Dinakar's Blog

GPS Integrated Camera's

2011-04-29T05:29:00.000-07:00

Photographs, as some one said, are memories frozen in time & space, if there is a way to add accurate location dimension to the photograph, it definitely adds value to the cherished memories.

Digital cameras, whether it’s a point- and –shoot, prosumer or professional variants, all have a possibility of a very interesting integration of location technologies called GPS

(Global Positioning Systems), simply put, GPS chipsets receive signals from the GPS satellites and subsequently calculate accurate locations (Latitude & Longitude) , incredibly at an accuracy’s of 5 to 10 meters, now, if the GPS derived location information (Latitude & Longitude) is tagged to your digital image which you have taken, you can add that important 3^rd location dimension.

All digital images taken from a digital camera have metatags in EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) embedded into it. This EXIF format is a standard format for digital images taken by all digital cameras irrespective of its make and model, this means that all digital images taken by digital cameras will have some information embedded into it, this information is that of the aperture, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode, and ISO speed information etc. while you take that snap. Outwardly, you would not see this information from the image you have taken, but when the image is viewed in an appropriate image processing tool, you could see the information which is embedded into the digital image you have taken, now, when you take images from a GPS embedded digital camera, the location information (Latitude & Longitude) is also written/embedded in the image additionally along the usual aperture, shutter speed, focal length information.

The process of adding the location information into the digital image is known as geotagging, when this location embedded image is supplied to appropriate applications, they will read the location information from the image metatags and points the location on a map precisely on where this image is taken. All photo sharing websites like locr, panoramio picasa, flickr etc. instantly recognize the geotagged photos and put them on the map precisely, this way, you and your friends know where on the earth you have taken that excellent snap.

Other than recreation and viewing, geotagging of photos have serious application usefulness to photo journalists, media, law enforcement agencies, infrastructure industry, defence, forestry & environment, public utilities, disaster management, utilities, local government’s agencies, the list can go on.

Surprisingly, the technology of integrating Camera with GPS is not new, we now see that the every other high-end phone worth its salt has a camera and a GPS embedded to it, this means that you can already take geotagged images from your high-end phone, digital camera OEM’s have recognized the usage and value of embedding a GPS into their cameras, the intent can be gauged by the fact that you see a steady proliferation of GPS embedded cameras in the market place, digital camera biggies like Nikon, Canon, Sony & Samsung have started introducing models with embedded GPS chipsets, with a GPS chipset costing less than $10, its not that hurting to OEM’s as well. If you plan to buy your next digital camera it’s a good idea to look for a GPS integrated feature.

Terrace Garden

2011-04-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

A farmer at heart, my father, Sri Ramana Reddy, retried academician, started a Terrace Garden at his independent home ( Lat 17.325268, Long 78.555264), a variety of vegetables & fruits are grown organically for personal consumption. He gets me supplies when ever he visits me, organic produces taste and smells different (better) than the mainstream ones. For a how-to question, It’s- not- at- all- complicated is his answer, interested can contact him at 040-20060100 for a free phone consultation.

Car Black Box

2011-04-12T03:30:00.001-07:00

Got this cute little device which the manufacturers call Road Memory installed in my car, the device is a video camera with GPS chip set integrated, some call it car black box, for the reason that when you install and allow it to run, it would record all the audio, video & G Force variables of the car and is tagged to the geographic location which makes it an interesting tool to look and review historical activities of the car; drawing analogies to aircraft black boxes.

The device opens interesting possibilities for personal and commercial usage. Simply put, when you play archived video files generated by the camera over a computer, you can view all the video with the exact location coordinates, date, time and the path traversed on a goggle map, along with a graph of G-forces which were at play precisely at that instant. An intuitive light weight application is provided along with the CD to view these video files generated in travel.

The device is essentially a plug and play device, you just need to stick this device to windshield of your car, connect power to car’s cigarette lighter charger, you are up and running. The device has a 1.3 mega pixel VGA camera with a provision to tilt to a suitable angle and positioning, has an SD slot which will store all the files which will be generated while on move.

My friend in Korea says that, insurance companies offer substantial discounts on insurance premiums for vehicles which have these devices installed. The video, he says, submitted as evidence for litigation is permissible in courts, should hold good in India too.

Ideally 2 hours of video data takes 1GB space, the data is recorded in a continuous loop, and this means that you will never miss the freshest data. The device has an internal memory and an emergency battery which lasts for 20 seconds, which will ensure the capture of a video of any accident incident, that’s even when there’s no power.

