CeBIT, the world’s largest computer expo held March 4–9 in Hanover, Germany, dedicated an entire hall to navigation devices and software. CeBIT is short for Centrum der Büro- und Informationstechnik, which is German for Center of Office and Information Technology.

It is no secret why scores of worldwide navigation companies exhibited, making CeBIT one of the “must-go-to“ trade shows in Europe. The portable navigation device (PND) market is booming in Western Europe, with 14.4 million units sold in 2007, according to figures from Navteq, making PNDs second only to TVs in terms of electronics sales.

Companies such as Mio Technology are planning on large rollouts in Germany and other European countries. Mio expects to roll out a connected PND in five months for the continent. It also plans to offers its first PND units in Germany within the month, and is rolling out its Moov line of PNDs, introduced here at CeBIT. Moov is one of the first GPS units in Europe to have a dynamic local search feature to find points of interest (POIs). It uses European online directories such as yell.com to allow users to search for local POIs through a Bluetooth connection on a mobile phone.

Mio is hardly alone; 30-plus companies offered a PND unit at CeBIT, most of which aren’t as well known as Garmin, TomTom, Magellan, and Mio. Many observers are questioning how these smaller companies can survive without the multi-million dollar ad campaigns typical of their larger rivals.

Garmin showed off a prototype of its Nuvifon, a small touch-sensitive phone+navigation tablet. Besides displaying routes, users can use the Nuvifon to surf the Internet or type text messages with an on-screen keyboard.

New functions in devices unveiled at CeBIT include more realistic illustrations of the road and improved traffic advice. Navigon and TomTom both presented devices that overlay colored arrows on a perspective view of the approaching intersection to indicate lanes. Road sign provide additional help.

Pedestrian Navigation. Since February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, which also seems to be growing with mobile information companies, Navteq has been promoting its Discover Cities software for pedestrian navigation, which offers POIs such as parks, walkways, foot paths, neighborhoods, subway routes, and landmarks. Navteq is working with its Washington-based subsidiary Map Network to map big convention centers, parking areas, entertainment auditoriums, and sports stadiums (such as the Daytona Speedway) for pedestrian navigation. Discover Cities is offered for major U.S. metropolitan areas as well as several European cities.

A few companies at CeBIT were offering their software to vendors planning to roll out pedestrian navigation systems. Visioglobe, for example, uses aircraft simulation software to create 3D images for pedestrian navigation systems on mobile phones, PNDs, and web-based units.

Social Networking. Panel members at the Telematics Update’s Navigation Day event at CeBIT agreed that profits have proven to be elusive, and companies need to partner with the main players to give them a better understanding of technologies and how location-based services can be an additional profit center.

“No one is making any money in social networking right now. It is the case where it has a high-in-hype-to-revenue ratio,” said Marc Prioleau, deCarta’s vice president of marketing, who touted partner Loopt as an early company with lots of potential. “But the big companies are taking it seriously. You look at data from Nielson — and the market numbers are potentially high. The adaptation of navigation will help grow this market. However, it almost has to be free [of charge]."

Another panelist, Jentro CEO Kate Edwards, said that consumers do not like subscription-based revenue models, creating the challenge of how companies can profit through some sort of variation in the model. The enterprise model — sharing revenue with mobile operators — will happen for social networking once web traffic increases, suggested panel member Jean Cherbonnier, Navx CEO and founder.

GPS Cameras. Another company with a presence at CeBIT is Locr, a German company that touts itself as a photo-sharing community. The company combines a GPS data logger with its GPS photo software to enable users to know where they took a photo. It also allows users to see their photos accompanied by maps, some of which can be put in a nicely bound book.

Alain Kornhauser, founder and chairman of Princeton, N.J.-based ALK Technologies, believes that the technology is getting better to add GPS capability into cameras to spur a mass market. “Some units capture a sample of a GPS signal and store it. The signal data is downloaded and processed later on a PC, to calculate location where the sample was captured, showing where the device had been,“ he said. “The big target mass market is cameras."

One company developing this technology is NXP Software, which is spinning off its Location Technologies Group to form Geotate. Mio also plans to offer its Moov 380 — which features an embedded camera — with the ability to geotag photos and upload them to photo-sharing website Flickr.

  — Kevin Dennehy

» SURVEY & CONSTRUCTION

Surveying a New Track at 2008 GITA

Eric Gakstatter, GPS World’s Survey & Construction editor, provided online reports from this year’s Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference, sponsored by GITA, held in Seattle in March. Surveying sparked a lot of interest as a new presentation track. Eric writes about the need to migrate to a common, robust reference frame: “Believe it or not, some GIS’s are still referenced to NAD27. Others are referenced to various flavors of NAD83. I sent them away with the message that the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) is where all of this will end up eventually.”

» INDUSTRY WATCH

Lawyers, Investors in League Against Industry Leader

Attorney-abetted investor response arose quickly to SiRF Technology Holding’s 2007 fourth-quarter (Q4) earnings report, which appeared February 4 stating an 89 percent decrease in Q4 profits to $700,000 from $9.1 million the year before. This loss came despite net revenue of $100.4 million, an increase of 35.3 percent.

The stock market reacted quickly; the price of SiRF’s stock dropped $8.91 per share to close at $7.36 per share, a one-day decline of 54 percent on volume of 63 million shares, a transaction rate 30 times the average three-month volume.

