Google Maps Adding New Options
Eco-Friendly and Safer Routing Announced at Developer's Conference
New Google Maps features were announced this week at the company’s first virtual Google I/O developer conference. Namely, an Eco-Friendly Route option that prioritizes roads and directions to the most fuel efficient. Some of these directions include routes with less traffic and fewer stops.
A new Safe Route feature allows users to find which road conditions that may cause sharp braking. Examples are heavy traffic, bad weather and road hazards.
Google Maps, later this year, will default to routes with the lowest carbon footprint when it has approximately the same ETA as the fastest route, the company said.
Google also said it that while developer maps have been limited to a two-dimensional, top-down view, it now offers a programmatic tilt and rotation. This new capability allows uses to gain a new perspective of 67.5 degrees and full 360 map rotation, according to the company’s map developer’s blog.
Also for developers, Google announced that cloud-based maps styling “is officially generally available for the Maps JavaScript API and the Maps Static API.” It cited a Swedish property company, Hemnet, as using its cloud-based map styling.
Key Takeaways:
Google gave developers more options with its WebGL Overlay, tilt and rotation, cloud-based styling announcements.
In these new announcements, Google did not mention indoor mapping features. Last month, we reported that the company’s Live View, powered by Google’s AI-based global localization technology, allows users to find the nearest elevator and escalators, your gate, platform, baggage claim, check-in counters, ticket office, restrooms, ATMs and more in airports, transit stations and malls.
Verizon Tracker Can Track High-Value Equipment
Verizon Connect [VZ] rolled out an asset tracking product that it touts as easy to conceal, self-install and self-manage, to help existing customers reduce theft, improve equipment use and billing. The tracker, primarily for
Verizon Connect Reveal customers can use the tracker on generators, trailers, storage containers, yellow iron and other equipment. The tracker not only locates and tracks equipment, but also vehicles, drivers and jobs, the company said.
Key Takeaways:
The secret placement of trackers seems like Big Brother. However, with housing booms in many urban areas, theft is commonplace.
Verizon, in addition to its Hyper Precise Location rollout, is making some location announcements. Its Skyward subsidiary just integrated with Pix4D, which allows it to turn drone data into 2D and 3D models.
Contact: Krys Grondorf, Verizon, (562) 370-0331, krys.grondorf@verizon.com, www.verizonconnect.com.
Gozio and Critical Arc’s Hospital Security Product
Gozio Health and CriticalArc are partnering to offer CriticalArc’s SafeZone safety, security and emergency management product to hospitals and health systems. The companies said that Gozio’s location-based services platform will be added to SafeZone.
The companies cited the statistic that 75 percent of workplace assaults occur in a healthcare setting, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. CriticalArc’s SafeZone uses Gozio’s Bluetooth infrastructure to allow healthcare staff to call for emergency help or routine assistance indoors or out, the company said.
Workers can use smart phones or a dedicated wearable alarm. An organization’s security dispatchers can pinpoint the locations of a person calling for help and also assess the location of the nearest responders, the company said.
Key Takeaways:
This partnership is one of about a dozen this year that concentrate on health care facilities—either locating people or equipment/supplies.
An example of this healthcare niche is CenTrak, which introduced its CenTrak Maps this week. CenTrak Maps is an interactive wayfinding platform designed to help patients, visitors, and staff navigate complex healthcare facilities.
Captain Obvious statement: At first glance, it is a byproduct of the pandemic, although it seems as if hospital security issues have been a problem for years.
Contact: Gerard Laurain, CriticalArc, (720) 234-2794,
gerard@criticalarc.com, www.criticalarc.com.
Indonesia’s Big Telematics Market
Frost & Sullivan said that 96 percent of Indonesian truck companies are using telematics in their fleets, with communication functions sent over 3G/4G, leveraging real-time information for efficient operation of their fleets. The commercial vehicle telematics market in Indonesia is growing at a slow rate due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said.
"Indonesian businesses have adopted telematics for various functions with a majority opting for hardware that can communicate and transfer data," said Krishna Chaithanya, senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, in a prepared statement. "Most companies in Indonesia prefer third-party service providers due to ease of solution availability on top of the highly fragmented market with over 30 players. Therefore, the market is ripe for service providers as well as OEMs to leverage growth opportunities in new business models based on industry and consumer needs, geographic expansion into other regions of Indonesia, and strategic partnerships with software companies to build a strong product portfolio."
Key Takeaways:
When selecting a telematics system, the most important criteria are product reliability, its ability to fulfill operational challenges and track real-time data, followed by compliance, safety, and cost-savings.
Telematics solutions are mainly installed in transport (93 percent), transport & logistics (79 percent) and postal & delivery (50 percent) in vehicles that are older than 10 years and operate long distances. The top three usages of vehicle-related features in telematics are vehicle inspection reminder (88 percent), vehicle malfunction alert (86 percent), and vehicle maintenance alert (85 percent).
