incorporates a unique ''Rock 'N' Roller'' input device that allows for one-handed operation, shaded-relief and satellite imagery mapping and vibrant color 3-inch screen with high resolution, 15 hours of operating time on AA batteries, a built-in compass, altimeter, and temperature sensor, plus the ability to wirelessly exchange routes, tracks, waypoints, and geocaches between two units.David Wither, Chief Executive of Sarantel says: "Up to this point the challenge for GPS receiver manufacturers has been to develop a GPS product that works effectively and accurately but matching these performance requirements to an aesthetically pleasing, ever shrinking package is becoming increasingly difficult. Advances in antenna technology now mean that, for the first time, consumers can benefit from high performance in a small hand-held package, like Garmin's innovative new Colorado Series." About SarantelSarantel is a leader in the design of high-performance miniature antennas for portable wireless applications including hand-held navigation, satellite radio and laptop computers.Sarantel's revolutionary ceramic filtering antennas offer dramatically improved performance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clearer signal, better range and 90 per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation absorbed by the body.Because of their smaller size and higher capabilities, Sarantel's antennas enable manufacturers to create innovative high-volume consumer products incorporating technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, WiMax, 3G, GPRS, Satellite Radio and Bluetooth. More information about the company is available at www.sarantel.com
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Portable navigation on mobiles set to take off
John Walko
EE Times Europe (01/03/2008 8:30 AM EST)
LONDON — Sales of portable navigation devices are set to increase ten-fold over the next eight years, with the huge take-up coming from the the GPS functionality being embedded into mobile phones, according to Telematics Research Group (TRG).
While Garmin and TomTom are predicted to remain global market leaders for portable navigation devices, mobile phone makers such as Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to show the way in the near future, the Minneapolis based market research group suggests in a report on the sector.
TRG sees the worldwide portable navigation market growing from 50 million units in 2007 to more than 500 million units in 2015.
It suggests the change in market leadership is partly due to wireless connectivity opening up new applications and services by bringing together accurate location-based data with advanced POI data including pricing, inventory and user-generated content such as ratings of local businesses.
TRG estimates 30 million dedicated Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) were sold last year and about 20 million navigation-enabled mobile phones. It estimates that navigation-enabled mobile phones will start outselling dedicated PNDs next year, with the combined segments reaching annual sales of more than 220 million by the end of 2012.
The market researchers suggest that by 2015, Nokia could be selling 180 million devices with GPS capability, followed by Samsung and Motorola (both 70 million), LG (60 million), and TomTom and Garmin both 25 million.
Corresponding figures for last year are said to be 9 million units sold by TomTom, 8 million by Garmin, 7 million by Mitac, 5 million by Nokia and 4 million by Mio/Navman.
"In the years to come navigation-enabled mobile phones will be used for auto navigation, pedestrian navigation and many other types of location-based services," says Egil Juliussen, principal analyst for TRG. "This opens up a new world of services and capabilities".
Recent acquisitions by TomTom and Nokia point the way toward the coming battle for the GPS consumer, according to Juliussen.
"Required for success in the GPS market of the future will be connectivity, inexpensive maps and rich point-of-interest content addresses alone will not be enough", he adds.
Garmin and TomTom are adding connectivity to their devices, he notes, and mobile phone makers are adding maps. "A large volume market for inexpensive, dedicated navigation devices will live on past 2008," Juliussen says, but survival for TomTom and Garmin may mean finding a way to compete for smartphone users.
John Walko
EE Times Europe (01/03/2008 8:30 AM EST)
LONDON — Sales of portable navigation devices are set to increase ten-fold over the next eight years, with the huge take-up coming from the the GPS functionality being embedded into mobile phones, according to Telematics Research Group (TRG).
While Garmin and TomTom are predicted to remain global market leaders for portable navigation devices, mobile phone makers such as Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to show the way in the near future, the Minneapolis based market research group suggests in a report on the sector.
TRG sees the worldwide portable navigation market growing from 50 million units in 2007 to more than 500 million units in 2015.
It suggests the change in market leadership is partly due to wireless connectivity opening up new applications and services by bringing together accurate location-based data with advanced POI data including pricing, inventory and user-generated content such as ratings of local businesses.
TRG estimates 30 million dedicated Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) were sold last year and about 20 million navigation-enabled mobile phones. It estimates that navigation-enabled mobile phones will start outselling dedicated PNDs next year, with the combined segments reaching annual sales of more than 220 million by the end of 2012.
The market researchers suggest that by 2015, Nokia could be selling 180 million devices with GPS capability, followed by Samsung and Motorola (both 70 million), LG (60 million), and TomTom and Garmin both 25 million.
Corresponding figures for last year are said to be 9 million units sold by TomTom, 8 million by Garmin, 7 million by Mitac, 5 million by Nokia and 4 million by Mio/Navman.
"In the years to come navigation-enabled mobile phones will be used for auto navigation, pedestrian navigation and many other types of location-based services," says Egil Juliussen, principal analyst for TRG. "This opens up a new world of services and capabilities".
Recent acquisitions by TomTom and Nokia point the way toward the coming battle for the GPS consumer, according to Juliussen.
"Required for success in the GPS market of the future will be connectivity, inexpensive maps and rich point-of-interest content addresses alone will not be enough", he adds.
Garmin and TomTom are adding connectivity to their devices, he notes, and mobile phone makers are adding maps. "A large volume market for inexpensive, dedicated navigation devices will live on past 2008," Juliussen says, but survival for TomTom and Garmin may mean finding a way to compete for smartphone users.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
- The Economist | GPS, PDAs, SatNav, GeoTags, Social Networks - Converge and Monetize
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PERSONAL navigators—those turn-by-turn digital finders usually mounted on car dashboards, with touch screens and pre-loaded maps—have become this holiday season’s must-have gizmo. They account for seven of Amazon.com’s 20 top-selling electronic products this month.
Over the past year, global sales of such gadgets have doubled to 30m units. That’s small beer compared with annual sales of mobile phones or MP3 players. But with prices tumbling 20% annually, GPS (global positioning system) devices have reached a “tipping point” that has pitched them into mainstream acceptance.
Jupiter imagesBring it with you
This has happened faster than anyone expected, and for one simple reason: they’ve become small and light enough to make them portable. Untethered from the dashboard, personal navigators now travel as much with the owner on foot as with the car on the highway. In so doing, the device is morphing into something different and even more useful.
Thank Moore’s Law for a start. The relentless doubling of processor power every 18 months or so has endowed such devices with enough speed and storage to cope with ever-richer mapping tasks. Meanwhile, battery developments pioneered by mobile-phone makers have allowed portable navigators to run all day on a single charge.
Add a broadband wireless connection to location data from GPS satellites, digital maps packed with millions of “points of interest”, spoken street names and directions, and the navigation gizmo ceases to be a passive tool. Instead, it becomes alive with real-time information about where precisely (within 15 yards) you are on the planet and what’s happening nearby.
With a wireless connection, a portable navigator can add additional content to its map, such as minute-by-minute changes in traffic and weather conditions. Dynamic data like that then make it easy to provide alternative routes.
Last month, TomTom, a Dutch GPS-maker, launched a product that routes cars around traffic jams. Using a wireless connection, the subscription-based service collects traffic data by anonymously tracking the movement of mobile phones through their cellular network. Where the phone bleeps concentrate is where the snarl-ups are.
Adding connectivity to navigation doesn’t stop there. It can also be used to search the internet for local content while on the move. Input your likes and dislikes beforehand, and the device will search for things you might find interesting en route—an outlet of your favourite coffee chain, record store or Japanese restaurant, an old movie you’ve been meaning to see, or a popular hangout for folks your own age and inclination. Users have barely begun to tap navigation tools for their social-networking potential.
Also, instead of showing merely generic icons for hotels, restaurants, petrol stations and stores, mobile maps with broadband connections can be fed specific logos for, say, McDonald's, Shell or Gap. Even better, outlets can embed their latest offerings, discounts or seasonal menus within their clickable logos displayed on the map. Suddenly it becomes easy to find the cheapest place to gas up or have lunch.
Real-time parking information is another service that’s set to change our driving habits. Merely showing the location of a car park is useless if the lot is full. What motorists need to know beforehand is whether there are any empty slots, and does the lot accept validation from nearby stores and restaurants. Adding such features to personal navigation gear is relatively easy once the device is connected to the internet.
As navigation technology broadens its scope, it is changing its role. Until now, it has been used to guide people to their destinations. These innovations are turning it into a mobile tool to find things of personal interest along the way. That makes the route as much an input as an output—and the journey at least as important as the destination.
Other things change once mobile navigation steps out of the car and takes a hike. For instance, the “granularity” of the information displayed has to be finer. The kind of information that’s perfectly adequate for driving along the highway at 30mph is nowhere near detailed enough for walking at 3mph. In a car, “coming up soon” means in the next mile or so; on foot, it means literally the next block.
In addition, the nature of the route becomes as important as the distance. Motorists can use service roads and side streets as well as main roads and freeways without hesitation. By contrast, pedestrians can’t use freeways, but they can take short-cuts up steps, along walkways and footpaths, and across parks, plazas and open ground.
Pedestrians also need to know more about the “topology” of the route they’re being told to follow. Where hills barely bother motorists, they are a serious concern for people on foot. Where motorists look out for street signs, pedestrians watch for landmarks and special buildings like post offices, libraries, schools and petrol stations.
