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Showing posts from 2012

A letter of Tim Cook on maps - apple

I take over the complete sorry mail from Apple;  it seems that a turn by turn crowdsourced navigation is not easy to build from the ground up. To our customers, At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better. We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up. There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly h

Solar storms 2013 and RTK systems

I was running tonight and my iphone endomondo track put me on top of the Schuman EU Building; not completely accurate and typical of urban canyons phenomenon. This reminded me that accuracy of GPS signals is can be very relative.  The systems can even be seriously hampered when solar storms occur.  On the website gps.gov a lot of info can be found related to the fact that in 2013 period solar storms will be at their peak period The advice of the US government even mentions "GPS users should keep this in mind and always have a secondary means of navigation or timing."  So time to buy a paper map? Not really, but the land based correction mechanisms (RTK part of GNSS) will become more important for landing airplanes correctly etc...In Belgium the full 3 networks ( Flepos  in Flemish area, Walcors in Walloon area, GPSBru in Brussels)  Seems that more and more commercial applications are turning to these geodetic solutions: will network configurations be able to keep up

in-location alliance

Accurate indoor positioning opens up plenty of possibilities for new mobile services. For a consumer this could mean, for example, receiving directions to the right products and personalized product promotions in nearby shops; using real-time navigation inside a building; finding the precise location of assets and people; and even increasing security in emergency situations. For facility owners and local service providers this could enable, for example, increased local customer identification; enhanced product placement; and better customer satisfaction by deploying resources when and where needed. Link

Google cube game