Location Based Systems

According to a study by Frost & Sullivan, vehicle manufacturers (VMs) in Europe and North America have stepped up their game in response to the smartphone threat. Most of them have flooded the market with free apps focusing on areas such as customer relationship management (CRM) and breakdown assistance, while others have created value-added apps such as remote start/stop.

Field trials under way in Arizona promise eradication of accidents between emergency vehicles at intersections – as part of a national focus on ‘intelligent signal’ infrastructure. Collisions between police cars, ambulances and fire crews as they reach intersections at the same time, with equal priority given by all signals set on red, are as serious as they sound absurd. For emergency teams and those in need of their help, the consequences are dire. The solution could come from application of connected veh

Netsize, a leading mobile commerce enabler and a Gemalto company, has announced that CityzenCar, a peer-to-peer car sharing social network with 12,000 members across 2,000 locations in France, has deployed its SMS-based communication solution to secure and simplify car rental for consumers.

Development of the European eCall system is now at a stage of national systems testing. Ertico’s project manager for the HeERO pilot scheme Andy Rooke has given ITS International the lowdown on progress towards pan-European eCall services. Live testing is now under way in the nine countries participating in the European Commission’s HeERO project – a three year pilot scheme preparing the way for full deployment of Europe’s eCall automatic emergency call system.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active remote container tracking units deployed on intermodal shipping containers was 77,000 in Q4-2011.

According to new research by ABI Research, insurance telematics users will grow at a CAGR of 90 per cent from 1.85 million in 2010 to 89 million in 2017.

ESRI has announced the availability of ArcGIS for AutoCAD, a free AutoCAD application that allows CAD users to visualise and query Geographic Information System (GIS) data within the CAD environment without conversion. ArcGIS for AutoCAD accesses dynamic geo-referenced ArcGIS Server map services and displays them in the AutoCAD drafting environment.

Citilabs has released its next-generation product line, Cube 5. This new version of Cube has been developed using ESRI's ArcGIS technology, providing software users with significant advancements in productivity, analysis and data-sharing. Cube users will now be able to store transportation networks as ESRI geodatabases, utilising ESRI feature classes. Citilabs says moving data back and forth between models and GIS has never been easier, saving transportation agencies and consultants time and money.

MOXA has launched a new Isolated Quad Band OnCell G2150I Industrial GSM/GPRS modem. The device comes equipped with isolated RS-232 or RS-422/485 interfaces, making it ideal for building a remote cabinet or remote telemetry application in harsh environments. It is designed especially for demanding industrial-grade applications such as ITS, information display panels, automatic meter reading and environmental monitoring systems which can benefit from a cellular wireless infrastructure.

Iteris, has announced an agreement with Qualcomm to deliver safety data to trucking fleets.