A mapping company called Tele Atlas uses a fleet of vans equipped with GPS and video cameras to record how individual streets actually look to walkers. Enriching maps with a worm’s (rather than bird’s) eye view—with real 3D images of stores and other roadside features—makes life easier for pedestrians and motorists alike.
All of which suggests map-making is the key to this rapidly changing field. Knowing where precisely individuals are at any given instant—and what retail outlets and other establishments they are near—is central to mobile searching and to location-based advertising. That’s why the two leading digital-mapping companies, Tele Atlas and Navteq, have lately been the target of takeover bids.
Earlier this week, Navteq, based in Chicago, formally accepted an $8.1 billion offer from Nokia, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker. Last month, Garmin, a Kansas City-based GPS-maker, withdrew its $3.3 billion hostile bid for Tele Atlas, leaving the map-maker to rival TomTom.
That Nokia paid so much for Navteq shows how important location-based information is becoming to mobile-phone companies. In a recent survey by J.D. Power and Associates, over 40% of respondents wanted GPS on their phones. Only 26% thought WiFi would be handy, and 19% would opt for television.
Mobile phones and navigation gear are clearly converging. By offering connectivity, mobile-search and location-based services (including route directions), both are chasing the same market: a rising generation of footloose, gregarious and acquisitive consumers.
Is there room for both platforms? Possibly. Their different strengths and forms should continue to differentiate them.
Smart phones will always be more compact and provide better voice connections, thanks to their proprietary cellular networks. By contrast, personal navigators will continue to offer bigger touch-sensitive screens, larger hard-drives and faster broadband connections. That will make them better for watching streaming video and television as well reading the fine-grained information and 3D imagery now being packed into navigation maps.
Enthusiasts will presumably want both. Having dropped enough hints over the past few weeks, your correspondent hopes to be opening a new one of each on Christmas Day.
http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/techview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=103...
Saturday December 15, 2
December 21, 2007
Future Digital Maps will rely on user generated content
The expected growth of handset-based pedestrian navigation and location based services will have a drastic impact on the traditional map production technologies, as they will no longer be able to generate and update the exponentially growing volume of required map details.
“User-Generated Digital Maps and POIs” is the new study from ABI Research, examines the major user-generated location content features, players, trends, drivers and barriers.
According to the company, by 2012 a large part of all map and POI content will be generated by more than 50 million active members of user communities. “TomTom Map Share is the first commercial implementation of user-generated map content technology directly on a Personal Navigation Device (PND),” says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “Map corrections or POI additions can be input on the device on the fly and instantly uploaded and shared with the rest of the TomTom Map Share community. AND (Automotive Navigation Data) has recently made available an online digital map which can be modified by all users based on Web 2.0 technology, allowing AND to produce maps more quickly and at a lower cost.”
Europe is already leading the way, Bonte says, as several open POI-community projects such as GPS-Waypoints, TellmeWhere, and GyPSii have recently launched, some of which have attracted venture capital funding. Advertising is expected to be the main revenue source for these ventures, though Bonte says that opportunities may still exist to sell packaged content to navigation vendors.
The study also says that Geocontent will become an important new dimension of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, creating synergies with Geoweb and POI-community related initiatives. Ultimately all mobile devices will become connected, accessing web-based geocontent from a variety of sources.
The report also contains forecasts for the number of community-ready navigation devices and the number of active users involved in user-generated content initiatives. It forms part of the Automotive Infotainment and Location Aware Services Research Services.
Source : www.abiresearch.com ,www.destinationcrm.com
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
ABI: 50 million users will generate map and POI data by 2012
Dominique Bonte
ABI Research today released a new study,“User-Generated Digital Maps and POIs”, forecasting that by 2012 a large part of all map and POI content will be generated by more than 50 million active members of user communities. The acquisition of NAVTEQ by Nokia and the bidding war between Garmin and TomTom for control of Tele Atlas have shown how important digital maps have become in the navigation and location value chain. However, explains ABI Research, with the expected growth of handset-based pedestrian navigation and location based services, traditional map production technologies will no longer be able to generate and update the exponentially growing volume of required map details. The case for user-generated content for POIs is even stronger, as they are even more dynamic in nature. “TomTom Map Share is the first commercial implementation of user-generated map content technology directly on a Personal Navigation Device,” says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “Map corrections or POI additions can be input on the device on the fly and instantly uploaded and shared with the rest of the TomTom Map Share community. AND (Automotive Navigation Data) has recently made available an online digital map which can be modified by all users based on Web 2.0 technology, allowing AND to produce maps more quickly and at a lower cost.” While branded content sharing initiatives are aimed at keeping commercial maps up-to-date at low cost, completely open and standardized community projects will create digital maps and POI-databases from scratch. “The OpenStreetMap project has already achieved high levels of coverage in the Netherlands, UK and Germany”,said ABI. “Several open POI-community projects such as GPS-Waypoints, TellmeWhere and GyPSii have recently been launched, some of which have attracted important venture capital funding. Their main revenue source is expected to be based on advertising, and opportunities may still exist to sell packaged content to navigation vendors”. “Geocontent will become an important new dimension of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace”, added ABI.
Wednesday 12th December 2007
Dominique Bonte
ABI Research today released a new study,“User-Generated Digital Maps and POIs”, forecasting that by 2012 a large part of all map and POI content will be generated by more than 50 million active members of user communities. The acquisition of NAVTEQ by Nokia and the bidding war between Garmin and TomTom for control of Tele Atlas have shown how important digital maps have become in the navigation and location value chain. However, explains ABI Research, with the expected growth of handset-based pedestrian navigation and location based services, traditional map production technologies will no longer be able to generate and update the exponentially growing volume of required map details. The case for user-generated content for POIs is even stronger, as they are even more dynamic in nature. “TomTom Map Share is the first commercial implementation of user-generated map content technology directly on a Personal Navigation Device,” says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “Map corrections or POI additions can be input on the device on the fly and instantly uploaded and shared with the rest of the TomTom Map Share community. AND (Automotive Navigation Data) has recently made available an online digital map which can be modified by all users based on Web 2.0 technology, allowing AND to produce maps more quickly and at a lower cost.” While branded content sharing initiatives are aimed at keeping commercial maps up-to-date at low cost, completely open and standardized community projects will create digital maps and POI-databases from scratch. “The OpenStreetMap project has already achieved high levels of coverage in the Netherlands, UK and Germany”,said ABI. “Several open POI-community projects such as GPS-Waypoints, TellmeWhere and GyPSii have recently been launched, some of which have attracted important venture capital funding. Their main revenue source is expected to be based on advertising, and opportunities may still exist to sell packaged content to navigation vendors”. “Geocontent will become an important new dimension of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace”, added ABI.
Wednesday 12th December 2007
Will Business Use Of GPS And Location Services Go Vertical Next Year?
Posted by Stephen
Location and GPS seem to be on everyone's minds these days. Seeing as it's it the end of the year, it's time to break out the crystal ball and see what lies ahead. Where will GPS and location services go in 2008? Will the market for these mobile technologies fragment into vertically-specific applications or will there be one set of horizontal mobile GPS apps?
I recently sat down with Sal Dhanani, co-founder and senior director of marketing at TeleNav, to get another take on the future of location services.
Over The Air (OTA): Hello Sal, welcome to Take 5 on Over The Air. First, why don't you tell us a little bit about TeleNav and its position in the mobile location market?
Sal Dhanani (SD): TeleNav was the first company to launch a GPS navigation system on mobile phones for the US market in 2003. TeleNav currently has 14 carrier partners in 21 countries, across four continents. The company's products are compatible with most mobile platforms and on more than 200 devices.Our first product, TeleNav GPS Navigator, is the first mobile navigation application to include 3D maps, voice-activated, turn-by-turn instructions, social networking, one-click traffic rerouting, cheapest gas price finder, and local search, all-in-one. The other, TeleNav Track, is a mobile resource management system that allows enterprises to better manage their fleet, track inventory and job status, receive GPS directions, and receive real-time fleet location updates.
OTA: Where do you see GPS and location-based services moving in 2008?
SD: 2008 will be a growth year for LBS. Location services are a proven set of technologies that carriers can generate revenue with so, as a consequence, I think we will see more awareness from the carriers. This combined with higher GPS handset penetration will fuel growth.We'll also see more applications like social networking and lifestyle LBS come out next year, and perhaps we'll also see LBS-based advertising.
OTA: Will we see an explosion of non-GPS LBS? Those location services that do not rely on satellites but use cell towers instead?
SD: Cell tower location will work for services that do not require high accuracy -- although the same services would be much better with GPS. Finding a business 'nearby,' getting a map of the general area, SMSing 'rough' locations to someone are all useful with cell tower location.However, depending on cell tower location technology can be very taxing on the cellular network. Cellular technologies like AFLT and E-OTD are more accurate but network heavy, so we may see limited use of these. Cell sector, however, is lighter on the network but not nearly as accurate.
OTA: What do you make of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s new non-GPS location feature, My Location, on Google Maps for mobile?
SD: It's very cool. Google has done it again. Fairly well executed. The 'My Location' service is fine for users who are simply looking for basic location information and business listings -- but it is very different from traditional LBS services like Navigation and even LBS local search -- which give precise information. For people who want traditional GPS, 'My Location' won't cut it.
OTA: What new business apps will we see in 2008 that utilize location?
SD: So far LBS business apps have been horizontal, meaning one size fits all. In 2008 we'll see the beginnings of tailored LBS apps for verticals and also highly customized apps for enterprise accounts.
