GPS World

Category: Applications

  • GEOINT 2012: Much to Do even with Looming Budget Cuts

    By Art Kalinski

    In a repeat performance, USGIF (United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation) put on a superb conference that was really informative and well executed. GEOINT has always been a serious conference with very little partying, but this year was more so with the leadership even eliminating the traditional closing night social. The social events never were excessive in the past but no one wanted even a hint of over indulgence. It wasn’t missed, because quite frankly there was too much to see and too much to do to spend time on frivolity.

    As in past years, there were so many noteworthy presentations. With more than 248 exhibitors in the Expo, it was impossible to see and hear it all. So this is just one man’s limited view of a mega conference. Luckily, many of the key presentations are on the USGIF website as daily summaries. See ShowDaily 1-5 and videos clips (make sure select the 2012 clips and not previous years).

    Director of National Intelligence and keynote speaker James Clapper

    The opening keynote was delivered by the director of National Intelligence, The Honorable James Clapper, who directly addressed two elephants in the room — sequestration and his take on the Benghazi attack. First he discussed several issues: the INCITE program to have an enterprise data model in the “cloud” by 2018, which he said was moving along nicely. He tied in the need for multi-int data such as GEOINT, SIGINT, MASINT, etc. and also expressed his concern that improvements were needed to speed up the clearance process. He cited reciprocity, so clearances would carry over from one agency and contract to others as a big issue.

    Then he got to elephant one — sequestration. He said that it would be devastating to the intel community because there is no way to prioritize programs. Important programs would see the same cuts as less critical programs which could prove very dangerous.

    The second elephant was the recent attack at Benghazi and death of four diplomatic staff members including the Ambassador. Director Clapper took a jab at our politicians and quoted a recent article by Paul R. Pillar, a 28-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that he said was thoughtful and resonated well with him.

    “Information about lethal incidents is not total and immediate. The normal pattern after such events is for explanations to evolve as more and better information becomes available. We would and should criticize any investigators who settled on a particular explanation early amidst sketchy information and refused to amend that explanation even when more and better information came in. A demand for an explanation that is quick, definite and unchanging reflects a naive expectation — or in the present case, irresponsible politicking.” You can view Director Clapper’s full keynote here.

    NGA Director Letitia Long addresses the opening session crowd
    NGA Director Latisha Long

     

    Director Clapper was followed by NGA (National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency) Director Letitia Long, who discussed current efforts at NGA. She cited continuous creation of ever more capable applications. One example permitted a single user to locate a hard-to-find feature in imagery that took 10 minutes, which previously would have taken several analysts days to complete. She stated that during the past year NGA had developed more than 150 apps that are currently in their “app store.” Her goal was to have the majority of future apps created by commercial developers. They are even considering an “Apple iPhone like” commercial model that would pay compensation to developers based on the number of downloads and users rather than cumbersome and limited contracts.

    Additionally, she spoke of their work to build a Common Desktop Environment (CDE) for NGA and DIA, which will soon top 2,000 users and is expected to grow to 60,000 users by the end of 2013. She said that through streamlining and redundancy elimination about 40 percent of their geospatial content is available to her users with a goal of 100 percent by next year.

    This conference was an eye opener in that it was surprising how fast topics that were just sidebar discussions last year are moving to the forefront. Topics like human geography, social media, and pattern of life mapping seemed to be part of many presentations and some exhibitors. A few presentations stretched my concept of geospatial technology and tradecraft.

    One of them was by Jeff Jonas, an IBM Fellow and chief scientist for IBM Entity Analytics, who gave a lunchtime keynote explaining work he was doing at IBM to help decipher seemingly duplicate data to cut processing time. He used a puzzle metaphor to explain his work with “big data.”

    “Some of the pieces are missing, some of the pieces have errors, some of the pieces have fabricated lies,” he said, but by merging many different datasets a filtering occurs. He then explained an ultimate filter by using an example of two theoretical twins with the same IDs, same DNA, same accounts, etc. He said that with current technology we can now track the movements of individuals through their smartphones, and that unless the twins are joined at the hip, “Space time movement data is the ultimate biometric” and is one way to differentiate one person from another. This capability is also going test our concepts of privacy.