On the desktop application part, its simple and intuitive, just copy the video files from the SD card and open with this desktop application, you should be connected to the internet to see the location on the google map though; sample video file of me driving in Hyderabad and surroundings is below. The device cost me 150$, should be definitely a useful for fleets, if not for personal transport vehicles.

GPS/GSM Child Phone for Talking & Tracking

2011-04-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

It’s satisfying to see a good review of the product which I have authored in My Mobile magazine, arguably an authoritative Indian mobile magazine. In print form, I could see the product rubbing shoulders with Nokia’s & Samsung’s of the world .SatNav being a GPS products company always wanted to ride the mobile wave with carrier agnostic value added GPS location based services. We did make some forays in GPS location based mobile apps but with limited success. Carriers were not keen to give a push as they are not seeing big monies, comparable to their ring tone revenues.

The GPS child phone is a niche product targeted towards anxious parents. The child phone is tightly integrated with an effective LBS (location Based Service) platform, definitely a higher entry barrier for any one to just come in and offer these services. A very good start I should say for a small and medium company like us. We don’t know of any competitive product currently available in India, which translates to a very favorable first mover advantage scenario. We are making efforts to capitalize this situation swiftly.

Risking repetition of what the reviewer said, I would say that it’s a useful gadget for anxious parents, gives a near absolute locational control on their wards. Due to our limited resources we are currently focusing only on BTL marketing activities, which are showing some good results. I should say we are finding difficult to defend price points, and challenging margin structures prevailing in the distributor/ dealer supply chain.

My daughter goes to HPS School with this GPS child phone device, a functional demo to the primary school principal convinced her to allow this device inside of the school. I was told that no wearable gadgets, including wrist watches, are allowed inside of the school. I congratulated my self for the job done there J

GPS /GSM Wrist Watch for real-time Tracking – TK203 Product Review

2010-07-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

Brought this oversized J watch. Details on the box cover summarize the features pretty much. The digital watch essentially is a GSM /GSP modules fitted in a wrist watch form factor. Usage is pretty simple, put a working GSM SIM into it and then configure the device through SMS commands. Geo fence (configuring alert if the device moves beyond your authorized geography), auto tracking (alerts at specific intervals), over speed alerts are some of the important features of the device. Watch also has an SOS button, when pressed sends location alerts continuously to pre configured numbers. There are 10’s of Shenzen GPS/GSM tracking devices screaming for attention on gadget portals which I assume will do exactly the similar job, innovation here is; fitting all this functionality in a wrist watch form factor. I should say that the task is partially achieved, looking at the oversized nature of the device.

Box Package

Watch with a Digital Time Display

Position ( latitude & Longitude ) Display

Location message on mobile

Good

Functionality is fine, easy configuration through SMS
Can be used independently by end consumer.
Device can be integrated by system integrators very easily as communication protocols are given.
Service providers can enhance usability of this device by providing a location map instead of latitude and longitude values

Bad

Definitely oversized. I understand the form factor limitations.
Battery is a big let down. Gives a 4 hour battery backup, which defeats the purpose of this device.
Device responds by sending latitude and longitude values, you guys need to go to web and use a third party mapping application; say Google J to see the location on map. Will not attribute this as a negative point on the device; system integrators can easily push an intelligent map to end user.
Does not send latitude/longitude in concealed environments, again will not attribute this to the device as GPS devices, by its virtue need to be open to sky to receive signals.
It cost me 10K INR, when it reached me, along with duty and shipment from Shenzen.

Nokia’s Free GPS Navigation & Maps for Lifetime Offer!!!

2010-01-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

Every one saw it coming, Nokia; India’s No 1 most trusted brand company across products has announced its free navigation and maps for ever, a significant announcement much to the heart burn of Samsung’s, LG’s and all others. Nokia’s quest for a differentiator in highly competitive mobile space, analysts believe, has driven this $8.1 Billion costly take over of NAVTEQ, the global mapping company, more so that the takeover happened just before the global financial crisis.

Nokia tried different things in monetizing this costly buy out of NAVTEQ, branding blitzkrieg in 2008 saw Nokia coming strongly in India on mobile GPS navigation, the catch however was subscription though, a nicely done commercial summarizes the offer.

However consumers did not take the bait. To my mind it appears that they were not happy on the map content and coverage offered at that point of time more ever the constant reminder of available FREE maps and location services of Google has deterred mass adoption of Nokia maps.