« Second Life CTO Leaves Amid Reports Of Falling Out With CEO Main Is Your Computer Keyboard Dishwasher Safe? »
Posted by Stephen
Location and GPS seem to be on everyone's minds these days. Seeing as it's it the end of the year, it's time to break out the crystal ball and see what lies ahead. Where will GPS and location services go in 2008? Will the market for these mobile technologies fragment into vertically-specific applications or will there be one set of horizontal mobile GPS apps?
I recently sat down with Sal Dhanani, co-founder and senior director of marketing at TeleNav, to get another take on the future of location services.
Over The Air (OTA): Hello Sal, welcome to Take 5 on Over The Air. First, why don't you tell us a little bit about TeleNav and its position in the mobile location market?
Sal Dhanani (SD): TeleNav was the first company to launch a GPS navigation system on mobile phones for the US market in 2003. TeleNav currently has 14 carrier partners in 21 countries, across four continents. The company's products are compatible with most mobile platforms and on more than 200 devices.Our first product, TeleNav GPS Navigator, is the first mobile navigation application to include 3D maps, voice-activated, turn-by-turn instructions, social networking, one-click traffic rerouting, cheapest gas price finder, and local search, all-in-one. The other, TeleNav Track, is a mobile resource management system that allows enterprises to better manage their fleet, track inventory and job status, receive GPS directions, and receive real-time fleet location updates.
OTA: Where do you see GPS and location-based services moving in 2008?
SD: 2008 will be a growth year for LBS. Location services are a proven set of technologies that carriers can generate revenue with so, as a consequence, I think we will see more awareness from the carriers. This combined with higher GPS handset penetration will fuel growth.We'll also see more applications like social networking and lifestyle LBS come out next year, and perhaps we'll also see LBS-based advertising.
OTA: Will we see an explosion of non-GPS LBS? Those location services that do not rely on satellites but use cell towers instead?
SD: Cell tower location will work for services that do not require high accuracy -- although the same services would be much better with GPS. Finding a business 'nearby,' getting a map of the general area, SMSing 'rough' locations to someone are all useful with cell tower location.However, depending on cell tower location technology can be very taxing on the cellular network. Cellular technologies like AFLT and E-OTD are more accurate but network heavy, so we may see limited use of these. Cell sector, however, is lighter on the network but not nearly as accurate.
OTA: What do you make of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s new non-GPS location feature, My Location, on Google Maps for mobile?
SD: It's very cool. Google has done it again. Fairly well executed. The 'My Location' service is fine for users who are simply looking for basic location information and business listings -- but it is very different from traditional LBS services like Navigation and even LBS local search -- which give precise information. For people who want traditional GPS, 'My Location' won't cut it.
OTA: What new business apps will we see in 2008 that utilize location?
SD: So far LBS business apps have been horizontal, meaning one size fits all. In 2008 we'll see the beginnings of tailored LBS apps for verticals and also highly customized apps for enterprise accounts.
« Second Life CTO Leaves Amid Reports Of Falling Out With CEO Main Is Your Computer Keyboard Dishwasher Safe? »
GPS creates new revenue and Google knows it
With Google’s announcement that it is entering the mobile phone market with location-based services it’s clear that Google is expanding its highly successful advertising services to the mobile phone platform.
With the “development of Android”, a platform created for mobile devices by ”Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others“ known as the Open Handset Alliance, Google is positioning its multi-billion dollar empire to expand its core ad business into mobile markets worldwide.
Location-Based Advertising offers Google a significant opporunity to own the mobile market and they’ve taken the right approach to ensuring their success by involving communities of users to help in developing ”the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.”
Location Based Advertising [also known as Location Based Services or LBS] creates new revenue streams from location-relevant advertisements (audio and/or audio/video, text and multimedia) from national, regional, and local partners expanding their marketing programs into new media channels. This is a compelling value proposition for advertisers who are cutting back on their TV advertising spend due to decreasing ROI.
In a research report conducted in 2006, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Research, Inc. found that “78% of marketers feel that traditional TV advertising has become less effective in the past two years.“
Advertisers are looking for new media channels that reach targeted markets. LBS offers a new frontier for enterprising companies looking to “entertain, inform, build brand awareness, create loyalty, and drive purchase decision among their target consumers through LBA“.
With Google’s announcement that it is entering the mobile phone market with location-based services it’s clear that Google is expanding its highly successful advertising services to the mobile phone platform.
With the “development of Android”, a platform created for mobile devices by ”Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others“ known as the Open Handset Alliance, Google is positioning its multi-billion dollar empire to expand its core ad business into mobile markets worldwide.
Location-Based Advertising offers Google a significant opporunity to own the mobile market and they’ve taken the right approach to ensuring their success by involving communities of users to help in developing ”the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.”
Location Based Advertising [also known as Location Based Services or LBS] creates new revenue streams from location-relevant advertisements (audio and/or audio/video, text and multimedia) from national, regional, and local partners expanding their marketing programs into new media channels. This is a compelling value proposition for advertisers who are cutting back on their TV advertising spend due to decreasing ROI.
In a research report conducted in 2006, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Research, Inc. found that “78% of marketers feel that traditional TV advertising has become less effective in the past two years.“
Advertisers are looking for new media channels that reach targeted markets. LBS offers a new frontier for enterprising companies looking to “entertain, inform, build brand awareness, create loyalty, and drive purchase decision among their target consumers through LBA“.
A freeware tip for Nokia N95 and 6110 Navigator users - GyPSii software
Written by LBSzone
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Just released, GyPSii software (freeware) for Nokia N95 and 6110 Navigator today.
GypSii works as follows:1. Take a photo using the app (or add an existing photo to the app) on your phone - this is called "PlaceMe"2. Upload to GyPSii website with location attached (using GPS)3. Check out what's around your current position ("Search") or where your GyPSii friends are ("SpaceMe"), see them on a map, share Places with them, etc etc4. Log in to http://www.gypsii.com when you get home and check out what's going on in the rest of the world, or edit your own PlacesThe software is downloadable at http://gypsii.com/m (there's also Windows Mobile software)
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Written by LBSzone
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Just released, GyPSii software (freeware) for Nokia N95 and 6110 Navigator today.
GypSii works as follows:1. Take a photo using the app (or add an existing photo to the app) on your phone - this is called "PlaceMe"2. Upload to GyPSii website with location attached (using GPS)3. Check out what's around your current position ("Search") or where your GyPSii friends are ("SpaceMe"), see them on a map, share Places with them, etc etc4. Log in to http://www.gypsii.com when you get home and check out what's going on in the rest of the world, or edit your own PlacesThe software is downloadable at http://gypsii.com/m (there's also Windows Mobile software)
Next >
[ Back ]
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Microsoft Acquires U.K. Map Firm
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday acquired U.K. mapping company Multimap for an undisclosed sum, as part of a move by the U.S. technology giant to offer more targeted advertising and better compete with Google Inc.
Microsoft has built its mapping services over the past few years with offerings like Virtual Earth and Live Search. Multimap, an Internet maps and location-based services company, will help Microsoft expand its location-based search engine and advertising platforms, Microsoft said.
Multimap, which has been running since 1996, is one of Europe's most popular mapping Web sites and is also available on mobile phones and personal digital assistants. It provides street-level maps, photography and travel directions to users in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.
Multimap's location-based services could also integrate with aQuantive, the advertising platform Microsoft acquired in May for $6 billion, Microsoft said. Multimap itself has been building advertising services in the past year, launching services that allow people to find and book hotel and restaurant reservations online, as well as buy historic and aerial photos.
"This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business and presents a huge opportunity to expand our platform business beyond the U.K. and globally," said Sharon Baylay, general manager at Microsoft's Online Services Group.
Multimap will be run as a subsidiary of Microsoft, as part of the Virtual Earth and Search unit within the company's Online Services Group.
Microsoft has been struggling to compete with Google in the mapping space, where that company leads the market with its Google Maps and Google Earth products. Google Maps had 71.5 million unique users during October, while its Earth service recorded 22.7 million users, according to research company Nielsen Online. In comparison, Microsoft's Windows Live Maps service had 7.1 million unique users worldwide during the same period, Nielsen said. Multimap had 1.4 million users.
"This mapping technology will help us build better services and compete in the search space where we want to compete more and more and make progress on the dominant position Google has," said John Mangelaars, Microsoft's European vice president for Online Services Business, in an interview.
In addition to building its customer base, Mr. Mangelaars said the acquisition of the privately-held company will see more than 150 staff transfer to Microsoft.
Posted by ltd at 11:12 AM
0 co
Microsoft Acquires U.K. Map Firm
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday acquired U.K. mapping company Multimap for an undisclosed sum, as part of a move by the U.S. technology giant to offer more targeted advertising and better compete with Google Inc.
Microsoft has built its mapping services over the past few years with offerings like Virtual Earth and Live Search. Multimap, an Internet maps and location-based services company, will help Microsoft expand its location-based search engine and advertising platforms, Microsoft said.
Multimap, which has been running since 1996, is one of Europe's most popular mapping Web sites and is also available on mobile phones and personal digital assistants. It provides street-level maps, photography and travel directions to users in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.
Multimap's location-based services could also integrate with aQuantive, the advertising platform Microsoft acquired in May for $6 billion, Microsoft said. Multimap itself has been building advertising services in the past year, launching services that allow people to find and book hotel and restaurant reservations online, as well as buy historic and aerial photos.