    The GEOINT Expo

    In the Expo area, there were more than 248 vendors ranging from the big companies such as Lockheed, Boeing, SAIC, and others to small start-ups at the fringe of the exhibit hall. Several were showing human geography / social media tools and numerous data storage and management solutions. I didn’t see much new hardware of note other than Ball Aerospace, who was showing the latest and greatly improved version of its Flash aerial LiDAR that can create 3D models draped with imagery continuously and in real time. This was so impressive that I’m going to learn more and write a column about it in the near future.

    Klee Dienes, president of Hadron Industries and former medical helicopter pilot, demonstrated Hadron’s work developing hand-gesture language to use Oblong computer control equipment to navigate maps. Oblong Industries has developed equipment that permits touch-free control of applications just through the use of hand gestures, very much like in the science-fiction movie Minority Report. Oblong not only has equipment that can follow hand gestures using a special glove, but the technology has progress to tracking hand gestures in free space without special gloves. They also developed a special hand-gesture language called g-Speak. This technology is hard to describe and is best understood viewing video clips at the Oblong site.

    Minority Report’s future tech.
    Oblong Industries’ touch-free technology.

    There were numerous presentations on the growing use of human geography and the growing need for not only geospatial technicians but of all things, social scientists. The only “wet blanket” attendee that voiced a concern during a question-and-answer session was an academic researcher who voiced a concern that social scientists were being used for intel work. He said that the American Anthropological Association (AAA) may have a problem with “weaponizing” social science. The speaker had a good answer in that he asked “How could the AAA have a problem with preventing war and reducing human misery?” My feeling, considering the stellar high-paying job market for social science majors, is why bite the hand that could feed you?

    There was so much to cover in the human geography realm that in next month’s column, I will focus on the human geography aspect of GEOINT.

  • Trimble’s Yuma 2 Rugged Tablet Provides Full Office Capabilities

    Logo: Trimble
    Logo: Trimble

    Trimble introduced today the Yuma 2 rugged tablet computer, which it says is a powerful mobile computing solution that provides full office capabilities in the field for construction, transportation, public safety, field service, forestry, utilities, mapping, insurance and any other outdoor or service-related industry.

    The Yuma 2 offers a seven-inch capacitive multi-touchscreen in an easy-to-hold form factor that measures 6.3 x 9.6 inches, and weighs less than three pounds. Featuring new display technology for clearer readability in direct sunlight, the Yuma 2 can be used by mobile workers in the brightest outdoor conditions. The 3.75G dual-mode cellular data capability enables connectivity anywhere GSM or CDMA cellular networks are available.

    Featuring the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional operating system, the Yuma 2 is a fully functional field computer with a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom dual-core processor, 4 GB of DDR3 DRAM, a 64-GB solid state drive (SSD), and a dual battery with eight hours of typical run-time. Optional features include a 128-GB SSD, 3.75G cellular data connectivity and an extended battery set that provides up to 16 hours of operation.

    With the multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, users can type with fingers, stylus, or capacitive gloves and can control the size of the keyboard on the display for ease of use. Controlled zoom can optimize the user experience with maps and detailed information. The display supports use in landscape or portrait mode and is configurable to hold the orientation or to alter it in response to the accelerometer. The 5-megapixel camera provides video and photo capture with geotagging. The GPS receiver provides 2 to 4 meter accuracy, and is designed for data collection in applications such as distributed asset management, work order management, fleet logistics and more.

    “Ruggedness and connectivity in the field are vital for mobile workers — and Trimble has a history of providing innovative computing solutions to the market,” said Jim Sheldon, general manager of Trimble’s Mobile Computing Solutions Division. “Today, users demand solutions that are even tougher, faster, more reliable and easier to use, so they can be more efficient and productive. With new features and functionality, the Yuma 2 is an ideal solution that provides even more computing power to mobile professionals — more memory, computing speed, drive capacity, connectivity options and better display readability.”

    As with other Trimble rugged mobile computers, the Yuma 2 meets stringent MIL-STD-810G military standards for drops, vibration and humidity; and with an IP65 rating, it is protected against dust and water.

    Four different configurations are available to provide the tablet that meets the right need at the right price. Options include a larger SSD and 3.75G GSM and CDMA cellular data capability, as well as three different color schemes.

