AT&T Launches 911 Location Service
With location-based routing, a device can be located and routed within 50 meters of its location.
AT&T [T] this week announced the launch of the nation’s first location-based emergency call routing system that automatically transmits wireless 911 calls to call centers. The new Locate Before Route feature, built by Intrado, allows AT&T to quickly identify where a wireless 911 call is coming from using device GPS and hybrid information, the company said
AT&T said with location-based routing, a device can be located and routed within 50 meters of the device location. The company said that prior to the feature’s launch, wireless 911 calls were routed based on the location of cell towers, which cause delays in emergency response.
The company said that because 68 percent of adults don't have a landline in their homes, connections to the call centers, also call PSAPs, are critical.
While AT&T says it is the only carrier to provide accurate solutions, reducing 911 call transfers beyond FCC requirements, T-Mobile [TMUS] also launched location-based routing and next generation IP over IP, but it is not available nationwide.
AT&T’s nationwide Locate Before Route rollout, scheduled to be completed by the end of June, is available in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Guam. Additional regions will be rolled out over the next several weeks, the company said.
Qualcomm Completes Skyhook Acquisition
Qualcomm Technologies [QCOM] said it has completed the acquisition of location technology pioneer Skyhook. The technology giant has not made a formal announcement about the acquisition, several Skyhook employees now have Qualcomm titles.
Both companies have been tight-lipped about the transaction. An email from Qualcomm’s corporate communications to Location Business News confirmed the deal: “Qualcomm Technologies recently completed the acquisition of Skyhook and is pleased to come together to further support the availability of location solutions to accelerate the digital transformation of industries.” This statement is also on the Skyhook website.
Boston-based Skyhook, with more than 650 patents, has worked with Qualcomm on mobile location technology in the past. In 2019, the company brought its Wi-Fi positioning and location-assistance services to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear platforms.
Skyhook, founded in 2003 by Ted Morgan and Michael Shean, was acquired by TruePosition in 2014 for $57.5 million. Two years later, TruePosition, a subsidiary of Liberty Broadband [LBRDA], merged into Skyhook, taking its name.
Oriient Grabs $11 Million in New Funding
Indoor location company Oriient has announced an $11 million Series A funding round, which was led by venture capital equity platform OurCrowd. Other participating companies include Regal Four, F2 Venture Capital, NGN Partners, and Future Energy Ventures to bring total funding to $16 million.
Tel Aviv-based Oriient says the new funding will help scale its indoor positioning technology to tens of thousands of locations, open new verticals and drive global sales. The company is tailoring its solutions to retailers, who can enable in-store navigation, proximity marketing and foot traffic analytics.
The company recently announced two partnerships, including one with grocery delivery giant Instacart, whose shoppers will use in-store navigation powered by Oriient. The other partnership is with Google, which makes Oriient indoor location services available on the Google Cloud's Marketplace as an SDK for retailers' mobile apps, the company said.
Founded in 2017, the 35-person company uses algorithms that use Earth's magnetic field, smartphone readings and AI to pinpoint users inside buildings—without the need for any installed hardware.
"When we set out to build Oriient, our vision was to create the world's first truly software-only indoor location solution. Thanks to previous funding, we were able to deliver on this promise and commercialize the technology," says Mickey Balter, the company's CEO and co-founder, in a statement.
Contact: Oriient, www.oriient.me.
HERE Collaborates with AWS on Supply Chain Solutions
HERE Technologies has entered a five-year agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to increase customers’ supply chain visibility, transportation and logistics, fleet routing, and estimated times of arrival.
As part of the agreement, HERE will list the company’s supply chain solutions that are used by transportation and logistics companies in the AWS Marketplace. In addition, HERE and AWS will market warehouse and yard management, predictive ETA calculations, and CO2 fleet emission solutions, the company said.
AWS is supporting HERE’s location-based service applications to increase supply chain visibility. Some of HERE’s supply chain solutions include asset tracking, tour planning and last-mile software.