"This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business and presents a huge opportunity to expand our platform business beyond the U.K. and globally," said Sharon Baylay, general manager at Microsoft's Online Services Group.
Multimap will be run as a subsidiary of Microsoft, as part of the Virtual Earth and Search unit within the company's Online Services Group.
Microsoft has been struggling to compete with Google in the mapping space, where that company leads the market with its Google Maps and Google Earth products. Google Maps had 71.5 million unique users during October, while its Earth service recorded 22.7 million users, according to research company Nielsen Online. In comparison, Microsoft's Windows Live Maps service had 7.1 million unique users worldwide during the same period, Nielsen said. Multimap had 1.4 million users.
"This mapping technology will help us build better services and compete in the search space where we want to compete more and more and make progress on the dominant position Google has," said John Mangelaars, Microsoft's European vice president for Online Services Business, in an interview.
In addition to building its customer base, Mr. Mangelaars said the acquisition of the privately-held company will see more than 150 staff transfer to Microsoft.
Posted by ltd at 11:12 AM
0 co
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Google to send business addresses to TomTom devices
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December 05, 2007 (Computerworld) -- TomTom International BV has teamed with Google Inc. to make it easier for users to search for and send business addresses from Google Maps to their TomTom portable navigation devices.
"The ability to search, find and send information from the Web to a TomTom is something we have been investing in for some time now," said Eric Pité, vice president for product management at TomTom, in a statement. "This cooperation represents a major step for TomTom in meeting the growing demands of our customers for personalized content for their TomTom devices."
Google has expanded the local search pages of Google Maps by adding "Send to GPS" to its "Send to" feature, according to the statement. That means TomTom users can add business addresses to their devices without having to download .zip files. After a user searches for a business address on Google Maps, all he has to do is click on the "Send to GPS" button to transfer the information to his TomTom device.
The information is transferred to the device when it is connected to the Internet via TomTom Home, the company's free software application. Once this is completed, motorists can view the location of the business on the map on the TomTom device as well as navigate to the destination. The address can also be saved on the device as a "favorite" for later use, TomTom International said.
"We are constantly working to make our maps more useful so they become a one-stop shop for finding all the local information and directions that people need," said Giorgio Scherl, a Google product manager, in the statement.
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
December 05, 2007 (Computerworld) -- TomTom International BV has teamed with Google Inc. to make it easier for users to search for and send business addresses from Google Maps to their TomTom portable navigation devices.
"The ability to search, find and send information from the Web to a TomTom is something we have been investing in for some time now," said Eric Pité, vice president for product management at TomTom, in a statement. "This cooperation represents a major step for TomTom in meeting the growing demands of our customers for personalized content for their TomTom devices."
Google has expanded the local search pages of Google Maps by adding "Send to GPS" to its "Send to" feature, according to the statement. That means TomTom users can add business addresses to their devices without having to download .zip files. After a user searches for a business address on Google Maps, all he has to do is click on the "Send to GPS" button to transfer the information to his TomTom device.
The information is transferred to the device when it is connected to the Internet via TomTom Home, the company's free software application. Once this is completed, motorists can view the location of the business on the map on the TomTom device as well as navigate to the destination. The address can also be saved on the device as a "favorite" for later use, TomTom International said.
"We are constantly working to make our maps more useful so they become a one-stop shop for finding all the local information and directions that people need," said Giorgio Scherl, a Google product manager, in the statement.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
This is just so cool, and having used it over the past few months around the world, it actually is improving with time as other users improve our cell database. Another great example of the power of cloud-sourcing and another shot in the arm for the prospects of LBS - as a platform not an application.
This is really just the first step..
Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 networkThursday, December 06, 2007
Market Study Confirms deCarta as the Dominant Platform Provider for Wireless Location-Based Services Applications
deCarta-powered applications drive 90% of LBS revenues for top U.S. wireless carriers
By: PR Newswire
Dec. 3, 2007 08:00 PMDigg This!
SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- deCarta, the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today announced that recent market data clearly demonstrates that deCarta provides the enabling technology that powers the top applications among the largest US Wireless carriers including Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T. Nielsen Mobile, a division of The Nielsen Company, recently released its third quarter Mobile Application Report on usage and revenue from wireless applications. In Nielsen Mobile's report, LBS has grown to account for 58 percent of the total application revenue among the top four U.S. wireless carriers, up from 51 percent the previous quarter. In this fast growing market, 63 percent of LBS applications downloaded were running on deCarta's technology. Furthermore, these applications drove 90 percent of wireless LBS revenue at these carriers.
These results demonstrate and reaffirm deCarta's dominance as the preferred provider of LBS software platforms. Among the companies using the deCarta platform for wireless LBS applications are market leaders including Networks In Motion, TeleNav, Wavemarket and Loopt.
"Consumer demand and adoption of mobile LBS is rapidly accelerating, and underscores the market requirement for LBS application providers to create highly differentiated applications to capture consumer attention and market share," said J. Kim Fennell, president and CEO of deCarta. "This recent study from Nielsen is a testament to the value deCarta's platforms provide to our customers, like Networks In Motion."
deCarta's software platform gives LBS application developers the ability to quickly build applications that integrate a wide variety of map and data sources to provide complex mapping, routing and spatial search functions.
"Delivering compelling applications to the consumer has enabled us to be the first to exceed two million paid mobile phone navigation subscribers," said Doug Antone, president and CEO of Networks In Motion. "deCarta's software platform allows us to focus on our client/server technology and other components involved in bringing to market successful LBS applications."
For more information about deCarta and its platforms, please visit http://www.decarta.com/.
About deCarta
deCarta is the leading geospatial software platform that has enabled some of the industry's most successful Location-Based Services (LBS) applications such as those that have been deployed by Ask.com, Google, Verizon and Sprint Nextel. The company's unique, patented technology is ideal for high-volume LBS applications for use in Internet, mobile, personal navigation and enterprise applications where scalability, speed and reliability are vital. Its Drill Down Server geospatial software platform, Rich Map Engine, Hosted Web Service and Navigation SDK are preferred by application developers and service providers who also want the flexibility to customize map styles, utilize unique routing capabilities and self-brand. Some of deCarta's customers and technology partners have included AND, Appello, Ask.com, ATX, AutoTrader.com, Google, Hotels.com, Inrix, Local Matters, Maps.com, Motorola, Multimap, NAVTEQ, Networks In Motion, Rand McNally, SRC, Tele Atlas, TeleNav, TopTable.com and Zillow. deCarta is privately held and headquartered in San Jose, California with international offices in the UK and China. http://www.decarta.com/
deCarta-powered applications drive 90% of LBS revenues for top U.S. wireless carriers
By: PR Newswire
Dec. 3, 2007 08:00 PMDigg This!
SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- deCarta, the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today announced that recent market data clearly demonstrates that deCarta provides the enabling technology that powers the top applications among the largest US Wireless carriers including Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T. Nielsen Mobile, a division of The Nielsen Company, recently released its third quarter Mobile Application Report on usage and revenue from wireless applications. In Nielsen Mobile's report, LBS has grown to account for 58 percent of the total application revenue among the top four U.S. wireless carriers, up from 51 percent the previous quarter. In this fast growing market, 63 percent of LBS applications downloaded were running on deCarta's technology. Furthermore, these applications drove 90 percent of wireless LBS revenue at these carriers.
These results demonstrate and reaffirm deCarta's dominance as the preferred provider of LBS software platforms. Among the companies using the deCarta platform for wireless LBS applications are market leaders including Networks In Motion, TeleNav, Wavemarket and Loopt.
"Consumer demand and adoption of mobile LBS is rapidly accelerating, and underscores the market requirement for LBS application providers to create highly differentiated applications to capture consumer attention and market share," said J. Kim Fennell, president and CEO of deCarta. "This recent study from Nielsen is a testament to the value deCarta's platforms provide to our customers, like Networks In Motion."
deCarta's software platform gives LBS application developers the ability to quickly build applications that integrate a wide variety of map and data sources to provide complex mapping, routing and spatial search functions.
"Delivering compelling applications to the consumer has enabled us to be the first to exceed two million paid mobile phone navigation subscribers," said Doug Antone, president and CEO of Networks In Motion. "deCarta's software platform allows us to focus on our client/server technology and other components involved in bringing to market successful LBS applications."
For more information about deCarta and its platforms, please visit http://www.decarta.com/.
About deCarta
deCarta is the leading geospatial software platform that has enabled some of the industry's most successful Location-Based Services (LBS) applications such as those that have been deployed by Ask.com, Google, Verizon and Sprint Nextel. The company's unique, patented technology is ideal for high-volume LBS applications for use in Internet, mobile, personal navigation and enterprise applications where scalability, speed and reliability are vital. Its Drill Down Server geospatial software platform, Rich Map Engine, Hosted Web Service and Navigation SDK are preferred by application developers and service providers who also want the flexibility to customize map styles, utilize unique routing capabilities and self-brand. Some of deCarta's customers and technology partners have included AND, Appello, Ask.com, ATX, AutoTrader.com, Google, Hotels.com, Inrix, Local Matters, Maps.com, Motorola, Multimap, NAVTEQ, Networks In Motion, Rand McNally, SRC, Tele Atlas, TeleNav, TopTable.com and Zillow. deCarta is privately held and headquartered in San Jose, California with international offices in the UK and China. http://www.decarta.com/
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Nov. 28, 2007 at 11:00am Eastern by Greg Sterling
Google Introduces New "My Location" Feature for Mobile Devices
Many mobile industry insiders and pundits have argued that when GPS becomes ubiquitous then "location based services" will really take off. The problem is: GPS doesn't always work, it isn't yet in every device, and isn't always enabled even if it is present. But the premise that passive location awareness represents a big opportunity in mobile is correct. Accordingly, Google is introducing a new "My Location" feature for Google Maps for Mobile that takes advantage of GPS (if present) but uses cell-tower triangulation for the majority of phones where GPS isn't present or won't work for one reason or another.