2009 though, saw huge improvement in content and coverage of NAVTEQ a.k.a Nokia maps, now this FREE thing from Nokia will definitely have takers. Map making industry feels that this final salvo from Nokia will still reduce the perceived value of a digital map. Interestingly to note that, among all the content creations, accurate and fresh digital map content making is considered to be a costly and laborious endeavor. This toiling in creation of maps explains the existence of high entry barrier for map content creating companies to enter and thrive. This is the reason that we have is only two companies, NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas who can truly claim to be the world wide mapping companies. Google will surely join this club shortly though.

I suppose Nokia will not keep quite and leave it here, its huge success in Nokia OVI application platform will drive innovative LBS apps, some with tight integration with operators thereby putting in place a fully working LBS ecosystem which every one is talking about. Nokia’s renewed aggressiveness is palpable as it lost significant market share to other mobile OEM’s during 2009. Nokia product philosophy to put GPS chip in its every phone in coming years is also seen as a grandiose plan to have stranglehold in all things related to LBS.

Google is also quite aggressive, doing its own things on maps & LBS apps etc, every one acknowledges that, by far Goggle has the best content and coverage on India, most interesting to note is that Google has unassailable lead over NAVTEQ or TeleAtlas, considered to be the global leaders in mapmaking.

To my mind it appears that Nokia & Google will be driving all this map and LBS things in near future. Both have very strong R&D teams in India working on things on what matters in India. Both have the muscle and the willingness to invest on creating fresher map content and supply it FREE to consumers. Off course FREE here is Oxymoron, both have several tricks up their sleeve to monetize in multitude of ways.

Its would be interesting to see what the other mobile OEM’s will do in India, logically they have to go run to Map providers in India like SatNav, Map My India or Tele Atlas to offer a matching value, which can put severe pressure on their already diminishing top lines, or they may just ignore this FREE Navigation option and search for another differentiator.

Finally, for a consumer it’s a very good VAS, and also for the LBS industry where the awareness will grow for sure and soon the market forces will follow.

Locating YSR

2009-09-20T20:59:00.001-07:00

Location was never so important earlier, on September 2, helicopter carrying the Chief Minister of our federal state Andhra Pradesh:, Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy popularly known as YSR went missing in the jungles of Nallamala in inclement weather conditions. YSR was a dynamic and popular leader, adored by his followers and feared by his opponents. He has received a fresh popular mandate just 3 months ago to rule Andhra Pradesh for next 5 years. As usual, initial response to this emergency was lethargic; however State & Central Governments launched unprecedented search and rescue operations, which was never seen before, where everything at the Indian State’s disposal was pressed into service. Magnitude of this search operation can be gauged by the fact that more than 5000 armed reserve police personal along with several police and paramilitary personal were engaged on foot search, military helicopters, latest all weather combat aircraft Sukhoi with thermal imaging capabilities and even the secretive all weather night capability reconnaissance radar imaging satellite RISAT-2 was looking for the missing leader. Tragedy is that he along with his staff were found dead one of the remote hills of Nallamala at what could be seen as an avoidable accident.

Reports say that none of these technologies could be of much use, owing to the special terrain and climatic conditions prevailing at the location. Location was possible to arrive because of the SMS message delivered to one of the working mobiles carried by the deceased, it is said that mobile Cell Of Orgin (COO) technologies were used to zero down the last known position to 5 KM radius, were search efforts were concentrated and subsequently the crash site was found.

YSR official residence is in around 400 meters from my residence, I was used to traffic restrictions when his cavalcade zips through, I remember several glimpses of him reading a news paper in his travel, he made his final journey, and through the route he generally takes, i.e. passing through Rajbhawan road where our office is located. It was there to say goodbye..

Incidentally, we are working on Mobile Operating System/Mobile Device/Mobile Operator agnostic location based service, beta to be launched during this festive season. The service, we believe would find mass adoption. More of this in month or so…

Tata DoCoMo’s Pulse War

2009-08-30T07:25:00.001-07:00

Looks like Tata DoCoMo is quietly writing a history of sorts in mobile space, comparable to what reliance has done to mobile space when they entered the space. Its pulse war branding is right on dot, a time tested text book example of keep-it-simple messaging. This pay-per-pulse concept got an overwhelming response from masses, giving way to a herd syndrome where Tata DoCoMo guys are struggling to manage the subscription seekers.