Currently, 65 percent of companies employ on-demand operation patterns and flexible routes, led by transport and logistics companies.
Currently, 88 percent of companies use telematics solutions as a standard function with set features, while 12 percent are using customized features.
Contact: Zuzana Zukarnain, Frost & Sullivan, zuzana.zukarnain@frost.com, http://ww2.frost.com.
Other Location News:
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✔ BAE Systems Wins $325 Million Pentagon GPS Contract. Allows bombs, missiles and other devices to get jam-resistant GPS signal known as M-code.
🤞 Cybersecurity Experts Push President Biden To Protect GPS Satellites And The Connected Car. Could a Colonial Pipeline-type of cyber attack happen to GPS?
👏 Trimble CEO Legacy Highlights Reel. For those of us who remember the beginning of the industry…this video hits home. This story is a good lead-in to this one: Trimble: Facing Temporary Cost Challenges, Still Positioned For Steady Growth.
😃 Riders on the Storm: A True Story About Testing GPS Location-Based Apps. Testing GPS location apps in a tornado…
🤷♂️ Alphabet Waymo self-driving unit CFO following CEO out the door. Following the footsteps of former CEO John Krafcik. Speaking of Waymo, one of its test vehicles went rogue:
😎 Apple AirTag Can Track Cars. It can track people, belongings, and pets…but how does the $29 tracker find a car?
👍 Mix Telematics Stock Jumps. Company rolling out video telematics units.
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TomTom Now Has More Charging Points Than Any Mapmaker
TomTom [TOM2] extended its partnership with Hubject, which provides electric vehicle charging products. TomTom said the deal allows it to have the most charging points of any mapmaker at 450,000.
TomTom’s EV suite and Maps APIs receive information about charging point locations, connector types and, critically, availability, the company said. More than 175,000 of those charging points provide availability information to drivers via the TomTom’s EV charging points service, the company said.
Drivers can also find available EV charging points on the TomTom GO Navigation app.
Contact: TomTom, tomtom.pr@tomtom.com, www.tomtom.com.
PowerFleet Signs Tracking Deal With White Oak
PowerFleet [PWFL] said White Oak Transportation will use its trailer tracking product in their 875-trailer fleet. PowerFleet’s LV-500 unit allows White Oak to upgrade from 3G to 4G/LTE wireless service, the company said. Financial details were not disclosed.
Contact: Ned Mavrommatis, PowerFleet, (201) 996-9000, NMavrommatis@powerfleet.com, www.powerfleet.com.
Inpixon Reports Quarter Earnings…
In reporting its quarterly financials, Inpixon [INPX] said it had a 64 percent increase in revenue over the same time last year. Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2021, were $3 million compared to $1.8 million for the comparable period in the prior year, the company said. The increase is due to the sales of Systat and the company’s real-time location system product lines. Gross profit for the three months was $2.1 million.
Besides recent acquisitions of CXApp, patents and software from Visualix, the company settled a note with a value of $9.1 million for 16 million shares of Sysorex [SYSX] common stock. The shares have a market value of more than $100 million.
Contact: Inpixon, marketing@inpixon.com.
NetAlly Rolls Out Bluetooth/BLE Survey Capability
NetAlly said its EtherScope nXG v1.5 software, with Bluetooth and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) site survey capability, is now part of its AirMapper Site Survey Ecosystem of products. NetAlly said there were no market solutions to perform location-based surveying and visual heatmapping of Bluetooth beacons.
Said NetAlly CTO James Kahkoska: “It’s surprising how many Bluetooth devices are already present in most environments, and with the expansion of location-based services such as way finding and asset tracking, it’s only going to increase. But deployment is a very manual process, prone to configuration errors.”
Contact: https://netally.com.
Zyter Offers Smart Factories
Zyter launched its Smart Factories product that connects factory floor machinery, workers, and building systems using IoT devices. Zyter Smart Factories, which uses Qualcomm and other telecom companies for connectivity, gives manufacturers a 360-degree view of what is happening across the entire factory floor using a network of connected devices and sensors.
These devices, some worn, include safety and tracking that alerts whenever workers remove hard hats, safety goggles or other gear. The platform also has asset tracking to locate manufacturing materials or mobile equipment.
Contact: Michael Donner, Zyter, Press@Zyter.com, www.Zyter.com/IoT.
Companies Partner for Latin American Asset Tracking
Mobilogix is partnering with Comprovei to offer IoT products that leverage their experience in logistics asset tracking.
Mobilogix says it will support Comprovei to provide products, including the BAT-X and BTM250 tracking devices. The companies say they are targeting the growing market in Latin America for precise temperature monitoring of sensitive assets.
Contact: Greg Oppenheim, Mobilogix, (949) 365.6236, info@mobilogix.com, www.mobilogix.com.