Google Maps Adds Slew of New Features
Google Maps Adds Slew of New Features
Immersive view starts working this week in five cities...
Google Maps added several new features this week, including the launch of immersive view in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo. The announcement, made at Google’s GOOG 0.00 Live From Paris event, also included the new glanceable directions feature, which allows a user see their journey from a route overview or lock screen.
Glanceable features (Image: Google):
The previously announced immersive view, which will launch later in Amsterdam, Dublin, Florence and Venice, integrates billions of the company’s Street View and aerial images to create a digital model of the world, the company said. “Say you’re planning a visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. You can virtually soar over the building and see where things like the entrances are. With the time slider, you can see what the area looks like at different times of day and what the weather will be like,” the company said in a blog.
Google also said it is expanding its Search with Live View feature to Barcelona, Madrid and Dublin. The feature allows users to find shops, ATMs and restaurants with their smartphone cameras. It works by lifting your camera to search and to find the feature. The Indoor Live View version, first launched in 2021, is expanding to more than 1,000 airports, train stations and malls worldwide.
The last announcement centered on Google Maps for electric vehicles. Namely, a new feature allows users to find charging stations with 150 kilowatts or more of power or higher. Google Maps will also show businesses with onsite charging stations—and the best routes, traffic conditions and energy use to get to the charging site.
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Ericsson Rolls Out 5G Precise Positioning
As part of its indoor mobile connectivity strategy, Ericsson ERIC 0.00 has launched a software feature for indoor networks called Ericsson 5G Precise Positioning. The company plans to offer location services for communications services providers (CSPs) and enterprises.
Some of the use cases for the new location services include asset tracking and tool positioning in factories, mines, hospitals, warehouses, and other industrial private network applications, as well as in emergency response scenarios, the company said.
Ericsson said the new location services will enable new enterprise use cases and 5G monetization by offering mobile 3D positioning precision of less than 1 meter for any 5G device indoors. The new location software is part of Ericsson’s Private 5G Networks offering, the company said.
As part of its indoor connectivity offerings, the company also launched an indoor radio unit and a 5G Indoor Fusion product. The solutions, to be displayed at this month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will be commercially available in the second half of 2023, the company said.
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CACI and U.S. Army to Develop PNT Capabilities on Demonstration Satellite
CACI International CACI 0.00 has signed a five-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Technical Center to develop advanced payload technologies, space sensor applications, and resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT).
CACI previously tested a multi-mission small satellite payload in a 2023 satellite launch. The payload includes two software-defined technology applications that enable PNT and tactical signals intelligence (TacISR) capabilities while in low earth orbit (LEO), the company said.
While the CRADA’s financial details were not disclosed, it also calls for such technologies as laser communications, laser sensing, artificial intelligence, and secure communication technologies. “These payloads feature mission-proven, ground-based technologies that are tailored for the unique challenges of the contested space domain,” said Todd Probert, CACI president of national security and innovative solutions, in a statement.
Overall, PNT has been critical to government agencies as a backup to GPS. CACI said the time-focused PNT payload application is the enabler of precision positioning and navigation and will demonstrate GPS-independent earth-space time synchronization “that exceeds current performance by 100 times.”
Contact: Lorraine Corcoran, CACI, (703) 434-4165, lorraine.corcoran@caci.com, www.caci.com.
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Maxar Lands $192 Million NGA Contract
Maxar Technologies MAXR 0.00 has announced that it was awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), worth up to $192 million over five years.
Maxar, under the Foreign Commercial Imagery Program contract, will provide U.S. allies and partners with commercial imagery services consisting of high-resolution electro-optical, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and 3D data products. No single country was identified as a recipient of images, including Ukraine.
The company will use its SecureWatch product for high-resolution satellite imagery and analytics; Rapid Access Program; Precision3D for enhancing situational awareness and decision-making; and Commercial SAR that allows customers to access information in their areas of interest, regardless of light or weather conditions, the company said.
Contact: Brian Wagner, Maxar, (202) 302-8754, brian.wagner@maxar.com, www.maxar.com.
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Other Location News:
News tip? Send them to kdennehy@driverlessreport.com. Go to www.locationbusinessnews.com for more news and an archive of stories.
Top News:
✔ TomTom Sees Further Revenue Growth in 2023, Shares Rally 8%. “Increased car production volumes and a further ramp up of some contracts led Automotive to generate revenues of 77 million euros in the quarter, an increase of 64 percent year-on-year, Chief Finance Officer Taco Titulaer. The group, whose customers include Volkswagen and Microsoft MSFT 0.00 expects revenue growth to continue over the current fiscal year, with a strong increase in automotive revenues offsetting declines in both its consumer and enterprise businesses.”
😣 Chinese Balloon Equipped To Collect Communications Information. “The high-altitude Chinese balloon that traveled over the United States in the past week was equipped to “collect and geolocate” communications signals, according to the U.S. Department of State and published reports.”
