Friday, March 19. 2010

GPS Tidbits

The GPS devices required in New York City cabs since 2007 have done their job. Investigators from the Taxi and Limousine Commission found that 3000 drivers routinely charge patrons the out of borough rate, one twice as high as rides in the five boroughs. That adds up to $8.3 million in overages. The commission wants to require drivers to let passengers know what rate they are charging perhaps via video screens in the backseat.

- NY Times

The Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors will kick off National Surveyors Week, March 21 to 27, with a project to survey the state in a day on March 20. Members and non-members will simultaneously locate points to within 1 cm. The goal? Be in the Guinness Book of World Records for "The Largest Single Day Land Survey."

- details
- Wausau Daily Herald

The Army Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Mass., has per Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, developed the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS), a paragrlider with GPS for guidance to deliver cargo deliver cargo to troops working in rough terrain in Afghanistan. It delivered more than 3 million pounds of cargo in 2009.

JPADS uses an onboard GPS system to help guide a parafoil -- a steerable canopy parachute -- to deliver supplies that can weigh as much as 30,000 pounds, according to a briefing that Maj. Erin Staine-Pyne presented in 2009. The system has improved the accuracy of airdrops by 60 percent.

- NextGov

Thursday, March 18. 2010

Garmin to Pay Dividend, to Move to Switzerland

Quick - where is the company based now? HQ is in Kansas City, but it's incorporated in the Cayman Islands. (That's the stuff you pick up in my line of work...)

Wednesday the company said it will shift the location of its incorporation to Switzerland. The board approved it and shareholders will vote on May 20. Assuming all goes well the move will be effective June 27.

Part of the reasoning for the move? "The Swiss office will provide a base for expansion of certain corporate functions in Europe and a more favorable structure from which it would be possible to acquire or partner with European businesses," said Min Kao, chairman and CEO, in a statement.

Garmin also approved an annual cash dividend of $1.50, a one-time increase from 75 cent, payable to shareholders of record on April 15 and will be paid on April 30.

- press release

Tuesday, March 16. 2010

Update: Quote of the Week

Update: It seems Michael Jones of Google found the Wayne Independant story and updated the one way street on Google Maps. Per the paper, he looks for such stories everyday. Apparently MapQuest has also been notified.

By the way, the original story didn't even mention Google or Google Maps, just "GPS." Notes the paper in updating the story: "While Google Maps is not used in most vehicle GPS devices, Google Maps is used in about 270 kinds of mobile phones, Jones said."

Also, comments from the original article include one from a NAVTEQ rep who confirmed the change had been made in their database, too. That was not mentioned in the update article, which is too bad; good job NAVTEQ! So, it looks like Google and NAVTEQ are "watching" for such issues; anyone else?

- Wayne Indepenant

--- original post 3/12/10 ----

"No one told the GPS satellite about Honesdale’s new one-way traffic pattern."
"Attempts to find someone in charge of GPS has not been successful."

- Peter Becker noting how local officials in Honesdale, PA are not being successful in finding someone to update maps in GPS devices to reflect one-way streets, in the Wayne Independant

These explanations may help Mr. Becker and Coucilman Jennings find satisfaction:

The GPS system is run by the Air Force. It uses twenty odd satellites that send signals to devices called GPS receivers. The receivers use the signals to determine the location of the receiver. Then, maps and software on the receivers create the routes.

So, the people you really need to contact to get the maps updated are the two main companies that provides those maps: NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas. Both have online tools to report such errors, but you might want to talk to someone.

Tuesday, March 2. 2010

GPS Tidbits

AgWeb offers a list of things to know before you buy a GPS device for agriculture. The last one, about "intangible" benefits is one many people probably do not think of:

12. Intangible benefits.
“Now that I’ve used [GPS-guided] auto-steer, the stress reduction is bigger than I ever anticipated,” says Bryan, the Iowa farmer. “It’s hard to put a dollar amount on how much less tired I am at the end of a day. One example is my shoulders and neck don’t ache after a day running the planter like they used to. Intangibles like less stress are bonuses that sealed the deal for me.”

- AgWeb

Did you know driving with a GPS can help you understand drought? It did for Peter Foster who lives in China, which is undergoing a serious drought and is planning a serious engineering project in response.

The GPS (or ‘Tom-tom’ for UK readers) shows the reservoirs as large blue splodges on the moving map which, it often indicates, I should be able to see out the window.
Trouble is, half the time they just aren’t there. I look out expecting to see water and instead see grazing livestock and the stumps where last year’s maize fields have obviously been. Miles and miles of ‘blue’ is in fact ‘brown’ and doesn’t appear to have seen any water for years.
I don’t know what date the maps on my GPS are based on, but the gap between the computer and the reality gives you a powerful sense of the scale of Beijing’s water shortages.

- Telegraph Blogs

GPS, among other technologies helped NYC officials get one unlawful cabbie of the road.The Taxi and Limousine Commission revoked Wasim Khalid Cheema's license after a January ruling just made public. Cheema had been using the suburban rate for in city trips, jacking them up 100% in some cases.

The city determined the driver was overcharging by reviewing his records, including automatic trip sheets that are generated using global positioning technology. Taxis are required to have the devices.

- AP via NJ.com

On March 3 Russia launched three navigation satellites to bring its GLONASS constellation up to 22 satellites, with 16 operational. That's getting closer to the 24 required.

- PTI News

Podcast: Congress' Location Privacy Hearing

Last week the Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet held a joint hearing titled, "The Collection and Use of Location Information for Commercial Purposes." Our editors examine the issues raised in testimony and in comments by interested stakeholders. Among them: Is location privacy akin to medical record privacy? What are the obligations of the software developer in making privacy policies and controls clear and easy to access? What about location privacy and young people?

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Monday, March 1. 2010

GPS Tidbits

Two yachtsmen died in an accident four months ago in Australia. Fifteen other vessels made it safely to port during the event. Finally inquiries determined while many factors were involved in the accident, too close a watch on GPS may have been key.

"The inquiry could not identify a single reason or cause of the accident but we have identified a series of errors in judgement, which by themselves could have been inconsequential, but combined are contributory factors to the tragic grounding," the report said.

...

The inquiry found the main reason for the crash was that the crew relied too heavily on an inaccurate GPS chart plotter that was out by at least 100 metres.

"If this is the case, the failure to lookout ahead and adjust the course to clear the islet and off lying dangers proved fatal," the report said.

The crew told the inquiry that Short was making frequent reference to the chart plotter.

"What is difficult to understand is why a visual reference was not made to the islet..." the report said.

"[The crew] could see the whole islet including the low ledge to the north when one mile away.

Sounds all together to similar to road based users of satnav.

- ABC

NXP and IBM completed a road pricing trial in The Netherlands city of Eidenhoven. Fully 70% of drivers in the trail changed their rush hour behavior, and saved 16% per kilometer driven. The results suggest the implementation could be taken nationwide.

- press release

The GoBandit is a GPS-enabled helmet cam for skiers and others who want to videotape their travels and track their speed, distance and elevation changes all in a 145g package. It'll be out this spring.

via InventorSpot

NGO Mercy Corps is using GPS enabled cameras and camera-phones to document that "cash for work" projects in Afghanistan are being completed as planned. The images are taken and then linked to Google Earth (or per another account something Google Earth "like").

- Wired

Mike Hanson has been blind from birth and will be attempting to hike the Appalachian Trail using a GPS-enabled phone as a guide. Trough hikers are not convinced it will provide the guidance required. I tend to agree, though I've not covered that type of distance on a trail.

- Star Tribune