Interesting to see the response of the big guy AirTel, I assume that there is no leverage except following the wave. Coming days, we would also be seeing intense competition on value added service, all carriers sing the same song, this- is- where- the- money- is.Going by DoCoMo’s japanese lineage on VAS and its superior portfolio, we would see a frenzy of activity on VAS from all operators. Good for the customer!!

2 DIN In Car entertainment system with GPS Navigation

2009-07-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

Got this cute looking device installed in my car (Maruti Suziki Swift). The device you see is a 2 DIN (Double DIN) in Car entertainment system which includes GPS Navigation, central to this system is Win CE platform. Connections to the system are Car acoustics, GPS Antenna, DVB-T antenna, rear view camera, head rest monitors etc.

Functions include, Navigation, DVD, AM/FM, Bluetooth, turn- to- turn GPS Navigation, DVD Player/MP3/MP4/MPEG4, F.M. Radio, Bluetooth, Windows compatible gaming, TV, Vehicle Tracking, SD card slot, USB, iPOD connecter etc. I like this device more than the 1 Din (Single DIN) device tested earlier as you can see that this device snuggly fits into the dashboard.

Geo Tagging

2009-05-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

Was recently out for a trip to Dehradun via Delhi, took some intresting photos and geo tagged them using Satguide GPS logger device. http://www.satguide.in/satguide-photo-logger.pdf,
for the uninitiated, geo tagging is a process of adding location information (latitude and longitude) on to the digital photograph.

Photograph taken from a digital camera confirms to EXIF (Exchangeable image file format), this specification uses specific Meta tags which store information such as date, time, camera make, settings etc

· What I have done here is that I have switched ON the data logger device which started logging the GPS feed, I started clicking my pictures through my Canon D400 DSLR , note that there is no communication between the GPS logger and the Camera

· Installed, locr Desktop geo tagging application (by the way you can choose from a variety of geo tagging freeware tools)

· Imported the logged data to the desktop tool.

· Imported the photographs and supplied to the desktop tool, the tool is very intuitive, as you can see form the screenshot above.

Clicking the automatic geo tagging button will automatically geotag your images. The technology here is simple, the GPS logger device output file has a time stamp, images you take from the digital camera also has the time stamp ( we need to set this time to our real world real-time time ;), i.e just the actual time). The software matches the timestamp of the image to the timestamp of the log and automatically geotags. As exact millisecond time synchronization is not possible, it’s not needed either, you only need to keep the time matching tolerance level to say 2 minutes in the desktop too, you have a geo tagged image in a jiffy.

The positional information now will be written into the image itself and will be position enabled, you can upload these images on to any of the photo sharing community websites, and the photograph automatically goes and sits at the exact place on the map you guys have taken…

Geotagging and dissemination of this accurate location enabled image information though is fun, has important functional usage in many domains. Points of Interest’s Survey are what come to my mind immediately.

GPS Navigation/Tracking enabled In-Dash Car Entertainment System

2009-04-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

Check this out; got a new toy to play with as part of my R&D job , Got this cute car entertainment system fitted to my Swift dashboard. The device is a fully loaded car entertainment system, runs on windows CE OS with features like & inch TFT screen, turn- to- turn GPS Navigation, DVD Player/MP3/MP4/MPEG4, F.M. Radio, Bluetooth Windows compatible gaming, TV, Vehicle Tracking, USB etc

Till now, turn-to-turn navigation was the missing element in In -dash car entertainment systems, our company is all set to launch this device this quarter, which is expected to do good in the market. I am optimistic that navigation availability in the In-dash entertainment systems as an add-on feature will drive GPS navigation adaptability to the next level.

Walking to work

2009-03-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

I always liked the idea of living closely to work place to cut down on commuting time, I recently took a leased accommodation which is around 1500 meters from the office, I plan to walk to work, which will reduce my carbon footprint drastically. My residence location is place marked, clicking on it will reveal complete mailing address

View Larger Map

Workings of Google Map Maker

2008-12-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

I was pleasantly surprised that there are more and more takers for Google Map Maker. The tool which is totally dependent on online technology and enthusiast contributions for building comprehensive maps. This idea a decade ago would have been difficult to even imagine ;). The Time lapse video of Madurai , India, sumps up the map making effort very effectively.