In non-GPS scenarios the service can pinpoint user location within 500 to 5000 meters. Where it uses GPS, the new feature identifies user location precisely. Here's how Google explains how My Location works:
Mobile towers are placed by operators throughout an area to provide coverage for their users. Each of these towers has its own individual coverage area, usually split into three non-overlapping sections know as "cells." These cells come with identification numbers, but no location information. Google takes geo-contextual information [from anonymous GPS readings, etc.] and associates this information with the cell at that location to develop a database of cell locations. Based on this information, Google uses various algorithms to approximate a user's handset location relative to the cells nearest to them. The accuracy of this information depends on how big an individual cell is. Thus, areas with a denser concentration of mobile towers allow for a more accurate My Location reading. Additionally, as our database of cell locations continues to improve, so too does the accuracy and coverage of the My Location feature.
In order to fix your location, you press the "0" key on the handset. It doesn't work 100 percent of the time, but it has performed fairly consistently in my testing. What the user is then permitted to do is conduct a search and discover results in closest proximity nearby. It removes the inconvenience of keying in location information.
One can simply enter "Starbucks" or "sushi" or "salons" or any other query and find the nearest locations. It thereby eliminates the frustrations of having to key in additional characters or query terms.
My Location is available today for the majority of smartphones, including BlackBerry, Nokia (Series 60), and many Windows Mobile phones. Not supported currently are the iPhone, Motorola Q, Samsung Blackjack, and Palm Treo 700w. The service works in the US, UK, most of Europe, including Russia, and in Taiwan. It's not currently available in China or Japan.
There is no advertising on Google Maps for Mobile now, of course. But expect that, over time, ads will be introduced just as they exist on Google Maps on the desktop. More precise user location information creates an opportunity for those ads to become much more locally relevant than on the PC.
Here's a video that explains My Location:
By Greg Sterling 
Permalink Jump To Comments See Related Stories In: Google: Mobile
Monday, November 26, 2007
How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years ?
The two principal functions of mobile phones have been picture taking and music playing. Today the satellite navigation is expected to be the must-have feature: research suggests that 25% of mobile phones will have GPS by 2010.
In the United States, a large number of mobile phones have integrated GPS chips for security reasons, to pinpoint user's location when they are in danger. But theses chips can also be the support of various location based services. Nokia and Motorola have already introduced their navigation enabled handset for the mass market, so far the sells going well : apparently PNDs don't have a negative impact on GPS enabled phones growth rate (we have talked about it here) and we expect that growth to continue in the next years.
The most obvious service of GPS enabled phones is turn-by-turn navigation, which provides directions simply by allowing users to type a destination.Satellites locate the GPS-enabled device and map the device's location to the destination.A map can be then generated on the user's screen, along with text based directions. So the key factor for GPS phones is to keep the map up to date : See #8-Why did Nokia buy Navteq :-)
But location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation :
Mobile search will become a standard feature on all handsets over the next three years.
Mobile Social Networking will be a killer application (social networking : "finding friends and meeting new ones", receiving alerts when a friend is close by, ect)
Geotagging: Internet and maps will allow people to upload pictures, videos and sound clips recorded with their phones that are automatically encoded with the location where the picture was taken or the recording was made
Mobile Geo-advertising : according Telephia's report, mobile video revenues in Q1 2007 increased 198% over the previous year, and mobile video users had the best ad recall of any mobile data user group. With LBS, mobile ads will be adopted on a large scale.
23 November 2007 in The business of GPS Permalink
The two principal functions of mobile phones have been picture taking and music playing. Today the satellite navigation is expected to be the must-have feature: research suggests that 25% of mobile phones will have GPS by 2010.
In the United States, a large number of mobile phones have integrated GPS chips for security reasons, to pinpoint user's location when they are in danger. But theses chips can also be the support of various location based services. Nokia and Motorola have already introduced their navigation enabled handset for the mass market, so far the sells going well : apparently PNDs don't have a negative impact on GPS enabled phones growth rate (we have talked about it here) and we expect that growth to continue in the next years.
The most obvious service of GPS enabled phones is turn-by-turn navigation, which provides directions simply by allowing users to type a destination.Satellites locate the GPS-enabled device and map the device's location to the destination.A map can be then generated on the user's screen, along with text based directions. So the key factor for GPS phones is to keep the map up to date : See #8-Why did Nokia buy Navteq :-)
But location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation :
Mobile search will become a standard feature on all handsets over the next three years.
Mobile Social Networking will be a killer application (social networking : "finding friends and meeting new ones", receiving alerts when a friend is close by, ect)
Geotagging: Internet and maps will allow people to upload pictures, videos and sound clips recorded with their phones that are automatically encoded with the location where the picture was taken or the recording was made
Mobile Geo-advertising : according Telephia's report, mobile video revenues in Q1 2007 increased 198% over the previous year, and mobile video users had the best ad recall of any mobile data user group. With LBS, mobile ads will be adopted on a large scale.
23 November 2007 in The business of GPS Permalink
Friday, November 23, 2007
How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years ?
The two principal functions of mobile phones have been picture taking and music playing. Today the satellite navigation is expected to be the must-have feature: research suggests that 25% of mobile phones will have GPS by 2010.
In the United States, a large number of mobile phones have integrated GPS chips for security reasons, to pinpoint user's location when they are in danger. But theses chips can also be the support of various location based services. Nokia and Motorola have already introduced their navigation enabled handset for the mass market, so far the sells going well : apparently PNDs don't have a negative impact on GPS enabled phones growth rate (we have talked about it here) and we expect that growth to continue in the next years.
The most obvious service of GPS enabled phones is turn-by-turn navigation, which provides directions simply by allowing users to type a destination.Satellites locate the GPS-enabled device and map the device's location to the destination.A map can be then generated on the user's screen, along with text based directions. So the key factor for GPS phones is to keep the map up to date : See #8-Why did Nokia buy Navteq :-)
But location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation :
- Mobile search will become a standard feature on all handsets over the next three years.
- Mobile Social Networking will be a killer application (social networking : "finding friends and meeting new ones", receiving alerts when a friend is close by, ect)
- Geotagging: Internet and maps will allow people to upload pictures, videos and sound clips recorded with their phones that are automatically encoded with the location where the picture was taken or the recording was made
- Mobile Geo-advertising : according Telephia's report, mobile video revenues in Q1 2007 increased 198% over the previous year, and mobile video users had the best ad recall of any mobile data user group. With LBS, mobile ads will be adopted on a large scale.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Paperless Map Is the Killer App
Forget media downloads. Cell customers really want GPS and navigation features
First, cell phones made the streetcorner pay phone obsolete. Now they're doing away with the need to ask for directions. A surge in phones with built-in satellite navigation capability has sparked a wave of creative mapping and locating services. And it has set off a multibillion-dollar scramble by companies to buy up digital navigation technologies. 
The number of navigation-ready cell phones will hit 162 million this year, or more than seven times the number of such devices sold for use in cars or other nonphone gadgets, says researcher iSuppli. You only have to scan phone company ads to see how they are touting navigational features: The new N95 smartphone from Nokia (NOK ) plays music and videos, but it also has a chip that receives signals from the government's Global Positioning System satellites, enabling the phone to display maps. Research In Motion (RIMM ) is already putting navigation features into its BlackBerry smartphones. Other big phonemakers including Motorola (MOT ) and Samsung are doing the same. Apple (AAPL ), having put a version of Google (GOOG ) Maps on its iPhone, is widely expected to add GPS chips and live mapping in 2008.
Phone carriers and software developers alike have been quick to offer location-based services that go way beyond simple street directions. Verizon's (VZ ) Chaperone service allows parents to track the location of kids from their phones or on the Web and sends a message when they reach their destination. Loopt lets Sprint (S ) and Boost Mobile customers track friends--imagine a buddy list overlaid on a map--and sends alerts when they're nearby. Services like those rang up $92 million in sales in the third quarter, or 58% of what consumers spent to download software to phones, Nielsen Mobile found. This spring, wireless users spent on average nearly twice as much on navigation as they did to download music to their phones, says David Gill, a Nielsen Mobile analyst.
To understand why phone-based navigation is suddenly so hot, talk with Debby Ramundo. The senior project manager at Seattle's Swedish Medical Center, Ramundo oversees 200 doctors and nurses who visit patients who can't travel to a doctor's office. Like millions of other people, clinicians are hard-pressed to get to the right place on time. That can be especially tricky in fast-growing Seattle, where new residential streets pop up out of nowhere. So last year the medical center handed out GPS-equipped Nextel cell phones. The phones offer such features as spoken turn-by-turn directions.
Such options until recently could be found only in $300-plus dashboard devices. The software, from TeleNav, a Sunnyvale (Calif.) company, costs each user $10 a month. But Ramundo says efficiency gains for medical workers more than offset the added costs: "Every hour they're not here in the office getting directions or getting lost is a billable hour they're out seeing patients."
