GPS World

Tag: Twitter

  • ION GNSS+ Twitter contest

    Headed to ION GNSS+ 2017?

    Tweet a selfie with @GPSWorld Group Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Alan Cameron OR in the GPS World booth at ION GNSS+ and you will be entered to win two tickets to the GPS World Leadership Dinner!

    To qualify, simply tweet a selfie with @gpseditor Alan Cameron, or in the GPS World booth, tag @GPSWorld and use #iFoundAlan. One winner will be randomly selected at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, and contacted via direct message on Twitter. Photo must be taken at ION GNSS+ 2017 and submitted prior to noon on Sept. 28.

  • Geofeedia and IDV Solutions Form Technical Partnership

    idvsolutions_visual_command_center
    IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center is a physical security and risk visualization (PSRV) software that unites data from external sources, enterprise systems and internal devices into a real-time, common operating picture of risk and security.

    IDV Solutions, a corporation that specializes in business intelligence, physical security and risk visualization software, has formed a technical partnership with Geofeedia, producer of a cloud-based social media monitoring platform. Through the partnership, Geofeedia’s location-based social media monitoring data will now be integrated into IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center Enterprise Risk Visualization (ERV) software.

    The companies say the combination of the two technologies enables security, supply chain and business continuity teams to gain instant intelligence from multiple social media networks for a myriad of risk events — from a political demonstration to a natural disaster. The location-based visualization filters out excess noise to show important social media posts in the context of locations of interest, such as facilities, employee locations, supply routes or traveling executives.

    “Companies are looking for ways to efficiently gain actionable intelligence from social media,” said Ian Clemens, chief technology officer and co-founder of IDV Solutions. “The immediacy of social media combined with the alerting and locational context offered by Visual Command Center enables organizations to make more effective use of social media to protect employees, facilities and business continuity.”

    The Visual Command Center provides a real-time, common operating picture of assets, personnel and operations in relation to potential threats to those assets. It unites information on global sources of risk — such as weather, terrorism and natural disasters — with data from internal data stores and physical security systems on an interactive map and timeline. When a risk is detected near an asset or employee location, the Visual Command Center automatically generates an alert and provides tools to assess whether the risk is a threat and take immediate action to mitigate the impact of the threat.

    The Geofeedia integration complements the Visual Command Center’s Twitter Visualization and Alerting Module by providing information from more social media networks and visualizing all posts within a selected area.

    Geofeedia enables organizations to filter and analyze social media content by location in real time across multiple sources. Users search for a city, address or location name, draw a virtual perimeter around the specific area of interest,and access geo-tagged social media content from within those boundaries.

    “Location resolves the challenge of monitoring the massive amounts of cluttered data to identify meaningful, real-time on-the-ground intelligence when and where it matters most,” said Phil Harris, CEO and co-founder of Geofeedia. “We are thrilled to be able to help more organizations take advantage of our real-time, geotagged social media data to prevent, protect and respond to valuable intelligence.”

  • Geofeedia, IDV Form Partnership for Threat Assessment

    idvsolutions_visual_command_center Photo: IDV Solutions
    IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center is a physical security and risk visualization (PSRV) software that unites data from external sources, enterprise systems and internal devices into a real-time, common operating picture of risk and security. Photo: IDV Solutions

    IDV Solutions, a corporation that specializes in business intelligence, physical security and risk visualization software, has formed a technical partnership with Geofeedia, producer of a cloud-based social media monitoring platform. Through the partnership, Geofeedia’s location-based social media monitoring data will now be integrated into IDV Solutions’ Visual Command Center Enterprise Risk Visualization (ERV) software.

    The companies say the combination of the two technologies enables security, supply chain and business continuity teams to gain instant intelligence from multiple social media networks for a myriad of risk events — from a political demonstration to a natural disaster. The location-based visualization filters out excess noise to show important social media posts in the context of locations of interest, such as facilities, employee locations, supply routes or traveling executives.

    “Companies are looking for ways to efficiently gain actionable intelligence from social media,” said Ian Clemens, chief technology officer and co-founder of IDV Solutions. “The immediacy of social media combined with the alerting and locational context offered by Visual Command Center enables organizations to make more effective use of social media to protect employees, facilities and business continuity.”

    The Visual Command Center provides a real-time, common operating picture of assets, personnel and operations in relation to potential threats to those assets. It unites information on global sources of risk — such as weather, terrorism and natural disasters — with data from internal data stores and physical security systems on an interactive map and timeline. When a risk is detected near an asset or employee location, the Visual Command Center automatically generates an alert and provides tools to assess whether the risk is a threat and take immediate action to mitigate the impact of the threat.

    The Geofeedia integration complements the Visual Command Center’s Twitter Visualization and Alerting Module by providing information from more social media networks and visualizing all posts within a selected area.