Twelve law firms have subsequently filed class-action lawsuits against SiRF. In general, the filings allege that SiRF misled investors about the impact of its acquisition of Centrality Communications, and failure to disclose that its customer base was shrinking because of the impact of cellular-enabled GPS products.

SiRF chief executive officer Michael Canning concluded an analysts’ conference call on February 4 by stating:

“We had a good revenue growth in 2007 as the PND market continued to ramp strongly and demand for GPS-enabled location technology and wireless applications started a strong ramp. This trend continued into the holiday season. However, the beginning of this year has been marked by increased uncertainty about the strength and direction of the economy; a decline in consumer spending could adversely affect our sales.”

Reduced Outlook. SiRF said March 25 it was lowering its revenue forecast for its fiscal first quarter of 2008, ending March 31, and would lay off approximately seven percent of its workforce, or about 50 people. The company had forecast revenue between $71 million and $77 million for Q1; now it anticipates that revenue will come in between $60 million and $62 million. It will close its South San Francisco and Stockholm, Sweden, offices by the end of September 2008.

For further analysis of these events, see Expert Advice.

» SURVEY & CONSTRUCTION

Leica Unveils Quad-Constellation Antenna

Leica Geosystems’ Leica AR25, its next-generation, high-performance choke ring antenna, covers all present and planned GNSS constellations and signals, including L-Band, the company says.

Choke ring antennas are omni-directional antennas typically used for high-frequency applications; they are particularly suited to GPS and radar applications. The Leica AR25 uses a new 3D conic choke ring design, which extends the benefits of the original 2D design in areas such as multipath rejection —  one of the characteristics that makes choke ring antennas preferable for GPS — and signal-to-noise ratio, while at the same time improving tracking of low-elevation satellites, according to Leica.The AR25 will be able to track GPS, GLONASS, Gaileo, and Compass/Beidou signals, as well as SBAS, the Canadian differential GPS (CDGPS), and OmniSTAR signals.

» AGRICULTURE

Booming Ag Market Grows Hemisphere Revenues

Canada’s Hemisphere GPS saw strong revenue growth and narrowed its losses in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2007, thanks to strength in its agricultural guidance and steering products, the company said March 11.

The company posted net year-over-year growth of 68 percent for Q4, recording revenue of $13.2 million. It cited strong global demand for its guidance and steering products for precision agriculture applications, being driven by increased cash flow in the overall agricultural market space. Strong commodity prices and 2007 year-end tax purchasing also contributed to the growth.

The company derived more than 85 percent of its revenues from the agricultural sector in 2007. “GPS guidance has now moved to the forefront of farming operations,” said Steven Koles, Hemisphere’s president and CEO. “We are seeing increased adoption of GPS guidance and auto-steering by farmers wanting to improve yields and lower input costs.”

» SYSTEM DESIGN & TEST

Seeking Galileo Masters

For the fifth consecutive year, the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) — formerly called the Galileo Masters — is seeking the best ideas for applications in satellite navigation.

The international innovation contest is open to companies, entrepreneurs, research institutes, universities, and private individuals. The grand prize is a €20,000 grant plus a six-month “incubation” period (free office space) in the region of choice.

The ESNC is sponsored by the German Aerospace Center, the European Space Agency, and the European GNSS Supervisory Authority. The Europe-wide event further extends it reach to participants in Taiwan and Australia. The competition will be held in 11 European high-tech regions: Bavaria, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Nice/Sophia Antipolis, Prague, South Holland, Madrid, and Great Britain, along with newcomers Queensland, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; and North Rhine-Westphalia.

Other awards include a suitable incubation center within the European Union for up to 12 months for EGNOS applications and 20,000 euros and travel expenses to Taiwan for an innovation that best integrates Galileo’s precise positioning and time signal into a gaming concept.

Ideas for applications can be submitted from May 1 to July 31.

» UTILITIES & COMMUNICATIONS

Getac Introduces Rugged PDA

Mitac Technology subsidiary Getac Inc. is unveiling its model PS535E, a combination personal digital assistant and GPS device designed for use in the field by utility workers and others. It has embedded GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity, an eight-hour battery, and a 3.5-inch,sunlight-readable display. It is also built to MIL-STD-810F and IP54 standards for ruggedness.

» MASS MARKET OEM

Ceva, HuaXun Offer Software-Based GPS Application for Portable Devices

HuaXun Microelectronics Inc. and Ceva Inc. have co-developed a software-based GPS application for the Ceva-X family of DSP cores and the MM2000 portable multimedia platform, the companies announced March 10.

San Jose, California-based Ceva is a licensor of chip intellectual property platforms and digital signal processor (DSP) cores. HuaXun Microelectronics Inc., based in Xian, China, specializes in designing GPS, Galileo, and Beidou  applications.

The software-based GPS application is designed for mobile phones, portable multimedia players, and portable navigation devices. It will enable Ceva-X and MM2000 licensees to add GPS capability to their baseband and multimedia system-on-chips (SoC) without hardware modifications or increase in die size, Ceva said. HuaXun’s software-based GPS application eliminates the need for a separate GPS engine by leveraging the performance of the Ceva-X DSP core already present in the SoC to handle the GPS computations, according to Ceva.