🚚 FMCSA Proposes New Requirements for Driverless Trucks. “The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will issue a new supplement to an advance notice of proposed rulemaking issued in 2019 to help the agency assess costs and benefits of any future formal rulemaking for trucks using Level 4 and Level 5 automation — those that do not require a human driver behind the wheel.”
💰 Chinese Lidar Maker Hesai To Raise up to $171 Million in U.S. IPO. “China’s Hesai Group announced plans to raise as much as $171 million in an initial public offering in the United States. The Shanghai-based lidar maker will offer up to 9 million American depositary shares (ADS) at between $17 and $19 apiece.”
Maps:
😕 Android Auto 8.8 Comes With Bad News for Google Maps Users. “Google Maps on Android Auto is currently struggling with a GPS error that pushes way too many users to alternative apps.”
👍 Improving Meta’s Global Maps. “In late 2020, Meta META 0.00 launched its basemap. This global, multi-scale map serves as a foundational layer — showing a variety of geographic features onto which we can blend other data, such as local points of interest or locally important features.”
👏 5 Ways Indoor Mapping Can be Beneficial for Large Office Buildings. “One of the primary benefits of digitally mapped workplaces is improved navigation and wayfinding.”
🙁 Google Maps Removed Policy-abiding Reviews From Local Guides. “Google GOOG 0.00 has accidentally removed legit, policy-abiding reviews submitted by Local Guides from Google Maps. Google acknowledged the issue and said it is working on reinstating those reviews over the next few weeks.”
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles:
✔ Mobileye Closing on $35 Billion Market Cap After Doubling Its Valuation in Three Months. “Mobileye has a market cap of over $34 billion entering trading on Monday, and a $50 billion valuation doesn’t look like a far-fetched dream any more.”
Cruise's Origin Gets Greenlight From California's DMV for Driverless Public Road Tests. “Cruise announced that its Level 4 (and Level 5-capable) Lidar-equipped autonomous vehicle – the Origin – has received approval to start testing on California’s public roads without someone present inside the unit from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.”
Drones:
🛩 Disney's $13 Million Drone Extravaganza. “Theme parks are crammed with avant-garde architecture which can interfere with the GPS signals bouncing between drones during a show.”
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Esri Joins the Overture Maps Foundation
Esri has joined the Overture Maps Foundation, a collaboration founded by Amazon Web Services, Meta, Microsoft and TomTom. Overture’s mission is to create reliable, easy-to-use, and interoperable open map data. Overture members provide data and technological contributions, combining their resources to create complete, accurate, and extensible real-world map data that is available under an open data license, the company said. Esri will help curate data from its Community Maps Program.
Contact: Jo Ann Pruchniewski, Esri, (301) 693-2643, jpruchniewski@esri.com, www.esri.com.
Nissan To Use Trimble TRX Technology
Trimble TRMB 0.00 has announced that Nissan Motor Co. will use its RTX technology as its positioning source for the ProPILOT Assist 2.0 driver assistance system. ProPILOT, available on the 2023 Nissan Ariya, features Trimble’s RTX that enables consistent lane-level positioning, the company said.
The ProPILOT Assist 2.0 system features hands-off driving while cruising in a single lane. Trimble's RTX positioning technology can provide decimeter-level accuracy in seconds, making it an ideal solution for autonomy applications, the company said.
Contact: Trimble Autonomy, www.autonomy.trimble.com.
ESA Seeks European Companies To Participate in New Constellation Development
The European Space Agency is looking for Europe-based companies to take part in its in-orbit demonstration of a new satellite navigation constellation. ESA said interested companies should attend its LEO-PNT Industry Day on 7 March at ESA’s ESTEC Technical Center in the Netherlands to find out more.
ESA said an Invitation to Tender, covering the LEO-PNT Orbit Demonstrator, is planned to be issued later this year. Areas covered in the tender include space and ground segments, operations, launchers, the test user segment, experimentation and segment demonstration.
PointPerfect GNSS Augmentation Service Expands to Canada
Thalwil, Switzerland-based u-blox [UBXN] has announced that the coverage of the PointPerfect GNSS augmentation service was expanded to Canada late last year. The expansion includes both L-band satellite and mobile internet IP service and is available up to 12 nautical miles off coastlines, the company said.
PointPerfect is available through Thingstream, u-blox’s IoT service delivery platform. PointPerfect is the first PPP-RTK (Precise Point Positioning, Real-Time Kinematic) high-precision positioning solution commercialized in the region, the company said.
Contact: Natacha Seitz, u-blox, 41 76 436 0788, natacha.seitz@u-blox.com, www.u-blox.com.
Aireon Provides ADS-B Data To Boeing
Aireon has announced an agreement with Boeing BA 0.00 to provide space-based data to support Boeing's flight tracking solution, Fleet Insight. Aireon, which provides space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) services, will provide real-time, streaming space-based ADS-B data through its AireonSTREAM product. The integration of AireonSTREAM into Boeing's Fleet Insight will allow customers to track their aircraft worldwide to eliminate coverage gaps, the company said.