    The Trimble Yuma 2 tablet computer is expected to be available early in the fourth quarter of 2012.

  • Public Transport ITS Market in Europe Expected to Reach €1.5B by 2016

    According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the market value for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) deployed in public transport operations in Europe was €0.76 billion in 2011. Growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent, this number is expected to reach €1.5 billion by 2016. Berg Insight is of the opinion that the European market for ITS for public transport is in a growth phase which will last for several years to come.

    In a statement, Berg Insight said the fluctuating economic climate has in most countries had little effect on the market as the public investments which underpin a major part of the ITS initiatives have remained stable throughout the periods of crisis. The vendor landscape for public transport ITS consists of a variety of actors. The companies INIT, Trapeze Group and IVU have emerged as leaders in Europe, having broad product portfolios and large numbers of installed systems in many countries. There are also local players with considerable market shares on regional markets in Europe, including Ineo Systrans and Vix. Another group of vendors are focused on specific parts of complete ITS such as specialized hardware units or software applications.

    ”The public transport ITS market in Europe is favored by several concurrent developments, including UITP’s sought-after doubling of the public transport ridership, the EBSF EU project, and generally higher expectations among travelers,” said Rickard Andersson, telecom analyst, Berg Insight. “Increasingly sophisticated solutions for traffic management and passenger information are available which – if implemented correctly – eventually can put public transport on par with private transportation modes in terms of traveling times and flexibility.” Andersson adds that a noteworthy development is the increasing integration of smartphone-based solutions in public transport ITS, used for various traveler-centric applications as well as business performance overviews for operators, and most recently also as affordable tracking solutions enabling real-time passenger information (RTPI). “Travelers increasingly expect real-time information also from smaller operators with low propensity to invest in ITS,” concluded Andersson.

  • Leica CS25 Tablet Offers Integrated GNSS for Asset Management

    Leica Geosystems has launched the Leica Zeno CS25 GNSS, a tablet computer with GNSS functionality and a large screen. The CS25 GNSS doesn’t require a backpack or a pole mount or additional batteries. A compact L1/L2 antenna is attached, but for high-accuracy data collection, it can connect with an external GNSS antenna mounted on a pole.

    The rugged Leica CS25 GNSS integrates an upgradable GNSS board and an attachable helix antenna. The new handheld rover is designed to combine the power of high-accuracy GNSS with the benefit of a large-screen tablet and the Windows 7 environment. With its large seven-inch display, the Leica CS25 GNSS is designed to make it easy to read and operate, even in brightest sunlight. The CS25 GNSS provides accurate and reliable results to deliver higher productivity for field crews.

    “Our customers can scale the CS25 GNSS to fit any accuracy needs, by offering a range of options, including meter, sub-meter or sub-decimeter accuracy all through a simple license model,” said GIS Business Development Manager Mauricio Jaimes. “They can also connect an external antenna to the CS25 GNSS to achieve centimeter accuracy. This flexibility, combined with the choice of Leica Zeno Field, Leica MobileMatriX or 3rd party partner software, offers versatile solutions to provide the right fit for any GIS data collection job.”

    The direct integration of GNSS into a tablet computer gives users full flexibility for efficient field data capture and benefits including:

    • Tablet computer, GNSS, and modem in one device that is light enough to carry in one hand
    • Large screen tablet with integrated GNSS RTK receiver, no backpack or pole required
    • One single charging unit for batteries, tablet computer and GNSS receiver
    • No external mobile phones are required to receive RTK corrections
    • User upgradable accuracy levels
      • Differential GNSS (GPS and optionally GLONASS): 50-cm accuracy
      • L1/L2 GNSS (GPS and optionally GLONASS) extension: <10-cm accuracy, with external antenna up to cm-accuracy
    • DGNSS, Real-time or post-processed GIS workflows, fully integrated into ArcGIS from Esri
    • Open support of third-party software applications via Leica Zeno Connect
    • Reliable components that have been engineered to operate in the most demanding work environments

    The CS25 GNSS provides an all-day battery life and IP65 rating, to ensure reliable operation, even after continued work in extreme environments with continuous exposure to water and dust. It is designed to be easily held in one hand and provides the largest GNSS data collection screen on the market.