“At the center of supply chain visibility is location intelligence. We have seen now that deep insights on the ‘where’ and ‘when’ dimensions of operations deliver tremendous value, from optimizing inbound and outbound logistics to middle and last mile delivery execution,” said Edzard Overbeek, CEO at HERE Technologies, in a statement.
In related news, HARMAN announced support for the AWS for Automotive initiative from Amazon Web Services with the HARMAN Over-the-Air (OTA) software update solution, which is designed to help OEMs meet increased security needs in their vehicles.
Contact: Jordan Stark, HERE Technologies, (312) 316-4537, jordan.stark@here.com.
Geespace and u-blox Sign Augmentation Services Agreement
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox UBXN] has partnered aerospace information and communications company Geespace to expand augmentation services for high precision applications. The new memorandum of understanding allows the companies to extend their service offering to the U.S., European, and Chinese markets, primarily in the automotive sector.
The companies say that while GNSS accuracy has improved to open new automotive and industrial markets, global adoption has been delayed by fragmentation of augmentation services. The MoU between u-blox and Geespace will create a new combined product that will offer precision positioning software and hardware solutions across worldwide markets.
The deal will allow Geespace, which provides automotive GNSS augmentation services to its parent company Geely Group, to use the u-blox PointPerfect GNSS augmentation service to grow its coverage to the company’s automotive brands. The partnership also opens up other opportunities for u-blox for its PointPerfect service in other Chinese markets.
“This partnership with Geespace is a cornerstone to our plans of expanding our services and solutions in the APAC region. With this expansion u-blox will be able to offer PointPerfect and high precision solutions to all our American and European customers that have products ready for the Chinese market,” said Franco de Lorenzo, u-blox Product Center Services’ principal product owner, in a statement.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
🤞 Why the Future of Fleet Management Lies in 5G. “5G will increase navigation and real-time alerts of road conditions and serve net-new use cases.”
🚙 Mercedes-Benz To Begin Selling Self-driving Vehicles in Germany. “The vehicle’s location is pinpointed by a high-precision positioning system that Mercedes-Benz says is ‘much more powerful than conventional GPS systems.’”
💰 Hapag-Lloyd Launching Real-time Monitoring for Its Entire Fleet of 3 Million TEU Containers. “The container fleet will be equipped with devices both from established TradeTech partner Nexxiot AG starting this summer as well as with devices from ORBCOMM.”
😦 Facebook Is Cutting a Raft of Location-based Services. “As well as Nearby Friends and local Weather alerts, other location-based services like Location History and Background location are also due to go.”
🛰 CACI to Launch Experimental Satellite To Demonstrate Alternative to GPS Navigation. “Non-GPS navigation from space is expected to become a significant business opportunity.”
😮 Downed Russian Fighter Jets Are Being Found With Basic GPS 'Taped to the Dashboards,' UK Defense Minister Says. “Ben Wallace said this was due to ‘the poor quality’ of Russia's own navigation systems.”
👍 Why the Future of Fleet Management Lies in 5G. “5G will increase navigation and real-time alerts of road conditions and serve net-new use cases.”
👞 Tracking Location from the Sole of a Shoe. “UC Irvine's Ultimate Navigation Chip (uNavChip) aims to design, build, and demonstrate a Personal Navigation System (PNS) that works for hours in GPS-denied environments.”
🤞 GPS Signals Could Detect Tsunamis Better and Faster Than Seismic Sensors. “Researchers from University College London and universities across Japan studied the ability of the GPS network to detect tsunamis, concluding that instruments can indeed detect the destructive waves from space.”
✔ CalAmp Recognized for its Diverse Board by 50/50 Women on Boards.
✔ Velodyne Lidar Reports Q1 Loss, Tops Revenue Estimates.
✔ Lytx Achieved 65% Increase in New Subscriptions in Q1, Selling More Than 100,000 Subscriptions.
