The first two satellites of the EU’s Galileo programme for global satellite navigation will be launched on Thursday (20 October) from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guyana.
- EurActive
According to the official tech specs page for the iPhone 4S, Apple has added support for GLONASS in addition to GPS on its latest gadget, thus giving it the “more definitive GPS features” that we mentioned before the phone was announced.
- The Next Web
The bill for GLONASS? $11 billion.
- RT
by Adena Schutzberg on 10/19 at 04:39 AM |
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Matthew Morrissey, executive director of the New Bedford Economic Development Council, said he and his staff use iPads and iPhones daily to communicate with each other and with potential investors in the city.
According to Morrissey, he can use the iPad and its GIS mapping capabilities to represent a particular geography or building when discussing a real estate deal, or can use Google Earth on the iPad to demonstrate spatial relationships, capabilities that weren't available even two years ago.
That's from a SouthCoastToday (Mass south shore) article on the day to day impact of Steve Jobs and Apple.
by Adena Schutzberg on 10/10 at 03:51 AM |
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The patent application was discovered on Thursday by AppleInsider and is titled "Relevancy Ranking for Map-Related Search." It "describes how an iPhone would optionally report a user's present location, via GPS, to help Apple improve its search results."
Abstract
The following relates to ranking search results consisting of locations or recommending locations to visit based on recorded data representing visits by a plurality of users to the locations represented as search results or recommended locations to visit. The data representing users' visits can be recorded by receiving data anonymously reported by handheld communication devices carried by the plurality of users. A handheld communication device, which is carried by a user, can report to the system the user's present location optionally associated with a time stamp. The handheld communication device can report either a single location coordinate or a collection of coordinates gathered over time.
It's assigned to former Placebaser Jaron Waldman and Sr Director Product Marketing at Apple, Chad Richards and the app dates back to March 2010
- AppleInsider
by Adena Schutzberg on 09/09 at 03:48 AM |
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The patent, Augmented Reality Maps was filed in February of 2010. It is credited to Jaron Waldman of Placebase fame.
Abstract:
A user points a handheld communication device to capture and display a real-time video stream. The handheld communication device detects geographic position, camera direction, and tilt of the image capture device. The user sends a search request to a server for nearby points of interest. The handheld communication device receives search results based on the search request, geographic position, camera direction, and tilt of the handheld communication device. The handheld communication device visually augments the captured video stream with data related to each point of interest. The user then selects a point of interest to visit. The handheld communication device visually augments the captured video stream with a directional map to a selected point of interest in response to the user input.
AppleInsider contends the idea here is not re-invent AR but to merge it with navigation.
- AppleInsider
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/18 at 05:19 AM |
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The U.S. Patent app for "Schematic Maps" was made public today. It's assigned to Apple, but ultimtely came from Placebase which Mr. Jobs et al. acquired two years ago. The patent describes a method in which a mapping application would present users only with information that is most relevant to a given situation. The logic is to de-clutter the map, especially on small devices, and highlight the most important data, say the driving route the user will follow. The symbology would be dynamicly generated based in part on attributes of the display.
Abstract:
Systems and methods for preparing and presenting schematic maps, which are maps that present information in a format that presents only information that is most relevant to a given situation in order to provide a simple and clear representation sufficient to aid a user in guidance or orientation. The schematic maps as described herein can be formatted based on the attributes of a display on which they are presented so that the map layout and presentation can be optimized for the particular display. The schematic maps can be "distorted" to better illustrate important maps areas in greater detail and using a relatively larger display area while deemphasizing less important map areas by illustrating them in less detail and using a relatively smaller display area, and thus the schematic maps can be devoid of adherence to a particular scale.
The app is dated February of 2010 and credited to Jaron Waldman and Moran Ben-David, both at one time of Placebase.
My first thought: You can patent that? My second, haven't I see that? Commenter GatorGuy point to these two implementations as potential prior art.
Hmm. Looks really similar to an existing map idea originally developed at Sanford 10 years ago, called LineDrive.
With it already in use on MSN maps, wonder if Microsoft will have anything to say about Apple's patent application.
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/11 at 02:02 PM |
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