“Because the Sat-Nav told me so”
November 9, 2009
Satellite navigation systems and accidents are closely related, and several recent occurrences stand to substantiate this. Many drivers have been found to be distracted by the mess of information form their sat-nav systems, thereby reducing their reaction time to unexpected situations. There even was a study conducted to prove this. Last month, an ambulance driver’s misfunctioning sat-nav nearly costed him his job. But of late, several wayward drivers blame their sat-navs for their short comings on the road. In just four hours on October 28th, nearly 13 drivers were caught near the Enfield Lock station trying to dash across the level crossing in the last minute, ignoring the red signal.
Among the several excuses given by the erring drivers, “My sat-nav told me to just keep going” “It was my sat-nav’s fault” “The sat-nav malfunctioned” seemed to dominate. However, police officers say that over 90% of road accidents are caused by human error, even though most blame the roads or their gadgets for the unfortunate occurrences. Well, what ever be it, it indeed is high time that we stopped blaming something and start redressing already!
Taiwan’s ‘Shadow Guide’ makes an impression in the 2009 European Satellite Navigation Competition
November 7, 2009
The 2009 European Satellite Navigation Competition was a special one for Taiwan. For, it was this year that saw about 48 entries from the East Asian island. Not just that, a project by the Industrial Technology Research Institute South (ITRI) titled ‘Shadow Guide’ came second in the prestigious competition. Nearly 290 entries from around the world took part in the competition, of which Taiwan’s consisted of over 16%, which was the highest when compared to any participating nation.
The competition was first started in 2004 and encourages innovations in the satellite navigation applications sector and aims at merging it with Galileo, the European Satellite Navigation System which is an alternative to the Global Positioning System. According to the Taiwan Times, the Shadow Guide is ‘a guiding solution to help people enjoy their trip’. It is a navigational device that can supposedly monitor over several kilometres. The device can also assist multiple users of a group to maintain communication with each other. It is small enough to fit into a box of the size of a wrist watch and could be employed to assist in leisure trips in the future.
Garmin to launch EcoRoutes ESP Module to Diagnose your Car
November 6, 2009
Garmin has announced a new accessory for your Garmin Nuvi Satellite Navigations. Dubbed as Garmin EcoRoute ESP Module, this accessory can diagnose your car, and display the details on the Nuvi satellite navigation. It provides details on the working of the car including real-time fuel economy, intake air temperature, coolant temperature, emissions, engine light and so on.
Garmin EcoRoute ESP Module could be fitted behind your car’s dashboard and it transfers data to satellite navigation via blue tooth. It is powered by the car’s OBD-II diagnostic port. The new Garmin Nuvi Sat Nav will have a supporting software to let the user customize which workings of the car you need the module to display. The device could be even set to send alerts for each one of them, if found to be wrong.
This device could be expected by January 2010. No much information is available on its price or the market of the launch.
Garmin to launch Budget friendly Sat Navs for Black Friday
November 5, 2009
Garmin is expected to launch few budget friendly sat navs for Black Friday. The cost of these satellite navigations are assumed to be between $100-$120. No much information is revealed on their model number or features.
Cliff Pemble, the President and COO of Garmin says that the sales of Garmin nuvifones have been slow and the company is taking steps to improve its sales. The first step towards this is the launch of a television advertising campaign. AT&T has also lowered the price of certain Garmin Sat navs.
He also said that Garmin’s Android based Nuvifone is en routed for 2010. Garmin is not found to be fearful of the GPS enabled smartphones, the new generation competitors of GPS navigation devices. Pemble pointed out the pitfalls of GPS enabled smartphones that the phone becomes heated after a long use, and also its lesser GPS reception.
Microsoft to bid adieu to MSN Direct service in 2012
November 4, 2009
Through a notice posted on the official website of MSN Direct, Microsoft informs the users that MSN Direct will discontinue its services from January 1st 2012. Thus, the users of certain satellite navigation devices can no longer receive traffic updates, weather reports and other real time information from 2012 January.
MSN Direct service employs FM radio frequencies to deliver data. The availability of alternatives to broadcast data including Wi-Fi, cellular, FM RDS and other digital networks, and the subsequent reduction for the demand of MSN Direct is reported to be the chief reason behind this decision to discontinue FM based MSN service. Intrinsically, Microsoft has planned to focus on these existing and popular network connections in US and Canada, and discontinue MSN Direct service.
MSN was initially launched in 2004. Currently, GPS makers like Garmin and Pioneer sell units that can receive MSN Direct. Their comment on the same are not available till now.
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