Page 428 - Automotive Engineering Powertrain Chassis System and Vehicle Body

Global positioning technology C HAPTER 14.1

the area, can you tell us where a nearby restaurant is?’), Location-based marketing services, which can be
and remote vehicle services, such as the remote used by local providers of goods and services to
unlocking of the car doors, or recovering a vehicle which target advertising to travellers who are entering their
has been stolen. Some providers even offer such highly local service area. For example, if a traveller is looking
personalized services as helping their customers purchase for a restaurant near their current location, a request
tickets for local events like plays or concerts. including their position information and food types
All of the above services are available today in one form of interest could be submitted, which would return
or another. In the future, the providers of location-based directions to nearby restaurants of the desired type.
services will take advantage of the data capabilities of A restaurant could even include with the directions
newer communication technologies to greatly expand a coupon for a meal specially to encourage the
their services. This will result in more advanced vehicle traveller to visit that establishment.
and user services, examples of which are illustrated below. These are just a few examples of the types of location-
based services that will become available in intelligent
14.1.5.2.2 Future location-based services vehicles as these technologies mature. Of course, the
In the near future, location-based services available in the development of the technology to support these
vehicle will begin expanding beyond operator-assisted advanced location-based services also raises a variety of
services to include wireless data-oriented services, as privacy issues. While the positioning information of
well. The wireless communication technology to support individuals can be very valuable to merchants with goods
these services is already available today due to the or services to sell, many individuals may consider this
accelerating roll-out of digital cellular, which is already in information to be very personal and private, and wish to
use in Europe and Japan, and is growing rapidly in the limit its distribution. Therefore the protection and
US. The current digital standards are still somewhat methods of distribution of this information will very
limited in their ability to support data services, but the likely be the subject of intense debate between
roll-out of the next generation of digital wireless com- merchants and privacy advocates, and may ultimately
munication technology will make data services much result in legislation regarding how and to whom that
more widely available, and will provide significantly im- information is disseminated.
proved bandwidth for the delivery of digital content to
the user. Digital communication, along with more ad-
vanced positioning technology, will enable a wide variety 14.1.6 Conclusion
of advanced location-based services for deployment in
intelligent vehicles. Examples of these more advanced
The GPS was hailed as a technological success soon after
services include:
it became fully operational in 1995. With the continual
Server-based navigation systems, which allow the improvements the system is undergoing, and in particular
user to dynamically download the most up-to-date, with the discontinuation of the S/A feature in May 2000,
and therefore accurate, map information of the area many more commercial, military and space applications
in which they are travelling. This will help to ensure will be able to derive benefit from this system’s services
that the user gets the most current directions and and capabilities in the future. Intelligent vehicle appli-
points of interest possible without having to maintain cations will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of these
a subscription with a map database provider. It will improvements in service.
also reduce the cost of the navigation system itself, This chapter has presented an overview of the GPS,
since a costly memory storage subsystem would not including the history of satellite-based positioning, the
be required to access the map database. basic system architecture, the science and mathematics
Dynamic traffic routing and management services, used for determining location, an overview of the
which will enable navigation systems to take into components and solutions which are available for use in
account current traffic conditions when calculating GPS-enabled applications, and some examples of
directions. This will allow travellers to easily route current and future applications which will utilize the
around congested areas, getting them to their desti- positioning services made possible by the GPS. It is
nation faster and helping to prevent additional con- hoped that the reader has gained a basic understanding
gestion. One approach to this is for the travellers’ of the system architecture and requirements, and the
systems to periodically provide their position impact on applications that require the use of GPS
information to a central server, which uses the services.
positioning deltas to map traffic flow. This data can For more detailed information about the science and
then be fed back to each system to provide real-time technology behind the GPS, please refer to the publi-
traffic movement updates. cations listed under further reading.

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