Quote of the Week

“Experts say that in 10-15 years cellular phones, watches and car stereos will have receivers for satellite signals.”

From an article titled “GLONASS to be made available for civilian use in 2006 - official” from NOVOSTI, the Russian News and Information Agency. The article is really about how “restrictions on precise satellite definition of on-land coordinates will be lifted by yearend” except for military facilities. I’m not sure how they preclude those facilities.

Navigate By Pictures

I read a few headlines that essentailly said “navigate by pictures” and had to dig for an article that actually explained the novel idea of the latest Navman GPS navigation system for cars. Ready? It has a camera that allows you to take GPS located images. So, the next time you want to go the place, you simply call up its picture and the system routes you to its coordinates. And, you can upload the pictures (and location info) to the NavPix server to share with friends and family.

My first thought? it’s like those phones where instead of writing the name next to the button that stores the number you put in a picture of Aunt Ruth or Uncle Sidney. It’s great for toddlers who cannot yet read. But this? Is it just for fun? We’ll see!

Trimble to Make Money in Ag Sector

Forbes offers an analysis of the success of Trimble’s work in the ag sector and notes things look good. One analyst raised expectations to $40 per share and expect continued recovery in that sector. This is good news; I continue to lament the loss of imagery companies in that arena and wonder how well GIS is faring in agriculture.

Galileo: I’ll Believe it When I See It!

A long and detailed article from Computing offers the pros and cons and some potential uses of Galileo. I thought this quote from Sean Phelan, founder of Mulitimap showed the correct reserve:

I’ll believe we have a European satellite navigation system when it works.

One thing I keep noticing is that while many of Galileo promoters want to say that the new system will enable “new” services, in fact all they really speak about is how existing GPS-based services will get better. “There’ll be more satellites to track” and “the signals will be stronger” are the main discussions.

What’s Hot? Directions via Cell Phone

How do I know? TeleNav secured $30 million in private equity financing. This was picked as a hot company by a reader some years ago. Clearly, the company leadership has convinced investors it’s a winner.

On a slightly related note, in my travels around Boston in recent days I saw several former cell phone stores closing or closed. One was soon to be a Chinese restaurant. Clearly, that delivery model is not working any longer, sort of like video rental stores…