Gadgetory

we've all learned to love really rely on navigation devices powered by GPS but honestly they've only been half baked until now there's a new trend toward now doing GPS on connected devices that blend search past preferences and even your future activities into the task of getting you where you need to go I'm Brian Cooley in this episode of seen that conversations we visit one of the companies involved in this trend that also happens to have one of the fathers of GPS as its chief technology officer Bob Renard we met up with him at TeleNav to get his view of the future through his knowledge of the past so where are we this is your nun what is that so we're in the TeleNav network operations center so the people that work in this office in this area and there's one similar this in Shanghai are responsible for keeping our connected services for scout up and running they can see how is the system behaving today versus how did it behaved yesterday so they can see if there's any trends they ought to be worried about this is like sac Omaha 30 years ago we don't have a big red button but yes you may know the name TeleNav but they're not as well known to consumers as Garmin Magellan or tomtom TeleNav is always focused on the software and algorithms that make GPS devices and services work and while the firm dates back to the beginning of mass consumer use of GPS sitio Bob Renard reaches way back before that take me back GPS started when one someone asked me what's the name what's the year so GPS was a name change and it was a build up like merging some things that the Air Force did under a project 621 be in 1969 and a similar system that the Navy did call time a shin in about the same time frame but it wasn't until nineteen seventy-two that the DoD said let's put these two together let's get on with it the myth about GPS and this goes back to the very core development back in the day is that it's watching me so many fries i think that the satellite is up here looking down at you and tracking you that's not how it works is it not at all so what the satellites do is they broadcast the message which describes what at what time a signal is being brought test and if you know that time you can also get some coefficients and say where would the satellite be at that time and then the little receiver you have uses just that information from at least four satellites and it figures out where it is and it doesn't tell anything back to the satellites it's the applications that bring the location information from the satellites together with a database of points of interest and a database of mapping to produce this product they all call the GPS and so like in the case of our product like Scout we do all that on the back end we have the mapping data and the points of interest data that can be dynamically accessed from your phone as opposed to being resident on it which allows us to keep Scout up-to-date much more so than a locked up product you know it's funny it occurred to me that maybe they shouldn't be called scout but sniper because it wants to put a bullet in the head of three distinct navigation estates you use today first of all they have Scout me they would like you to use that instead of let's say google maps or mapquest because that's where you would go on the computer to find things to share locations and such then of course a lot of us are going to do navigation on our phone it's the new portable navigation device that's where you've got this Scout app this phone app can blend the functionality of a weather app and a mapping app may be a place recommendation at you know who I'm talking about it also memorizes your home and work destinations and always tells you how far you are from them in current traffic and then of course once you put the phone in your pocket and get in the car that's where Scout automotive is going to transfer control to the dash whatever the interface is simple text or full LCD and then can take advantage of the vehicles voice command as well as do things in a contextual way that is safer and more efficient from while you're driving I might want to go to the theater or go to a sports event or go to a music venue so Scout me our companion website for scout allows you to go there and find what's going on around you pick one you like and then navigate to it later and also fro your Scout application you can share it with us other people you'd like to join you at that event now TeleNav Scout is part of a major shift that I've been awaiting in what is loosely termed the GPS business you see navigation without search just isn't making sense to me anymore and soon navik nation without personal history preferences and even prediction will seem antiquated and laborious to use so watch telenav android services apple's new efforts in nav and location and microsoft's expression of all this in their new blended windows platform if you want to follow the major players in how GPS is evolving however that shakes out I can't help but see a big upside for all of us for seeing that conversations I'm Brian Cooley thanks for watching