I enrolled myself as a member of the Map maker community and I see that this community is buzzing with activity. I congratulate the group in Google which is spearheading this initiative; it’s doing this job with an evangelical fervor. I see that several techniques are being tried out to validate the information provided by the community, which I think is the overriding reservation raised by sections of the mapping community against community map building. I have no doubt to say that validation techniques will get matured over a period of time and the community mapping will surely be one of the ways of building maps.

Surprisingly Pakistan cities are being rapidly updated by the community, how on earth can we imagine that we have an accurate digital map of a Pakistan city; this was only possible through the community initiative. I am sure, Pakistan will not be attractive for some more years for any global map maker ( TeleAtlas/Navteq ). At least, now, Pakistan will have an accurate online world class map which can be used by the community at large.

Low hanging fruit - a myth ?

2008-12-16T18:52:00.000-08:00

There is enough research available which professes APAC as future growth engine of the world, which is also, a general consensus of economists. Specific to India, the commonly agreed thesis is that the demand will grow exponentially for all LBS related products and services. These reports emerging from all consultants worth their salt from some time now has made all the multinational companies making a beeline to APAC. Board members are not convinced if there is no India/China/APAC story in their overall strategy

However these markets are in no way “low hanging fruits”, In fact these markets is one of the toughest to crack. In this euphoria of virgin and emerging markets, companies should not forget the key issues which rule these markets and should take adequate steps to address them.

1. Localization: This is easier said done, but this is one of the key “hot button issues” which need to be addressed. All major MNC’s which are successful in India have learned to localize their products and services. Closest example which we can relate is Nokia in India. Brand research says that Nokia is the most trusted brand in India, beating the local giants like TATA. The overriding reason for this feat is told as localization in product design/services/price points/branding etc. Not many in west believe that KFC & Macdonald also sell the Pure Vegetarian delicacies in India; Localization at its best.

2. Innovation: No strategy meeting is complete without mentioning the word Innovation. Innovation should be on how we produce more and more with less and less resources, and on how do we identify and tap new revenue streams in this age where perceived value of products/services are nose diving. Process should always agree to “better solutions always exist”

3. Partnerships/LBS Ecosystem: Corporations need to be proactive in forging as many partnerships as they can in production, sales & services as there is no visible single large pie waiting to be exploited.

4. Operational Excellence: MNC’s need to out run the local bred companies in operational excellence in order to be afloat. MNC’s need to improvise constantly and apply new and challenging bench marks

5. Price Points/Business models/ Competitiveness: In these days of very low perceived value of products and services corporations need to focus on how they differentiate products/services and also ensure that the customer experiences the value differentiation. Basically its “walking-the-talk” Though India being the most price conscious market, it is also believed that price points, though important, is also not the overriding factor.

Travelogue- Harihareshwar

2008-11-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Took a trip recently to konkan coast, a beautiful get away around 250 Km from Pune towards South South West. The route I took is; Pune -Pachgani-Mahabaleshwar- Hariharesawar-Diva Ghar- Shrivardhan. Pune- Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar is a popular tourist destination for people from Pune & Mumbai owing to short distances.

Panchgani & Mahabaleswar are tourist resorts resting in the heart of Western Ghats ( Sahyadri). I started from Pune at 10 AM, reached Pachgani & Mahabaleshwar around noon. The entire stretch gives superb driving pleasure. I have to say that Grandeur of Sahyadris has to been experienced.

I had a short break in Mahabaleshwar and started proceeding to Harihareshwar, en route, I had to let past Pratapgad, ( It was soon getting dark and I had to reach harihareshwar). Pratapgad This is the place where Chartrapathi Sivaji killed Afzal Khan of Adilshahi forces; well described in Battle of Pratapgad, . This was the first significant military victory against a major regional power, and led to the eventual establishment of the Maratha Empire.

Had to negotiate serpentine roads, hairpin bends while descending Sahyadris to reach Harihareshwar,. Hariharishwar has an ancient Shiva temple overlooking the sea. We stayed in MTDC certified home, few hundred feet from the beach. Beach is clean, safe and ideal for swimming.