THE GPS BANDWAGON
For years, satellite-based navigation technology was restricted to the military, which used it to position troops or guide missiles. The government purposely made GPS signals too fuzzy for civilians other than hikers or boaters to find useful. That changed in 2000, though, when civilians were given access to more accurate signals. An industry quickly sprang up for car-based navigation, which is a $6.8 billion business today, says iSuppli.
Now GPS phones are embedded with tiny chips that receive signals from the collection of 31 GPS satellites that blanket every inch of the Earth with a faint radio signal. A receiver needs to be within range of at least four satellites at once to determine its location accurately. That is drawn on-screen, matching latitude and longitude with maps sent via wireless Net connections.
As more players jump into navigation, it has triggered a wave of deal-making that reflects the nervousness of established players. Makers of car-based or other dedicated (nonphone) devices worry that competitors will gain control of essential mapping data, which show names and locations of streets, homes, restaurants, and hotels and must be regularly updated.
The two companies supplying that data, Chicago-based Navteq (NVT ) and Netherlands-based Tele Atlas, are now being rolled up. In July, one of the largest car-navigation outfits, Dutch concern TomTom, moved to acquire Tele Atlas for $2.3 billion. Stock in rival Navteq soared on the expectation it would be acquired by Garmin (GRMN ), TomTom's Olathe (Kan.)-based competitor, or perhaps Google or Microsoft (MSFT ), which operate mapping sites. But on Oct. 1 phone giant Nokia jumped in with an $8.1 billion deal to buy Navteq--a price nearly 14 times its $582 million in 2006 sales.
Faced with having to buy mapping data from a competitor, Garmin announced on Oct. 31 a hostile $3.3 billion bid for Tele Atlas. TomTom responded with a $4.3 billion offer. Garmin has until Dec. 4 to counter. The buyout binge isn't likely to end there. Analysts say possible targets include TeleNav, which supplies navigation software to carriers, and its rival Networks In Motion of Aliso Viejo, Calif. Also in the spotlight is Kirkland (Wash.)-based Inrix, spun off from Microsoft in 2004. It supplies live traffic data on 55,000 miles of U.S. roads. Its sole competitor, Traffic.com, was bought earlier this year by Navteq, and is becoming part of Nokia.
For navigation outfits that see Nokia as a competitor, that raised the possibility of losing access to traffic data as well as mapping data. So they're furiously signing agreements with Inrix, says President and CEO Bryan Mistele: "The last 120 days have been the best days in our company's history."
Forget media downloads. Cell customers really want GPS and navigation features
First, cell phones made the streetcorner pay phone obsolete. Now they're doing away with the need to ask for directions. A surge in phones with built-in satellite navigation capability has sparked a wave of creative mapping and locating services. And it has set off a multibillion-dollar scramble by companies to buy up digital navigation technologies.
The number of navigation-ready cell phones will hit 162 million this year, or more than seven times the number of such devices sold for use in cars or other nonphone gadgets, says researcher iSuppli. You only have to scan phone company ads to see how they are touting navigational features: The new N95 smartphone from Nokia (NOK ) plays music and videos, but it also has a chip that receives signals from the government's Global Positioning System satellites, enabling the phone to display maps. Research In Motion (RIMM ) is already putting navigation features into its BlackBerry smartphones. Other big phonemakers including Motorola (MOT ) and Samsung are doing the same. Apple (AAPL ), having put a version of Google (GOOG ) Maps on its iPhone, is widely expected to add GPS chips and live mapping in 2008.
Phone carriers and software developers alike have been quick to offer location-based services that go way beyond simple street directions. Verizon's (VZ ) Chaperone service allows parents to track the location of kids from their phones or on the Web and sends a message when they reach their destination. Loopt lets Sprint (S ) and Boost Mobile customers track friends--imagine a buddy list overlaid on a map--and sends alerts when they're nearby. Services like those rang up $92 million in sales in the third quarter, or 58% of what consumers spent to download software to phones, Nielsen Mobile found. This spring, wireless users spent on average nearly twice as much on navigation as they did to download music to their phones, says David Gill, a Nielsen Mobile analyst.
To understand why phone-based navigation is suddenly so hot, talk with Debby Ramundo. The senior project manager at Seattle's Swedish Medical Center, Ramundo oversees 200 doctors and nurses who visit patients who can't travel to a doctor's office. Like millions of other people, clinicians are hard-pressed to get to the right place on time. That can be especially tricky in fast-growing Seattle, where new residential streets pop up out of nowhere. So last year the medical center handed out GPS-equipped Nextel cell phones. The phones offer such features as spoken turn-by-turn directions.
Such options until recently could be found only in $300-plus dashboard devices. The software, from TeleNav, a Sunnyvale (Calif.) company, costs each user $10 a month. But Ramundo says efficiency gains for medical workers more than offset the added costs: "Every hour they're not here in the office getting directions or getting lost is a billable hour they're out seeing patients."
THE GPS BANDWAGON
For years, satellite-based navigation technology was restricted to the military, which used it to position troops or guide missiles. The government purposely made GPS signals too fuzzy for civilians other than hikers or boaters to find useful. That changed in 2000, though, when civilians were given access to more accurate signals. An industry quickly sprang up for car-based navigation, which is a $6.8 billion business today, says iSuppli.
Now GPS phones are embedded with tiny chips that receive signals from the collection of 31 GPS satellites that blanket every inch of the Earth with a faint radio signal. A receiver needs to be within range of at least four satellites at once to determine its location accurately. That is drawn on-screen, matching latitude and longitude with maps sent via wireless Net connections.
As more players jump into navigation, it has triggered a wave of deal-making that reflects the nervousness of established players. Makers of car-based or other dedicated (nonphone) devices worry that competitors will gain control of essential mapping data, which show names and locations of streets, homes, restaurants, and hotels and must be regularly updated.
The two companies supplying that data, Chicago-based Navteq (NVT ) and Netherlands-based Tele Atlas, are now being rolled up. In July, one of the largest car-navigation outfits, Dutch concern TomTom, moved to acquire Tele Atlas for $2.3 billion. Stock in rival Navteq soared on the expectation it would be acquired by Garmin (GRMN ), TomTom's Olathe (Kan.)-based competitor, or perhaps Google or Microsoft (MSFT ), which operate mapping sites. But on Oct. 1 phone giant Nokia jumped in with an $8.1 billion deal to buy Navteq--a price nearly 14 times its $582 million in 2006 sales.
Faced with having to buy mapping data from a competitor, Garmin announced on Oct. 31 a hostile $3.3 billion bid for Tele Atlas. TomTom responded with a $4.3 billion offer. Garmin has until Dec. 4 to counter. The buyout binge isn't likely to end there. Analysts say possible targets include TeleNav, which supplies navigation software to carriers, and its rival Networks In Motion of Aliso Viejo, Calif. Also in the spotlight is Kirkland (Wash.)-based Inrix, spun off from Microsoft in 2004. It supplies live traffic data on 55,000 miles of U.S. roads. Its sole competitor, Traffic.com, was bought earlier this year by Navteq, and is becoming part of Nokia.
For navigation outfits that see Nokia as a competitor, that raised the possibility of losing access to traffic data as well as mapping data. So they're furiously signing agreements with Inrix, says President and CEO Bryan Mistele: "The last 120 days have been the best days in our company's history."
Friday, November 16, 2007
HTC adds GPS to Windows Mobile Touch line Nov. 12, 2007
HTC has announced a new member of its Windows Mobile-based Touch smartphone family. The "Touch Cruise," the latest model from this extremely prolific handheld device maker, shares many features in common with earlier Touch models but adds built-in GPS with Tom Tom navigation support, according to the company.
(Click here for a larger view of HTC's Touch Cruise)
In June, HTC launched its original Touch, the first phone to feature HTC's much-touted TouchFLO UI (user interface). TouchFLO, according to HTC, is able to distinguish whether the screen is being touched by a stylus or by fingers and respond accordingly. Finger touches allow scrolling, panning, and zooming in or out.
First available in the U.S. only as an unlocked and unsubsidized GMS/GPRS/EDGE device, the Touch later was Americanized by Sprint and other carriers. It then spawned "designer" versions such as the Ted Baker Needle.
Last month, HTC launched the Touch Dual, which doubled the Touch's processing speed courtesy of a Qualcomm MSM7200 processor clocked at 400 MHz. It also added a slide-out keyboard in a choice of two different versions -- either a 20-key QWERTY layout, or a 16-key keypad layout.
The technically similar Touch Cruise loses the keyboard but adds GPS functionality to the mix, employing navigation software and maps from Tom Tom. (Readers will get no prizes for successfully guessing what capabilities the next model in the Touch family might combine!)
Other wireless features in the device include support for European HSDPA/UMTS (2100 MHz) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900, 1800, 1900 MHz), along with WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0. High-speed data downloads are rated at 3.6 Mbps for HSDPA, and 384 Kbps for UMTS downloads; upload rates for both technologies are spec'd at 384 Kbps.
Earlier Touch versions already included the ability to play back multimedia in a variety of formats, including MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB. The Touch Cruise also provides an FM radio.
According to HTC, the device offers dual cameras -- a 3 megapixel autofocus camera for photos, and a front-facing VGA (640 x 480 pixel) camera for videoconferencing.
As with the other Touch iterations, the Cruise includes all the smartphone capabilities of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 Professional software platform, including Windows Media Player 10 plus mobile editions of Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Office.