    Mauricio Jaimes states, ”Shortly after the release of the entry-level GPS handheld Zeno 5 and the GG03 SmartAntenna, the CS25 GNSS is another unique product making the Zeno GIS series the most versatile product basket available for the GIS data collection.”

    The new Leica CS25 GNSS is expected to be available from late October 2012 onwards.

  • Indoor Location Tests Ahead, Mapping under Scrutiny

    Janice Partyka
    Janice Partyka

    October was a month of shows, rumors and announcements. Testing of competing indoor location positioning technologies is being planned by the FCC; prospects for some companies will ride on the public results. Apple may be turning to TomTom to save it from its mapping inaccuracy issues, dubbed Mapplegate. This month’s CTIA show was flat; attendees were wondering if it was the last chapter of the fall show. Interesting industry tidbits were heard at the MforMobile Location Business Summit. New Google Ad Word rates may be created that are also based on the distance between the handset and advertiser’s location. History can be harsh, remembering an unfortunate calculation by a location industry giant. Marketers continue to be frustrated by the mobile industry’s continued difficulty to completely measure ad results.

    The FCC sees indoor location as a critical safety concern for E911 emergency response. The commission has tasked an advisory committee to evaluate indoor location positioning technologies. TechnoCom has been chosen to conduct the independent testing as a neutral third party. The test bed is in about 20 structures of various types, in locations that range from highly dense urban to sparse landscape. The following companies are submitting technology for the testing: Qualcomm (AGPS/AFLT/Cell ID), NextNav (GPS-like terrestrial beacons), Boeing (LEO satellites using the Iridium constellation), and Polaris (RF fingerprinting). Additional companies submitted technology, but later withdrew. Test results should be made public in March of 2013. A public workshop on this testing is being held at the FCC on October 24 and can be watched online at www.fcc.gov/live.

    Indoor Mapping. At the Location Business Summit, it was clear that the retail and hospitality industries is anxious to start exploring indoor marketing based on real-time location. They seem to expect it will start out working flawlessly. It won’t. In addition to the indoor positioning being early stage, mapping quality is uneven. The gold bar of quality assurance for outdoor mapping is aerial fly-overs and street driving. In some situations crowd sourcing works. For indoor maps, it’s the Wild West. Currently there are no standards for vetting indoor mapping. Maps are being created of greatly varying quality, sometimes by way of rough diagrams found on the Internet that are then shoe-horned into the outlines of buildings.

    TomTom to the Rescue?  Shares in TomTom, maker of personal navigation devices (PNDs) and mapping, jumped to a three-week high on speculation that it may be taken private by its founders with the help of Apple. In turn, Apple could buy TomTom’s maps database to correct its mapping problems. TomTom’s founders own 47 percent of the company, but may be held back by the uptick in share value.

    Paying for Location. Reportedly, Google has location-based AdWords in beta. Advertising rates go up the closer the targeted user is to the venue being promoted. A restaurant ad is more relevant, and more likely to draw a person who is one mile away than 20 miles. Some travelers will park near a string of hotels and use a site like hotels.com to find the most competitively priced room for that evening. An ad for a hotel on the other side of town is of lesser value and would be cheaper.

    Comments Heard at the Location Business Summit by MforMobile this Month:

    “We need to build ambient intelligence into devices. Nobody needs more information, more apps, ads, logins or devices. It isn’t sustainable.”

    “Location data on the consumer side is often junky because phones are trying to conserve battery, and won’t invoke GPS.”

    “You can get better locations from the carrier network, but it is too expensive a proposition for advertisers.”

    “We find that hyper-local ad targeting leaves us with too few people to address.”

    Can I Turn Back the Clock? In an interview for Forbes in 2003, Min Kao, CEO of Garmin, puts a stake in the ground. He says he does not seek to compete in navigation with the mobile phone, the likes of Nokia and Motorola, as that is the kind of commodity business Garmin would like to avoid. The PND vendors continue to be squeezed between the OEM embedded equipment and the smartphone. It is hard to be optimistic about the PND market, commented John Canali of Strategy Analytics at the Location Business Summit. Heavy discounting has led to plummeting revenues. “The PND companies are hardware focused in a market whose foundation is software. It will be very difficult to transform PND companies,” says Canali. “They will struggle.” In 2009, Google announced that all Android phones built on OS 1.6 or higher would have free turn-by-turn directions. Nokia followed shortly after. So it began.

