Archives for 2015

GPS technologies are constantly improving and expanding. When first launched, GPS provided accuracy within several hundred feet. Then, when Selective Availability ended, accuracy skyrocketed literally overnight to a few meters. Now, a research team at the Cockrel School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin has found a way to increase that accuracy to a few centimeters without increasing the cost. The catch is that this new technology was funded by Samsung and therefore is designed specifically for smartphones.

I know what you’re probably thinking. Centimeter-accurate devices are already available right now. IN fact, centimeter-accurate positioning devices are commonly used in several different fields including geology, mapping and surveying. However, these survey-grade antennas are a too large to use with a mobile device, and the antennas and equipment is pretty expensive. The researchers wanted to create a super accurate system that was affordable so that everyone could use it. read more

Every city has something unique about it, whether it’s a memorial statue, a cool coffee shop, a world-renowned museum or a local pizza parlor. These places are visited by hundreds or maybe even thousands of people a year, which translates to dozens of photos, many of which are geotagged to show the location of these popular and special places.

So, what would happen if you took all of those photos and created a map, linking the photos to show individual journeys and locations? Well, you would end up a neat sketch-like image of the location, filled with individual travels and popular locations. You’d get the Geotagger’s World Atlas. read more