GPS Passion

GPS is getting an upgrade

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GPS, the original, is going to be upgraded till the year 2013. I am calling it ‘The Original’, because the European Galileo GPS-like system would be born dead if no deal would have been signed with the US.

A several billion dollar bid has been opened for the making of eight next gen (GPS III) GPS satellites. There is another bid of US$ 160 million for a ground-based GPS system (GPS OCX).

I am curious on which side Galileo will be. It was intended as a (for the most part) non-military European version of the American GPS system. But now with a signed contract I would like to know what way we are going.
What is the extra for Europe now, except for preventing the theoretical possiblity that the US switches off the GPS signal? And are we up-to-date?

via Engadget

What to take with you while traveling…

Taking baggage is always a matter of making choices. I am in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) to stay there for one week. I look like a girl, with travelling bags everywhere.

My bags are filled with electronics AND cables, LOTS of cables. Connection cables, power cables, car power cables. Lots of wireless devices: bt gps mouse, bt headset, my own little wifi router to make a wired connection wireless at a friends house…

When we are thinking GPS and related stuff only:

• my Nokia E61i (Symbian) phone with al kinds of GPS sofware including Nokia Maps
• my Palm Treo 680 with all kinds of GPS software, including CacheMate for paperless geocaching
• Magellan SporTrak Color
• Magellan eXplorist 600
• HP NX6110 notebook with software for Magellan GPS devices,etc
• QStarz BT-Q810

There will be no way to be travelling lite today!

SiRF and Intel signing GPS deal

SiRF and Intel did sign a license and development agreement wihich means they are going to work together on integration of GPS on different types of devices.

I think this is good news. I can’t wait till GPS is as common as a cell phone. GPS as mainstream is very OK to me!

But there is always a good and a bad…
My question now is whether I can still use the GPS of my choice, while having a GPS built in. Let’s say I have the Nokia N95 with built-in GPS, just as an example. It is quite possible that in the years I am using the phone a new and better chipset sees the light (probably there already is).
Will it be possible to switch of or just doný use the built in chipset and use the external device? I am sure there will be a market for all these external devices of all kind, but can you connect them?

via EnGadget