    A Little Slow. CTIA drew more than 5,000 people to attend MobileCon, its fall show with a new brand name. You may remember it as CTIA Enterprise and Applications. This was a significant decline from last year when 10,000 to 15,000 conference-goers attended. Activity was slow and the exhibit floor was smaller. Conference sessions were held on the exhibit floor.

    Still Can’t Close the Loop. The industry continues to be unable to provide advertisers with metrics of how many pizzas a mobile ad sold. Papa John’s Pizza will know if someone has clicked to call or clicked to map, but Papa John’s won’t know if those actions resulted in a purchase. Without this fundamental metric, advertisers complain that it is hard to build a business case for mobile advertising. The click rates that they can track aren’t always representative because of user errors that include fat fingers, fraudulent clicks and pocket dialing.

  • FCC Hosts Public Workshop on Indoor Location this Wednesday

    The FCC sees indoor location as a critical safety concern for E911 emergency response. The commission has tasked an advisory committee to evaluate indoor location positioning technologies. A public workshop on this testing is being held at the FCC on Wednesday, October 24, and can be watched online at www.fcc.gov/live.

    TechnoCom has been chosen to conduct the independent testing as a neutral third party. The test bed is in about 20 structures of various types, in locations that range from highly dense urban to sparse landscape. The following companies are submitting technology for the testing: Qualcomm (AGPS/AFLT/Cell ID), NextNav (GPS-like terrestrial beacons), Boeing (LEO satellites using the Iridium constellation), and Polaris (RF fingerprinting). Additional companies submitted technology, but later withdrew. Test results should be made public in March of 2013. 

  • Telenav Launches Scout Advertising, Acquires ThinkNear

    By Janice Partyka.

    TeleNav has announced that it has acquired Local Merchant Services, Inc., d.b.a. ThinkNear, a privately held hyper-local mobile advertising company in Los Angeles, California, for consideration of $22.5 million, consisting of approximately $18.5 million in cash, plus restricted stock and assumed options. The acquisition, which closed on October 10, added ThinkNear’s team of 12 employees, including its two co-founders, to Telenav’s mobile local advertising group. Telenav will combine ThinkNear’s targeting technology with the existing Telenav Drive-To Advertising solution to create a new mobile local advertising platform called Scout Advertising.

    ThinkNear states that it helps advertisers reach consumers within 100 meters of any location. ThinkNear’s targeting technology enables situational targeting, which reportedly takes into account where consumers are, what they are doing, and what is happening around them.

    “Real-time location is a nuanced and difficult problem and we have spent almost two years working on the technology to do it right,” said Eli Portnoy, CEO and co-founder of ThinkNear who will be joining the Scout Advertising team. “We have built technology to target mobile consumers based on true location and real-time context across billions of monthly impressions.”

    “Most mobile ad networks struggle with targeting because they are trying to apply online technologies in the mobile space,” said Dariusz Paczuski, vice president of products, marketing, and monetization at Telenav. “This is frustrating for brick and mortar advertisers because, although the growth in mobile Internet use is astounding, the ROI for mobile has been difficult to measure. We now solve that problem by driving more customers at scale with hyper-local targeting and measurable results.”

    “We are extremely excited to combine ThinkNear’s technology and expertise with our own to provide an even more comprehensive solution for advertisers to reach and drive more customers,” stated Paczuski. “This is a platform built from the ground up to leverage the mobile experience. We will help advertisers reach the right people while deploying the right mobile measurement tools. We expect this to change the game for advertisers. We are 100 percent focused on providing them with a clear and remarkable ROI on their mobile advertising spend. The proof will be the increase in customers driving to their front door.”

  • Geoloqi Merges with Esri

    By Janice Partyka.