    Geofeedia enables organizations to filter and analyze social media content by location in real time across multiple sources. Users search for a city, address or location name, draw a virtual perimeter around the specific area of interest,and access geo-tagged social media content from within those boundaries.

    “Location resolves the challenge of monitoring the massive amounts of cluttered data to identify meaningful, real-time on-the-ground intelligence when and where it matters most,” said Phil Harris, CEO and co-founder of Geofeedia. “We are thrilled to be able to help more organizations take advantage of our real-time, geotagged social media data to prevent, protect and respond to valuable intelligence.”

  • GPS at the Olympics: Twitter Disrupts GPS Data from Olympic Cyclers to Broadcasters

     


    UPDATE: Title changed to clarify that GPS signals are not affected, but the transfer of the GPS data to the broadcasters.

     

    GPS is playing a role at the 2012 Olympics in London, through apps for smartphones to transportation issues, and even a clash with social media.

    Twitter Disrupts GPS Data from Olympic Cyclists to Broadcasters

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that social media prevented broadcasters from getting accurate GPS data about the precise location of Olympic bicycle competitors during the155-mile men’s cycling road race.

    According to Reuters, commentators on Saturday’s men’s cycling road race were unable to tell television viewers how far the leaders were ahead of the chasing pack because data could not get through from the GPS satellite navigation system traveling with the cyclists.

    IOC spokesman Mark Adams says the Olympic Broadcasting Services service was jammed by “hundreds of thousands” of people sending texts, pictures and updates to social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, the Washington Post reports.

    To alleviate the bandwidth issue, the IOC asked users not to tweet, saying unless it’s an “urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy.”

    The problem arose due to lack of data bandwidth provided by telecom carriers, which did not properly anticipate demand. CNET’s Zack Whittaker reports that users send almost 10 million tweets during the opening ceremonies alone.

    The problem appeared to be solved for Sunday’s women’s road race.

    Apps Spark User Interaction, Excitement

    A number of mobile apps will help spectators at the Games keep tabs on the action.

    SoFit Mobile. A Toronto-based mobile development company, SoFit Mobile, has released a free social-gaming app that uses GPS technology to track users’ steps as they compete with friends. Users can donate money to charity or unlock medals and real-life discounts and coupons based on how far they travel. Early participants were eligible to win tickets to the games.

    The app is designed to connect users with friends virtually, regardless of geographical and cultural differences, where they can train together and take part in athletic events like the New York Marathon.

    “Using the Olympics as a way to inspire more people to get active, SoFit will engage users to take small steps to start living healthier while connecting millions to make the world a better place,” said Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan in a press release.

    The app was developed in partnership with the Walk A Mile campaign, which was inspired by the 2012 London Games. SoFit is available for Apple and Android devices.

    Samsung Hope Relay. For every mile run while this app is activated, Samsung donates 1 pound to charities, including Kids Company and International Inspiration. The app uses GPS to track the users’ movements walking, running, or cycling, alone or as part of a team.

    TorchTracker. This app used GPS tracking to pinpoint where the Olympic Torch was as it made its way to the games, and helped fans find places to see it go by.

    American and Australian Team Buses Get Lost

    Before the games began, buses taking Australian and American athletes from Heathrow Airport to Olympic Park experienced a failure of GPS end users, sending the athletes around the city for a long tour before arriving at the Olympic Village.

    The bus driver hired by London Olympic organizers had not driven or been shown the route before, and could not operate the GPS navigation system fitted in the vehicle. Also, some of the venues, such as the village, had not been pre-loaded into the devices.

    For the Aussies, it turned into a 3½-hour marathon, accidentally taking them past central London landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament.

    A separate London 2012 bus carrying American athletes got so badly lost it took four hours to make the 23-mile trip across the capital.

    Olympic Lanes and GPS Vehicle Tracking

    After there were problems for the athletes getting to events in 1996, every host country has had an Olympic Lane to speed the journey for Olympians. However, residents have grumbled about it and there has been some talk about defying the rule and using the lane for unofficial business.

    Blogger Oliver Ortiz posits that the conflicts could have been avoided if organizers had made use of GPS vehicle tracking. “The Olympic Lane is open from 6 a.m. until midnight both ways, and for many this is a folly. There will be certain times of the day when the Olympic Lane will be essential and it almost appears lazy on behalf of the Olympics organisers not to consider the best times for the lane to be open. If only they had thought about using GPS Vehicle Tracking to not only design the opening times, but also to monitor the Olympic Lanes during the games and make changes to when they are open. GPS Vehicle Tracking would have made these two things possible.

    “London knew they were having the Olympics way back in 2005, could the Olympic Committee not have thought about levels of traffic and travel times at various points in the day using GPS Vehicle Tracking to put forward a more practical schedule for the Olympic Lane to be open?”