Contact: Emily Feliz, Aireon, (571) 424-5648, emily.feliz@aireon.com, www.aireon.com.
Navigine Announces Cooperation with AetherIoT to Create New Solutions Based on Wireless Mesh
Navigine is partnering with AetherIoT to develop asset tracking solutions based on Wireless Mesh (Wirepas) technologies.
The companies are targeting industrial markets, including healthcare facilities, warehouses and manufacturing plants. Wireless Mesh is a mesh network created through the connection of wireless access point nodes installed at each network user's location, the company said.
Contact: Kyuder Tsedenov, Navigine, (516) 725 9698, kyuder@navigine.com, www.navigine.com.
LoJack Partners with Hendrick Motorsports
LoJack by Spireon has announced a new multi-year partnership with 14-time NASCAR Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports. The LoJack logo will be featured on the transporters and pit boxes of all four Hendrick Motorsports teams with drivers Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman. The associate-level partnership is a three-year agreement through 2025.
Contact: Priti Sharma, priti.sharma@solera.com, www.lojack.com.
Quupa Partners With Secure Care Products
Secure Care Products and Quuppa have partnered to provide real-time location-based data solutions (LBDS) to healthcare and senior living facilities. Secure Care Products and Quuppa specialize in safety and security solutions that feature indoor, real-time identification and location of infants, residents, and staff in healthcare facilities.
Contact: Sari Arjamo-Tuominen, Quuppa, sari.arjamo-tuominen@quuppa.com, www.quuppa.com.
JaggedXY Awarded Location Analytics Contract in Asia Pacific
JaggedXY has been awarded a contract to install a location analytics solution for deployment in the Asia Pacific region. This will be the first deployment outside of North America where JaggedXY is used by Tier 1 Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), the company said. The solution to be deployed will enhance Emergency Services capabilities by enabling more accurate location, the company said.
Contact: JaggedXY, info@jaggedxy.com, www.jaggedxy.com.
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BeWhere Launches BeMini Asset Tracker on the Geotab Marketplace
BeWhere [BEWFF] has launched its BeMini on Geotab’s Marketplace. BeMini uses IoT networks (LTE-M) to track an asset’s location, indoors and outdoors and features onboard sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, air pressure, light exposure and motion, the company said. BeMini uses GPS outdoors and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth indoors, allowing for multiple configurations for asset and inventory tracking purposes, the company said.
Contact: Margaux Berry, BeWhere, (844) 229-4373, ext. 107, info@bewhere.com, www.bewhere.com.
Beaconsmind Completes Acquisition of FREDERIX Hotspot
Location-based marketing company beaconsmind AG [MLBMD] has completed the acquisition of 51 percent of the shares in FREDERIX Hotspot GmbH. With the acquisition of FREDERIX, beaconsmind expands its business model as a B2B point-of-sales solution provider and enters the adjacent hotspot sector. The solutions of FREDERIX are currently used by more than 500 customers at around 10,400 points of sale.
Contact: Max Weiland, beaconsmind, 41 44 380 73-73, maxweiland@beaconsmind.com, www.beaconsmind.com.
Claro Enterprise Solutions Launches Asset Insights
Claro Enterprise Solutions has launched its Asset Insights to provide clients with the ability to track assets and shipments autonomously. This includes the ability to manage assets digitally and gain valuable insights into their condition, status, and critical events, the company said.
Claro Asset Insights provides a global asset and shipment tracking service using IoT technology and customizable alerts, the company said. Some features include shipment tracking, real-time location information, geofencing, and autonomous tracking.
Contact: Michelle Beltre, Claro, michelle.beltre@usclaro.com, www.usclaro.com.
Zonar Launches OnRoute for School Bus Fleets
Zonar has announced the availability of OnRoute for school bus fleets. OnRoute includes OnRoute Record, a route-agnostic app that captures route details, including the vehicle path, stop locations and names, curbside directions, and trip duration details pulled from the vehicle's Zonar GPS unit. OnRoute also accounts for unique routes, such as for field trips, sporting events, and other off-campus activities, the company said.
Contact: Larry Meyers, Zonar, (310) 721-9587, zonarpr@rhstrategic.com, www.zonarsystems.com.
People
Northrop Grumman’s NOC 0.00 board elected Stephen O’Bryan corporate vice president and global business development officer. O’Bryan succeeds David Perry, who will retire on March 31.
AEye has named Matt Fisch as the company’s new CEO effective Feb. 13. Fisch has held leadership positions at HARMAN International, Intel INTC 0.00
and Verifone.
The White House appointed Johnathon Caldwell, vice president of military space at Lockheed Martin LMT 0.00, and Viasat VSAT 0.00 chairman and CEO Mark Dankberg, to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
CompassData has appointed Kate Schlatter as CEO, effective immediately. She also serves as CEO of CompassDrone, a CompassData company.
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