Feb/Mar 2008

Even more precise vehicle location should result from the creation of an industry body called the EGPS Forum, whose stated objectives are 'to advance and improve location technologies, and encourage mobile industry leaders to work together to accelerate development of EGPS solutions'.

EGPS is an enhanced technology that uses terrestrial signals or other means to make GPS location more precise, and help it work where conventional GPS can't (for instance, within buildings).

The founding forum members are UK-based CSR and US-based Motorola - both of them major players wireless technologies. They say membership will be open to a wide range of participants such as handset manufacturers, location technology specialists, network infrastructure providers and mobile network carriers.

The forum says its early activities will focus on getting mobile phone cell tracking technology and GPS to work more productively together by combining satellite measurements with timing measurements taken from cellular networks. It also aims to establish an underlying infrastructure to ensure full interoperability of this technology.