Location Industry Briefs
Send your news releases to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Precisional Completes Acquisition of Four Trimble Companies
Precisional has announced that it has completed a previously announced transaction to acquire four industrial technology businesses from Trimble [TRMB]. The acquired businesses include Protempis (formerly Trimble Time and Frequency), LOADRITE, Spectra Precision Tools, and SECO. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Contact: Kristin Custar, TJC, (212) 572-0829, www.precisional.com.
GeoComm Partners With NextNav
Public Safety Location provider GeoComm has partnered with NextNav [NN] to enhance floor-aware indoor mapping for E9-1-1. While the FCC mandates that a 911 caller's vertical location to be determined with a plus or minus 3-meter accuracy 80 percent of the time, NextNav's solution grabs the same accuracy 94 percent of the time, the company said.
Through the partnership, GeoComm systems allow indoor tactical mapping displays to automatically highlight the vertical location from where a 9-1-1 call originated in a multistory building, the company said. This partnership builds upon NextNav’s recent announcement with “a nationwide wireless carrier” to provide precise vertical location information for 9-1-1 callers, the company said.
Contact: Mahmood Abu-Rubieh, for NextNav, nextnav@launchsquad.com, https://nextnav.com.
TomTom Traffic Stats Available on Microsoft Azure Marketplace
TomTom’s Traffic Stats are now available on Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace. TomTom Traffic Stats provide historical road traffic speeds and travel times in more than 75 countries, enabling in-depth analysis of driven road speeds and travel times across a route or a road network in a specific region, the company said.
Traffic Stats enable analysis of driven road speeds and travel times across a route or a road network in a specific geographic region, the company said. Customers can use the data for traffic performance studies, transport models and before and after analysis.
Contact: TomTom, www.tomtom.com.
Alcatel-Lucent Tracker Offers AI and ML
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has enhanced its OmniAccess Stellar Asset Tracking solution with customizable push-button alerts and an Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning-powered real-time location algorithm for environments that require improved accuracy.
Enhancements include equipping BLE tags with a new alert button to notify users of activity--or by sending automated notifications from an indoor geofenced area and immediately share information in real-time, the company said. The solution is being marketed to the healthcare industry.
Contact: Chloe Murray, for Alcatel-Lucent, 44 20 3750 6688, chloe@fox.agency, www.al-enterprise.com.
Septentrio Launches GNSS Receivers for Marine Applications
Septentrio has launched of two GNSS products for marine applications: AsteRx-U3 Marine and AsteRx-m3 Fg. The products offer accurate positioning near and offshore via centimeter-level RTK or the built-in Fugro PPP sub-decimeter subscription service, the company said.
Corrections delivered over L-band allow dredging, bathymetry, or marine construction projects even in areas where there is no internet service, the company said. While orders for both products can be placed immediately, deliveries for AsteRx-U3 Marine will start from July, the company said.
Contact: Septentrio, septentrio.com.
Topcon Part of German Government-Funded Program
Topcon Positioning Group in Germany is one of 22 partners involved in CampusOS, which is a research project that is developing a modular ecosystem for open 5G campus networks. The program was launched at the beginning of 2022 and will run through 2025, the company said.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is providing around 18.1 million euros in funding for the technology program over the next three years, which will total around 33 million euros, the company said. Other companies involved include Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch and more.
Contact: Staci Fitzgerald, Topcon Positioning Group, (925) 245-8610, corpcomm@topcon.com.
Titan GPS Snowplow Tracking Contract Renewed
Titan GPS has announced that its agreement with the Alberta Department of Transportation for snowplow tracking has been renewed. The Titan GPS platform tracks and monitors the status of snowplows deployed over thousands of rural and urban highways, the company said. Alberta Transportation deploys more than 660 snowplows on 19,883 miles of rural provincial highways as well as 45 snowplow trucks on urban roads in Edmonton and Calgary. All snowplow trucks are equipped with automated vehicle location system hardware, the company said.