Key features and specifications of the Touch Cruise, as listed by HTC, include:
According to the company, the Touch Cruise will be available starting this month, both from retailers and directly from HTC. More information is available from the company's website, here.
HTC has announced a new member of its Windows Mobile-based Touch smartphone family. The "Touch Cruise," the latest model from this extremely prolific handheld device maker, shares many features in common with earlier Touch models but adds built-in GPS with Tom Tom navigation support, according to the company.(Click here for a larger view of HTC's Touch Cruise)
In June, HTC launched its original Touch, the first phone to feature HTC's much-touted TouchFLO UI (user interface). TouchFLO, according to HTC, is able to distinguish whether the screen is being touched by a stylus or by fingers and respond accordingly. Finger touches allow scrolling, panning, and zooming in or out.
First available in the U.S. only as an unlocked and unsubsidized GMS/GPRS/EDGE device, the Touch later was Americanized by Sprint and other carriers. It then spawned "designer" versions such as the Ted Baker Needle.
Last month, HTC launched the Touch Dual, which doubled the Touch's processing speed courtesy of a Qualcomm MSM7200 processor clocked at 400 MHz. It also added a slide-out keyboard in a choice of two different versions -- either a 20-key QWERTY layout, or a 16-key keypad layout.
The technically similar Touch Cruise loses the keyboard but adds GPS functionality to the mix, employing navigation software and maps from Tom Tom. (Readers will get no prizes for successfully guessing what capabilities the next model in the Touch family might combine!)
Other wireless features in the device include support for European HSDPA/UMTS (2100 MHz) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900, 1800, 1900 MHz), along with WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0. High-speed data downloads are rated at 3.6 Mbps for HSDPA, and 384 Kbps for UMTS downloads; upload rates for both technologies are spec'd at 384 Kbps.
Earlier Touch versions already included the ability to play back multimedia in a variety of formats, including MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB. The Touch Cruise also provides an FM radio.
According to HTC, the device offers dual cameras -- a 3 megapixel autofocus camera for photos, and a front-facing VGA (640 x 480 pixel) camera for videoconferencing.
As with the other Touch iterations, the Cruise includes all the smartphone capabilities of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 Professional software platform, including Windows Media Player 10 plus mobile editions of Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Office.
Key features and specifications of the Touch Cruise, as listed by HTC, include:
- Processor -- Qualcomm MSM7200, clocked at 400 MHz
- Memory -- 128 MB RAM; 256 MB flash
- Display -- 2.8-inch TFT display with LCD backlighting
- Keys -- 4-way navigation wheel with enter button
- Wireless interfaces:
- WAN:
- HSDPA/UMTS -- 2100 MHz (Europe); 850/1900 MHz (U.S.)
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE -- quad-band 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz
- HSDPA/UMTS -- 2100 MHz (Europe); 850/1900 MHz (U.S.)
- WLAN -- 802.11b/g WiFi
- WPAN -- Bluetooth 2.0
- WAN:
- Camera -- 3 megapixel camera with auto focus, plus VGA-resolution camera for videoconferencing
- Built-in GPS receiver
- Built-in FM receiver
- Other I/O -- HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one)
- Expansion -- microSD card
- Dimensions -- 4.3 x 2.3 x 0.6 inches (110 x 58 x 16 mm)
- Weight -- 4.6 ounces (130 gm) with battery
- Power:
- 1350 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery
- Standby time -- up to 450 hours for UMTS, 400 hours for GSM
- Talk time -- up to 4 hours for UMTS, 7 hours for GSM, 2.3 hours for video calling
- 1350 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery
According to the company, the Touch Cruise will be available starting this month, both from retailers and directly from HTC. More information is available from the company's website, here.
Reports forecast GPS proliferation Nov. 08, 2007
Low-cost GPS chipsets will increasingly be integrated into mobile devices, according to reports just released by two major market research firms. While apparently disagreeing on the exact numbers, both ABI Research and In-Stat forecast extremely strong growth between now and 2011.
In its statement, ABI Research said personal navigation devices (PNDs) will grow to a global sales volume of more than 100 million units by 2011. While dedicated PNDs will remain the preferred form-factor for use in cars, GPS will increasingly be an expected ingredient in handsets, portable media players (PMPs), ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), and other mobile devices, according to the company.
ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte stated, "Handset-based navigation will be stimulated by convergence trends and technological advances in low-cost GPS-receiver integration. It will be a catalyst for the uptake of location-based services such as search, friend finder and tracking features."
Driven by the involvement of wireless carriers, handset-based GPS will grow strongly in North America, reaching a sales volume of 21 million units by 2012, according to ABI Research. The analyst firm's report adds that while Europe is the strongest present-day market for GPS, strong growth is expected in developing countries such as China and India. By 2012, more navigation systems are expected to ship in Asia-Pacific than in any other region.
ABI Research says that increasing price pressure and levels of competition will result in consolidation, citing the acquisition of digital map providers Navteq and Tele Atlas as an example. Navigation vendors will need to aggregate their user communities under strong brands, in order to take advantage of the potential of user-generated map and POI (point of interest) content, the firm's report notes.
In its separate report, In-Stat reaches very similar overall conclusions, though it adds digital cameras and even handheld games to the mix of devices expected to include GPS. Even more bullish on the numbers, In-Stat predicts that "Sales of mobile devices with integrated GPS [will] grow from 180 million units in 2007 to 720 million units in 2011."
In-Stat analyst Gemma Tedesco stated, "Although there are external GPS receivers available for mobile PCs, PDAs, smartphones, digital cameras, handheld games, and other portable devices, volumes for these applications have been limited. Integration of GPS within these products will allow for more widespread use of GPS, and will spur much greater GPS chipset shipment volumes."
According to In-Stat, GPS chipset pricing will erode rapidly. Nonetheless, this will be offset by extremely high volumes, boosting revenue from $520 million in 2006 to more than $1.3 billion in 2011.
In-Stat reports that Qualcomm currently dominates the cellular handset market with its "integrated" GPS solution, while SiRF dominates the PND space. "TI and Broadcom, with their cellular chipset and in-house GPS solutions, promise to be solid competitors," the report says.
More details
More information, perhaps including an explanation of the methodologies that led to different numeric forecasts, is available to purchasers of these two analysts' reports.
ABI Research's 91-page report, whose price was not released, is called "Consumer Navigation Devices and Systems." Further specifics, including a listing of sections, tables, and companies featured, is available on the company's website, here.
In-Stat's 57-page report, "GPS Chips in Mobile Devices," is priced at $3,495. Further specifics, again including a listing of sections, tables, and companies featured, is available on the company's website, here.
Low-cost GPS chipsets will increasingly be integrated into mobile devices, according to reports just released by two major market research firms. While apparently disagreeing on the exact numbers, both ABI Research and In-Stat forecast extremely strong growth between now and 2011.
digg this story |
ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte stated, "Handset-based navigation will be stimulated by convergence trends and technological advances in low-cost GPS-receiver integration. It will be a catalyst for the uptake of location-based services such as search, friend finder and tracking features."
Driven by the involvement of wireless carriers, handset-based GPS will grow strongly in North America, reaching a sales volume of 21 million units by 2012, according to ABI Research. The analyst firm's report adds that while Europe is the strongest present-day market for GPS, strong growth is expected in developing countries such as China and India. By 2012, more navigation systems are expected to ship in Asia-Pacific than in any other region.
ABI Research says that increasing price pressure and levels of competition will result in consolidation, citing the acquisition of digital map providers Navteq and Tele Atlas as an example. Navigation vendors will need to aggregate their user communities under strong brands, in order to take advantage of the potential of user-generated map and POI (point of interest) content, the firm's report notes.
In its separate report, In-Stat reaches very similar overall conclusions, though it adds digital cameras and even handheld games to the mix of devices expected to include GPS. Even more bullish on the numbers, In-Stat predicts that "Sales of mobile devices with integrated GPS [will] grow from 180 million units in 2007 to 720 million units in 2011."
In-Stat analyst Gemma Tedesco stated, "Although there are external GPS receivers available for mobile PCs, PDAs, smartphones, digital cameras, handheld games, and other portable devices, volumes for these applications have been limited. Integration of GPS within these products will allow for more widespread use of GPS, and will spur much greater GPS chipset shipment volumes."
According to In-Stat, GPS chipset pricing will erode rapidly. Nonetheless, this will be offset by extremely high volumes, boosting revenue from $520 million in 2006 to more than $1.3 billion in 2011.
In-Stat reports that Qualcomm currently dominates the cellular handset market with its "integrated" GPS solution, while SiRF dominates the PND space. "TI and Broadcom, with their cellular chipset and in-house GPS solutions, promise to be solid competitors," the report says.
More details
More information, perhaps including an explanation of the methodologies that led to different numeric forecasts, is available to purchasers of these two analysts' reports.
ABI Research's 91-page report, whose price was not released, is called "Consumer Navigation Devices and Systems." Further specifics, including a listing of sections, tables, and companies featured, is available on the company's website, here.
In-Stat's 57-page report, "GPS Chips in Mobile Devices," is priced at $3,495. Further specifics, again including a listing of sections, tables, and companies featured, is available on the company's website, here.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Google Maps Creation Tools - Part 19
WebAssist Pro Maps for Google:
Adobe Dreamweaver extension
WebAssist has created a tool for Adobe Dreamweaver which will help folks integrate
rich Google Map features into their websites. A point-and-click wizard guides users through the process. Check here for More information.. or visit this Del.icio.us page for more coverage of the launch.