I also toured Shrivardhan & Divya Gargh; two more beaches, all within 25 Km radius, both beaches are very good, again ideal for swimming. The journey from Shrivardhan to Divyagarh is one of the beautiful sights, the road traverses hugging the coastline, you would not lose sight of the sea from the road during the entire stretch. I strongly recommend this route. En route is small fishing village named Shekhadi where arms, ammunition and RDX landed for use in Mumbai blasts 93

Both Harihareshwar and Divyagragh have MTDC hotels. I recommend staying in Harihareshwar and visiting Srivardhan& Divya Gargh. You will also find several homes which are certified by MTDC for providing tourist accommodation. Accommodation starts from 300 INR per night. Here,you would actually living with a family. I suggest to check this option instead of checking into an expensive hotel suite, you would get to know stories and legends linked to these places, more than that you will be making new friends. MTDC certified homes are listed in MTDC Website .I have stayed in a house owned by Madhu Smith (Retired Gentleman), house has very basic amenities; Rs 300 per night. I would recommend this place. Land lady prepares food for a reasonable price. Madhu can be contacted at 02147-226138 for reservations

I have tracked ( GPS Trace) the route through my Mio A701 GPS mobile, when I converted these GPS track files into a KML and overlaid on Google earth, I was pleasantly surprised.... Google had done really good job creating road vector layers, my GPS tracks were all hugging the Google’s vector road network. Having positionally accurate vector road data on these high relief areas on Sahyadris is a commendable job indeed by Google.

If you guys need a tracks in shape & kml formats please drop me a mail at contact@dinakar.com I will be more than happy to share with you…..

Technology Consolidation in Mapmaking

2008-10-05T04:10:00.000-07:00

After the announcement of TeleAtlas on the availability of maps of India, the competition scene is clear and complete. 2009 is going to be an exciting year where the coverage, content battle will be fought by TeleAtlas (TomTom), Navteq (Nokia) and the local Indian players like SatNav and MapmyIndia. Interesting to also to know Google’s strategy on what they want to do with India data which they painstakingly built over the years, which by the way, is of excellent quality. To my mind, it appears that Google will come out with some innovative business model to commercialize this data very soon.

One thing is apparent is that there is a consolidation happening on the way the maps are made. TomTom is betting on its community feedback technology Map share where the central theme is millions of updates. Nokia labs are also testing their mobile platforms for community feedbacks. Google anyway is the original thinker of this entire process of community feedback which they call it as crowd sourcing. Google’s latest platform Mapmaker launched last month is dedicated to this effort.

Following this community feedback route are local Indian companies. SatNav for instance is pioneering an interesting offer to its clients with its “pay-per-POI” scheme called citizen map per. I think it’s a smart move towards enriching their datasets

This new way of map making and updating of maps will surely help location based products and services market to evolve and help generate the much required pull from the customers..

Manifold GIS...Worthy and affordable alternative to ESRI Products

2008-09-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to receive a support mail from a customer which triggered a trip down the memory lane…what was interesting here is the customer was during 2001 after which I have switched jobs changed companies, the customer here is unique; Indian Defense, Project again, very secretive ; )

Made a promise to the customer that no matter where we are (meaning ..switch companies ;)) we will still support if there is a need, engineers who worked on this project have all left the company for greener pastures …I was very happy to receive this mail for support mainly because this proved that the customer was ACTUALLY using the software which was developed, and also for this long. Research says that 65% of custom IT solutions are seldom used..;)
I soon contacted my pervious company to know the status, and then suggested a small tweak which solved the issue….This episode renewed my respect for manifold GIS http://www.manifold.net/

We have used incredibly low-cost GIS Software Suite for this mission critical customized application software. The point that it worked these many years without hitch is a testimony to this GIS platform. Manifold was chosen with only with one criterion; affordability (I remember it was 245$ ) we could not afford ESRI enterprise software for the project. I see the version now as Manifold 8.0 ( We worked on ver 4.5). I can see that several features are added into the software. Though it is difficult to choose Manifold over ESRI, I strongly recommend Manifold which will help do the tasks differently and easily.

"Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately"

2008-08-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

It’s finally here on 22nd August; Hype now has given way to some reality check for AirTel and Vodafone who were surprised on the consumer frenzy which was matching to iPhone’s worldwide release and surprisingly immediate signs of withdrawal….. Seems like Midas’s law working ….”Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately”

As the dust settles, market gurus are searching for answers of evident consumer withdrawal much to the delight of Nokia. Though analysts are pouring on daily basis on iPhone 3G phenomenon in India, to my mind three things are clear

Price Points : Though there are many compelling arguments; Rs 36000 (817 USD) price point for 16GB iPhone is a bit higher. Cost of ownership is not compelling to the user. Consumer, I think, is looking for cost restructure, similar to what Microsoft has done to Xbox in India, reducing the price points considerably in a span of one year.