    Esri has announced that Geoloqi, a platform for next-generation location-based services (LBS), will merge its staff and product capabilities into Esri’s existing geospatial platform and launch a new Esri Research and Development (R&D) Center in Portland, Oregon, where Geoloqi is headquartered. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

    “We are excited to have the team at Geoloqi and its technology become part of the Esri family,” said Jack Dangermond, president of Esri. “Geoloqi’s capabilities and relationships with the developer community will build on Esri’s already impressive suite of ArcGIS products to create more dynamic mobile and web applications.”

    Geoloqi’s platform enables rapid development of cross-platform, geography-based applications using a single API in any development language. Geoloqi provides specialized algorithms that help preserve battery life while location runs in the background or at stated intervals.

    “It’s the perfect fit,” said Amber Case, CEO of Geoloqi. “Our tools and platforms are very complementary. We’ve seen a lot of other companies and start-ups try to work on only one piece of the location equation, but location doesn’t work with just one element. The entire system has to work together to add value, and Esri has just that.”

    Geoloqi’s service for existing developers will not be interrupted. The Esri R&D Center in Portland will be focused on developing new tools and functionality to create improved, integrated products that accentuate the strength of a combined platform.

  • Funding for ByteLight Pinpoints Indoor Location Using LED Lighting

    By Janice Partyka.

    ByteLight, a provider of LED (light-emitting diode) based indoor positioning technology, announced that it has received $1.25 million in funding from individual and institutional investors, led by VantagePoint Capital Partners. ByteLight will use the funding to build its team, deploy at pilot locations, and expand its ecosystem of lighting partners.

    Using ByteLight’s LED lighting-based indoor positioning solution, commercial and enterprise building owners, public safety officials, retail outlets and public spaces such as airports, museums and convention centers can target customized information, special offers and other data directly to users based on their precise location inside a building.

  • Leica Geosystems SmartNet Adjusted to National Spatial Reference System

    On September 29, North America’s largest real-time GNSS network, Leica Geosystems’ SmartNet, became the first network to adopt the draft NGS RTN Guidelines across multiple states, and can now provide an accurate tie to the new NAD83 (NA2011) National Spatial Reference System. For the first time, SmartNet users throughout the U.S. are working within a common frame of reference.

    The Leica Geosystems SmartNet, which provides real-time positioning to more than 2,000 subscribers in 17 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, became the first network to adopt the draft National Geodetic Service’s (NGS) RTN guidelines across its entire network. “This is huge for our subscribers,” said Director, Reference Station Operations Wendy Watson, “We are now providing centimeter-level accuracy, on a common frame of reference, everywhere in our network. That’s never been done before, and we’re proud to be first.”

    The adjustment was a significant technical challenge, and will require some adaptations by current SmartNet subscribers. “It’s critical for subscriber and all their field crews to understand the effects of this adjustment in the field,” said Watson, “It affects all SmartNet users and all SmartNet stations. For most of the US subscribers there will be minor shifts in their positional data but in some areas like California the shift is greater.  To compensate for these changes in the field, users will need to perform a transformation, localization, or calibration, and tie to existing control. We’ve provided webinars on this, which are archived at our site, and SmartNet representatives are happy to answer any and all questions. And also, we have a complete suite of online tools to assist users at http://adjustment.smartnetna.com.”

    The SmartNet Adjustment Launch commenced on Saturday, September 29, at 9:00 p.m. ET and the SmartNet network was only down for the weekend—service resumed without a hitch on Monday, October 1, at 12:00 a.m.

    “All SmartNet stations are now positioned to ensure an unprecedented level of internal precision and consistency between themselves, while at the same time providing an accurate tie to the new NAD83 (NA2011) National Spatial Reference System,” Watson explained, “By implementing the draft NGS RTN Guidelines, we positioned all of our stations to provide the requisite 2 cm horizontal and 4-cm vertical accuracy to the NSRS, while at the same time achieving the 1 cm level internal consistency needed to provide the high-precision and high-quality network corrections our users have come to expect. While we understand this change may have its challenges short term for some of our users, getting our entire network on the same, NGS-approved basis will improve the quality and consistency of everyone’s work.”