- Terraims Mapicon Factory - A map icon tool for your maps! (Related:Custom icons for your My Maps)
- MapChannels - Embed maps created through Google My Maps or other KML / GeoRSS sources easily into a website with no need for coding.
- Tutorial: Google Earth, Google Maps and Your Photos - Also see Part II
- Get-A-Route - Convert Google Maps routes to OziExplorer (.rte and .wpt) or GPX files.
- Use Google Maps from within a Win32 client application
- Mashup of Google Maps and VCL
- Using Google Maps from VCL sample application
07 Nov 2007 - What’s in a name? Searching for the right words
"Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still. Shrieking voices
Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,
Always assail them."
- T. S. Eliot, American poet and playwright, Four Quartets, 1935
In the past decade the geospatial industry has seen the emergence of a host of similar terms to try and describe what the industry is all about and where it is going. Words like "SDI", "Geomatics", "Spatial Infrastructure", "Ubiquitous Geographic Computing", "Location Intelligence", "Location Based Services", "Geospatial Intelligence", and of course "GeoWeb". This proliferation of terminology reflects both a confusion in the industry, and an attempt to understand it. We know that the general rubric of "GIS" is both too generic , and too limiting, but we are not sure what to use in its place. Such confusion is of course typical of domains which are undergoing rapid change and which are being pulled in many directions by a wide array of market, social and technology forces.
This article attempts to clarify the situation by offering some definitions and equivalences to help reduce the terminology clutter.
To begin with let's redefine the term GIS to mean all and any information system or systems that deal with Geography or Geographic information. So everything we talk about is then GIS. Effectively GIS and Geomatics are then synomyms. Think GIS = Geomatics = automation of geographic information handling. These terms then cover all aspects from data acquisition (e.g. surveying, remote sensing) to cartography, map production, analysis, and all forms of applications that make use of geographic information. Of course such a generalization leaves open the real issues that confront us and how to talk about them, but we can at least dispense with GIS or Geomatics as the right words, other than for the very general umbrella. All of the others must pertain to concepts or ideas within the domain of GIS/Geomatics or overlap between this domain and other areas of Information Technology.
The dominant force for change in the Geomatics world (I'll use just the one word henceforth) is the increasingly everywhere connectivity of information systems. Don't think in terms of wireless or mobility - these are just technologies - think in terms of everywhere connectivity. The same effects could be obtained, and will be in many cases, using RFID's or other local place identification mechanisms.
One might ask why everywhere connectivity should have such a deep impact on geomatics? It might seem to be a supreme irony that the nearly universal transparency of location should have such a huge impact on the world of geomatics, but there is a reason for this. It is what I would call the information integration imperative and this was a major driver for the desk top GIS systems of the 1980's. Every action that we humans take in the world (or which is taken by the world) has consequences and impacts far beyond the action itself. As a consequence, any attempt to deal with the world, whether in terms of engineering design, or emergency response, requires that we integrate information from a host of sources and disciplines. This is made still more difficult by the fact that the world is divided into a vast array of complex and overlapping jurisdictions. Effective decision making of any kind demands that this information be integrated. Everywhere connectivity makes this integration possible, and more over makes it possible to provide the results of this integration to any point on the planet. "Location Services", "Location Intelligence" are thus technologies that deal with the provision of integrated information or the results of information integration to a user regardless of their location. The terms do not however deal with the act of integration itself.
A companion driving force to that of everywhere connectivity is that of everywhere position determination - one of the fundamental location services - determining where in the world something is located. Everywhere position determination complements everywhere connectivity (the latter is precondition for the former) by greatly enriching the sources of information, and by enabling the provision of information not just about a place, but more importantly about a thing such as a person or a vehicle, whether fixed or in motion. This in turn has enabled information consumers - consumers of location services - to themselves be participants in information creation and hence in information integration. Knowing where you are is of no help if you don't know what is around you.
The term "Ubiquitous Geographic Computing" can be seen as implying everywhere connectivity and everywhere position determination, but should not be seen as representing any particular geomatics technologies. One should think of ubiquity as a given aspect of all future information technologies and not a technology in itself.
So what then about SDI and GeoWeb? Both of these terms imply information integration. What's the difference? How much of this is really to do with geomatics? I would argue that GeoWeb is the more general term and refers both to the subject of local and global geographic data integration, and to the technologies for realizing that integration. "SDI" and "Spatial Infrastructures" are community implementations of technology for information sharing, and should be understood as implying real time integration of information and associated services. This means that the GeoWeb, as a noun, can be seen as the integration of many SDI's into a web of integrated information potentially spanning the globe, hence dealing with the integration imperative and providing community integration and global accessibility. Note that the notion of a community (also data community, information community) may be bound to a place (e.g. a municipality or region) or may be location independent (e.g. community of oceanographers world-wide).
Make sense? I am sure this discussion has only scratched the surface - but I hope it has in some way cleared the air.
"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice."
-T. S. Eliot, American poet and playwright, Four Quartets, 1944
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
* del.icio.us
* digg
"Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still. Shrieking voices
Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,
Always assail them."
- T. S. Eliot, American poet and playwright, Four Quartets, 1935
In the past decade the geospatial industry has seen the emergence of a host of similar terms to try and describe what the industry is all about and where it is going. Words like "SDI", "Geomatics", "Spatial Infrastructure", "Ubiquitous Geographic Computing", "Location Intelligence", "Location Based Services", "Geospatial Intelligence", and of course "GeoWeb". This proliferation of terminology reflects both a confusion in the industry, and an attempt to understand it. We know that the general rubric of "GIS" is both too generic , and too limiting, but we are not sure what to use in its place. Such confusion is of course typical of domains which are undergoing rapid change and which are being pulled in many directions by a wide array of market, social and technology forces.
This article attempts to clarify the situation by offering some definitions and equivalences to help reduce the terminology clutter.
To begin with let's redefine the term GIS to mean all and any information system or systems that deal with Geography or Geographic information. So everything we talk about is then GIS. Effectively GIS and Geomatics are then synomyms. Think GIS = Geomatics = automation of geographic information handling. These terms then cover all aspects from data acquisition (e.g. surveying, remote sensing) to cartography, map production, analysis, and all forms of applications that make use of geographic information. Of course such a generalization leaves open the real issues that confront us and how to talk about them, but we can at least dispense with GIS or Geomatics as the right words, other than for the very general umbrella. All of the others must pertain to concepts or ideas within the domain of GIS/Geomatics or overlap between this domain and other areas of Information Technology.
The dominant force for change in the Geomatics world (I'll use just the one word henceforth) is the increasingly everywhere connectivity of information systems. Don't think in terms of wireless or mobility - these are just technologies - think in terms of everywhere connectivity. The same effects could be obtained, and will be in many cases, using RFID's or other local place identification mechanisms.
One might ask why everywhere connectivity should have such a deep impact on geomatics? It might seem to be a supreme irony that the nearly universal transparency of location should have such a huge impact on the world of geomatics, but there is a reason for this. It is what I would call the information integration imperative and this was a major driver for the desk top GIS systems of the 1980's. Every action that we humans take in the world (or which is taken by the world) has consequences and impacts far beyond the action itself. As a consequence, any attempt to deal with the world, whether in terms of engineering design, or emergency response, requires that we integrate information from a host of sources and disciplines. This is made still more difficult by the fact that the world is divided into a vast array of complex and overlapping jurisdictions. Effective decision making of any kind demands that this information be integrated. Everywhere connectivity makes this integration possible, and more over makes it possible to provide the results of this integration to any point on the planet. "Location Services", "Location Intelligence" are thus technologies that deal with the provision of integrated information or the results of information integration to a user regardless of their location. The terms do not however deal with the act of integration itself.
A companion driving force to that of everywhere connectivity is that of everywhere position determination - one of the fundamental location services - determining where in the world something is located. Everywhere position determination complements everywhere connectivity (the latter is precondition for the former) by greatly enriching the sources of information, and by enabling the provision of information not just about a place, but more importantly about a thing such as a person or a vehicle, whether fixed or in motion. This in turn has enabled information consumers - consumers of location services - to themselves be participants in information creation and hence in information integration. Knowing where you are is of no help if you don't know what is around you.
The term "Ubiquitous Geographic Computing" can be seen as implying everywhere connectivity and everywhere position determination, but should not be seen as representing any particular geomatics technologies. One should think of ubiquity as a given aspect of all future information technologies and not a technology in itself.
So what then about SDI and GeoWeb? Both of these terms imply information integration. What's the difference? How much of this is really to do with geomatics? I would argue that GeoWeb is the more general term and refers both to the subject of local and global geographic data integration, and to the technologies for realizing that integration. "SDI" and "Spatial Infrastructures" are community implementations of technology for information sharing, and should be understood as implying real time integration of information and associated services. This means that the GeoWeb, as a noun, can be seen as the integration of many SDI's into a web of integrated information potentially spanning the globe, hence dealing with the integration imperative and providing community integration and global accessibility. Note that the notion of a community (also data community, information community) may be bound to a place (e.g. a municipality or region) or may be location independent (e.g. community of oceanographers world-wide).
Make sense? I am sure this discussion has only scratched the surface - but I hope it has in some way cleared the air.
"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice."
-T. S. Eliot, American poet and playwright, Four Quartets, 1944
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
* del.icio.us
* digg
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