Business models : As always, in India, innovative business models are the key. Vodafone/ AirTel, i think, are quickly reacting to the loosing consumer interest. Vodafone is announcing installment scheme to buy a iPhone and AirTel is bundling free data packages

Infrastructure : We do not have 3G networks. iPhone’s heart is 3G. AirTEL & Vodafone’s vehement appeals that we will have the 3G services in next 6 months, is not getting a buy in from the customers. Though it’s early to conclude, it appears that consumer wants to see 3G networks up and running and is willing to wait and postpone the buying decision.

….Finally, Guys, some one tell me how the navigation works on your iPhone 3G

Google Map – India Perspective!!!

2008-06-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

I never stop marveling on what Google has done for India. Wholesome credit goes to Google for single handedly propagating “Location awareness” in India. The result is that now a school child knows and uses Google maps for his/her school projects.

I do not know what prompted google into map making in India which it has never done any where in the world. It’s remarkable that it went on mapping India while facing empty threats from politicians for making available high res imagery online. It was surprising that erstwhile President Dr Abdul Kalam also objected to hosting imagery, may be his defense related background clouded his rationale…

Google gets their map data either from Navteq, Tele Atlas ,AND etc, and never though of venturing into the job of low end, field intensive mapmaking, and that too at a time when the two reigning mapping giants of the world ( Navteq & Tele Atlas) were not that enthusiastic on India . Google guys are not morons and have repeatedly demonstrated that they are ahead in innovation & business models, they surely have ideas to what they eventually want to do with this data which they have built painstakingly. I am sure ideas are incubating in google labs on applications and business models to commercialize this rich content

This is one disruptive process that they have introduced and which is evidently working fine is crowd sourcing. Over generalizing, its almost the same as Open Street map which populates and shares user generated content, however in google’s case the IPR stays with google. I am sure google might be employing “contractors” and paying them to collect location data, hence the rightful IPR owner. What is fascinating is that it has employed light weight GPS kits with lightweight application to collect information and simple way to processing the data quickly in comparison to bordering to a legacy way of information collection by mainstream mapping companies. Latest is that google is extending crowd sourcing to contribute 3D models and enhanced content.

Several entrepreneurs have cropped up doing a excellent reverse engineering, often to the point of developing customizing image grabbing tools and geo referenced tiling it neatly which results in quickly recreating the accurate vector data and associated attribute data. These datasets are widely available, I have seen (do not want to name here) production level facilities working on google maps. These kinds of IPR infringements are expected especially in India where there is not much sensitivity IPR related things

Google has tremendously effected the Tracking space, this happed by giving free Google MAP API’s where in anyone can access the rich map background and put a Tracking solution in place. Google smartness has a telling effect here, it will charge for its API, if the traffic crosses a specific threshold. I have seen enterprise level applications using free google map API’s which include some Govt bodies. Need to stop here….to sum up, It’s a great feeling that Google has empowered millions of Indians with providing access to accurate maps FREE and this surely has earned respect and gratitude!!!!!

New IPhone 3G– Will the navigation application work in India ?

2008-06-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Apple has finally incorporated GPS chip in new IPhone 3G, This was the top wish list point of the users after seeing IPhone 1.0 , looks like apple could not ignore price point sensitivity this time , a 199 $ device will surely capture the imagination of mass market.

In India both Vodafone & AirTEL have announced that they will bring IPhone to India in July, although grey market is flushed with the IPhone 1.0’s. I am curious on how these carriers will price this device, particularly in context of Apples statement that $199 price point is applicable only in US.

Interesting to watch is also the availability of value added services from the carriers. Most importantly the Navigation application with turn- to- turn navigation & Loopt , location based community network tool. There’s a rumor that tomtom supplied navigation application, with a new dispensation; tomtom’s acquisition of TeleAtlas, this arrangement has new dimensions. Its still not clear, whose maps these applications connect; Google, AirTEL Navteq (now NOKIA) Tele Atlas??.

The highest probability is that the application uses Google maps; by far the most detailed and accurate maps available in India. Compelling reason for this may be that both navigation application & Loopt connect to goggle maps for their location based services in US, It would be easier to replicate these services here in India. And Google is way ahead in creating accurate content for India….

Google itself had a free light weight navigation application for download a year back; I do not see that link now. Looks like they have abandoned this application….
I am sure, iphone 2.0 ,when right priced, would eatup significant market share of NOKIA’s high-end devices.