  • Geneq Introduces Palm-Sized GPS/GLONASS Receiver that Uses OmniSTAR’s 10-cm Service

    Geneq Inc. has introduced the SXBlue III-L GNSS, a palm-sized L1/L2/GLONASS GNSS receiver that is designed to use OmniSTAR’s G2 or HP service to attain realtime 10-cm accuracy in all regions of the world, including North/South America, Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. The SXBlue III-L GNSS connects wirelessly to smartphones, handhelds, tablet or notebook computer that are bluetooth-compliant. Optionally, the SXBlue III-L GNSS receiver is fully RTK capable (1cm real-time accuracy) when using an RTK network or other RTK reference station.

    Photo: Geneq
    Photo: Geneq

     

    According to the announcement,  the SXBlue III-L GNSS is designed to use OmniSTAR’s G2 service, which supports GPS and GLONASS satellites, to provide 10cm accuracy in real-time in most parts of the world. The ability to track both GPS (31 satellites) and GLONASS (24 satellites) significantly increases the number of satellites in view, making the SXBlue III-L GNSS more productive in areas where trees, terrain or buildings block satellite visibility. It also outputs raw observation data that can be used for post-processing using free, online processing software services such as OPUS.

    “We’ve set a new standard for world-wide, real-time high-precision mapping using OmniSTAR’s G2 service,” said product engineer Jean-Yves Lauture. “The affordable price and flexibility of the SXBlue III-L GNSS makes worldwide, dual frequency, dual constellation 10cm real-time accuracy available to a wide number of users.”

    In addition to the OmniSTAR service, the SXBlue III-L GNSS also supports RTK GNSS. “If you want 1cm real-time accuracy, the RTK option lets the user connect to an RTK Network or a single RTK base station using standard RTCM and common industry formats,” said Lauture. “And, in that case, the RTK network or RTK reference station doesn’t need to support GLONASS for the SXBlue III-L GNSS to fully utilize the benefits of GLONASS.”

    The company reports the SXBlue III-L GNSS measures 14.cm (5.57”) x 8.0cm (3.15”) x 5.6cm (2.22”) and weighs slightly over a pound (1.14lbs, 517g) including battery. The SXBlue III-L GNSS is the smallest and lightest GNSS L1/L2 OmniSTAR receiver being produced in the world today.

    The SXBlue III-L GNSS is compact and rugged for optimal field use, requiring no backpack or external batteries. It was designed to meet the IP-67 rating, and can survive accidental immersion in water. The SXBlue III-L GNSS comes with a small, hermetically-sealed antenna that receives GPS, GLONASS, SBAS and OmniSTAR signals.

    The SXBlue III-L GNSS is targeted at high-precision users in industries such as surveying, GIS, utilities, construction, agriculture, engineering and other natural resource industries in addition to local, state and federal government users.

  • GTX Corp Brings GPS Shoes for Alzheimer’s to UK, Ireland

    GTX Corp has announced today that its patented GPS tracking smart shoe will be commercially available in the U.K and Ireland this month. The Aetrex Navistar GPS shoes will be made under license by comfort footwear maker Aetrex Worldwide, Inc., and will be distributed by Tipp Toes, an Aetrex Worldwide distributor located  in Ireland.

    The Alzheimer’s Society in the U.K estimates there are 800,000 people in the UK and Ireland afflicted with Alzheimer’s and Dementia who are prone to wandering. Statistics show that if not found within the first 24 hours, more than half may be found seriously harmed. The GPS technology embedded inside comfortable walking shoes designed for seniors were first introduced in the U.S. and Australia. EE, the UK digital communications company, will be the wireless SIM provider for the GPS shoes after having recently signed a global contract with GTX Corp that will enable the shoes to work in more than 50 countries across the globe which utilize the GSM network.

    The shoe wearer can be monitored remotely, thereby helping to  ensure  their safety, providing peace of mind to their caregivers and  reducing the cost of remote oversight. The shoes are embedded with a miniaturized proprietary module that contains the locator’s integrated GPS/cellular chipset and the SIM card unique to each wearer. The GPS shoes communicate via EE’s cellular network and sends location coordinates via a wireless data connection, similar to sending SMS messages on a cell phone. If the wearer wanders outside of a pre-set location determined by the caregiver, an SMS or email message will alert the caregiver instantly.

    The GPS shoes have been heralded by healthcare and technology authorities around the world and is featured in the “100 Most Important Inventions of Mankind” Exhibit in the National Museum of Science and Technology in Sweden.