Sunday, March 18, 2012

Garmin to Continue Auto GPS Despite Decline in Sales

garmin-logo-1024x301

I must say, ladies and gents, the automotive GPS market is not looking really great. Garmin, undoubtedly the largest and most popular provider of GPS devices in general, posted their 2014 financial reports late last week, and the numbers showed an 11% decrease in automotive devices and an 8% drop in outdoor devices (which includes handhelds and sport devices). Fitness devices, on the other hand, saw a whopping 70% increase, while marine and aviation saw moderate increases as well.

Here’s what Cliff Pemble, president and CEO of Garmin Ltd. said in the release as far as the auto market goes: read more

Galileo Satellites Declared Fit for Launch

galileo satellite

Arianespace has confirmed that the third and fourth Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites built for the Galileo constellation are “fit” for the launch expected in March. The satellites have been undergoing a series of rigorous tests since the EU announced that the Galileo system would continue forward with three launches.

Early last week, the two satellites made initial contact with the mission’s dual-payload dispenser in French Guiana, and were installed and removed separately during the tests. The dispenser itself will be fully integrated closer to the launch, and will hold one satellite on each side. read more

10 Common GPS Myths

GPS Block IIIA satellite

GPS has been around since the 80s, but even today a lot of people don’t really understand how it works, and there are tons of myths floating around that are just not true. Today, I wanted to take a look at 10 of the myths that I hear more than anything else, and try and set the record straight.

Myth: GPS comes from signal stations

Fact: GPS signals are actually transmitted from a constellation of 30 satellites orbiting the Earth. While GPS signal stations are integral to the mathematical formula that calculates distances and makes GPS satellites function, the signals themselves are actually from space–not the ground.

Myth: The military controls GPS signals

Fact: Well, this is only partially false. While GPS signals and satellites are monitored and operated by the 2nd and 19th Space Operations Squadrons at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, the GPS program itself is actually owned and regulated by the U.S. government and funded through tax dollars.  read more

This Week in GPS — February 20, 2015

GPS drone (UAS) with GoPro camera

GPS drone (UAS) with GoPro camera; Creative Commons image courtesy Don McCullough

This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. This week’s featured image is a GPS drone. This week, the FAA finally submitted the draft of their regulations for the use of UAS. Yay!

Here are some other news from the world of GPS: read more

GPS Reveals Cat’s Three-Mile Nightly Trek

cat track gps

Oxi the cat, of Northamptonshire, England is a regular British Shorthair cat, just like any other. He enjoys cat things like pouncing on toys, jumping on surfaces and staring down passerby from his house in Desborough. But, at night, this little feline becomes an intrepid explorer, ranging as far as three miles from his home. read more

FAA Submits UAS Regulations

DJI Phantom Quadcopter Drone

Earlier this week, the FAA has finally submitted the outline for the proposed regulations for small drone operation and use. But after the submission of the long-awaited proposal, companies like Amazon are far less than pleased. Under these new regulations, small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) cannot be operated out of the line of sight of the operator, making proposed deliveries from companies like Amazon impossible.

The 200 page regulation draft was published on Sunday, and the President issued a complementary Presidential Memorandum to go along with it. The proposed rules are not set in stone yet, and the FAA will be accepting comments at regulations.gov for the next 60 days or so.

Here’s a brief overview of the important points of the proposed rules: read more

Wis. Senate to Vote On GPS Bill

gavel

According to AP, Reuters and all those other super-informed organizations, the Wisconsin Assembly has passed a bill to make GPS tracking without consent of the individual a Class A misdemeanor. The bill was introduced earlier this week and is now headed to the Senate for approval. The bill was actually drafted and passed during last year’s session in the Assembly, but the Senate was unable to vote before the session ended. read more

Volkswagen Partners with TomTom Traffic

tomtom-logo_1

Volkswagen Group, one of the largest car makers in Europe,  has announced that it has selected TomTom as its traffic service supplier of choice. TomTom Traffic is expected to begin showing up in Audi and Volkswagen vehicles in the next few years, providing drivers with traffic and GPS navigational information without the need for external devices. read more

Garmin Adds Four 16-inch Marine Devices

garmin-logo-1024x301

Garmin announced earlier this week that it will be expanding its GPSMAP series to include four 16-inch models; the largest screen sizes yet. The new models include two sonar models: the GPSMAP 7416xsv and the GPSMAP 7616xsv as well as two non-sonar models: GPSMAP 7416 and GPSMAP 7616. All four models are expected to hit markets in the second quarter of this year.

These four new GPS devices will be pretty equitable to the other GPSMAP 7400 and 7600 series models, from what I can gather and will include full pinch-to-zoom touchscreens and full network capabilities that will allow users to add sensors, multiple screens, remote sonar modules, weather, radar, autopilot, thermal and IP camera visibility, digital switching and more for a fully customizable setup based on the users needs. read more

This Week in GPS — February 13, 2015

gavel

This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. The featured image this Friday the 13th is a gavel, but I promise it’s related! This week, a group of people brought forth a suit to Garmin, TomTom and several other companies after the crash of a bus that resulted in several injuries. A ruling hasn’t been announced yet, but we have an article outlining what happened here. It will be interesting to see where it goes–I assume it’s going to be thrown out, but who knows?

Here are some other things that happened this week in the world of GPS:

read more