Contact: Ritu Chaturvedi, Certified Tracking Solutions, (780) 391-3800, pr@ctstracking.com, https://titangps.com.
Cyngn Rolls Out Infinitracker
Cyngn [CYN] has launched Infinitracker, a GPS asset-tracking device and IoT data collection gateway with up to 15 years of battery life. Infinitracker is designed to attach to such valuables as shipping containers, pallets, equipment, or vehicles.
Attaching Infinitracker to the asset will allow users to view its precise location, speed, temperature, and direction of travel, the company said. Using a global SIM card, Infinitracker pushes data to the cloud from its built-in sensors or tethered Bluetooth devices, the company said.
Contact: Carolyne Sohn, Equity Group for Cyngn, (415) 568-2255, csohn@equityny.com, https://cyngn.com/infinitracker.
New Version of RouteSavvy Software Introduced
OnTerra Systems’ RouteSavvy automated route planning software has integrated route optimization technology in its new version. The RouteSavvy productivity software release simplifies and speeds up location data import and route building process, the company said. In addition, it automatically generating optimized routes for deliveries, pick-ups, and service and sales calls, the company said.
Contact: Courtney DeWinter, for RouteSavvy, (303) 572-8180, www.routesavvy.com.
USI Launches Real-Time GPS Asset Tracker
USI has announced that its new GPS asset tracker, UT-1, is powered by IoT technology, integrating multiple features, such as precise positioning, low power consumption, diversity sensors, and controllable costs. In addition to smart logistics, the GPS tracker is tailored for smart city and industrial use, the company said.
UT-1 features an LPWAN module (NBIoT/CatM), highly integrated microprocessors, Bluetooth, and GPS. UT-1 is designed with the temperature, humidity, light, air pressure, and accelerometer sensors, combined, high-efficiency antennas, power management, and robust mechanical structure, the company said.
Contact: USI, www.usiglobal.com.
Zonar Wins Customer Service Awards
Zonar has won Business Intelligence Group's 2022 Excellence in Customer Service program award and was a bronze winner for The Stevie Sales and Customer Service program. The company said it receives recognition as Organization of the Year because of its dedication to helping others and building long-lasting relationships with its partners.
Contact: Ben Hohmann, Zonar, 206.455.9072, ben.hohmann@zonarsystems.com.
Spirent Wins Queen’s Aware for Enterprise
Spirent Communications [SPT] has announced that its Positioning Technology business has been honored with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Spirent is one of only 226 organizations in the United Kingdom to be recognized with the Queen’s Award, which acknowledges the company’s excellence in international trade, the company said. Spirent Positioning’s exports outside of the UK represent a significant proportion of its business, serving a global customer base across five continents and more than 40 countries, the company said.
Contact: Janet Peng, Spirent, 86 (10) 82330055 (ext. 160), janet.peng@spirent.com, www.spirent.com.
People
TomTom [TOM2] has announced that Gemma Postlethwaite has been nominated for appointment to the company’s Supervisory Board for a term of four years, effective Oct. 1, 2022. Postlethwaite is CEO of Arizent.
Sheeva.AI has named Surendra Goel as its new Chief Operating Officer. Goel is an entrepreneur and was co-founder, CTO, and Chairman of Urgently. The company also announced the hiring of Goel’s co-founding colleague at Urgently, Lokesh Kumar, as Chief Technology Officer, as well as the announcement of Adam Rouls as Chief Revenue Officer.
Comtech [CMTL] has appointed satellite executive Ken Peterman to its Board of Directors and the Science and Technology Committee. Most recently, Peterman was President at Viasat Government Systems.
Jobs
Technical Sales Representative - Agriculture. Hexagon's Autonomy & Positioning division.
Director, Business Development. KORE.
Marketing Specialist. Swift Navigation.
Get your company’s products and services in the 2022 Location Industry Yearbook!