GPS World, August 2009

Industry news and developments GPS Galileo GLONASS BUSINESS THE LOCATION BASED SERVICES Location Driven Coupons on iPhone By Gwen Cameron Yowza an application designed for the latest GPS enabled iPhone 3G and 3GS models and iPod Touch brings relevant coupon offers to customers based on their location Any time you insert a concept such as location into a marketing program you end up with a far more compelling value proposition states Mike Wehrs president of the Mobile Marketing Association Sales and discount offers via Yowza can be updated in real time and targeted by region or store location The phone will deliver a list of stores within one mile that have offers on Yowza said August Trometer co founder of the recent startup Users show the barcode and digital mobile coupon on their handset at checkout to redeem the discount on their purchase We work directly with merchants they provide us with their latitude and longitude we get the GPS coordinates do a database search with a proprietary algorithm said Trometer The phone constantly goes back and forth between our app touching data from our database When the person touches their location it touches a new set of data in the database The phone will work with them to keep delivering the closest store Theres a lot of work on the database end of things One drawback of the app is that it has to be turned on to work it does not sit in the background waiting to be activated by incoming offers Users have to give the application access to their GPS coordinates explained Trometer But the power of the device and all the applications it brings make it silly to turn off the location capability Retailers that have signed with Yowza include Sears McDonalds The Container Store and more Unlike traditional forms of couponing such as newspaper ads Yowza offers can be updated in real time and targeted by region or store location Trometer expects to announce Yowza capability through other GPS equipped phones Blackberry Storm Googles Android based phone and the Palm Pre All three makers allow developer access to the GPS and this is very important its crucial obviously They also have a high res screen which is a requirement for our scannable barcode that the user shows to the merchant Referring to GPS handsets that lack a high res screen he claims The other phone manufacturers really have an uphill battle right now Whose GPS The source of the GPS chip within Apples iPhone remains a mystery Even people who have done teardowns of the devices the chips are completely blank says Trometer There are so many possibilities were just scratching the surface right now with what can be done Trometer said The mind reels with the things that can be done with that SURVEY CONSTRUCTION Hemisphere Juniper Jointly Offer DGPS Receiver for Demanding Environments Juniper Systems and Hemisphere GPS offer the XF101 DGPS receiver for the Archer Field PC designed to deliver sub meter DGPS to locationbased applications in demanding environments According to the companies the Hemisphere GPS XF101 DGPS receiver provides Crescent GPS technology for sub meter accuracy COAST technology to maintain accuracy during temporary loss of differential signal optional external antenna for centimeter level accuracy low power consumption modular connection for rapid field use real time or post processed DGPS data collection and multipath minimization The XF101 with the Archer is priced at less than 2500 It fully supports mobile GIS applications such as ESRI ArcPad and OnPoz GNSS Driver GPS World August 2009 www gpsworld com 16