GPS World - May 2008 - (Page 12)

EXPERT ADVICE Do We Have Data? GPS WORLD ADVISORY BOARD I t seems that every week a new and usually glowing market report appears on GPS. As a marketing professional, I naturally take a keen interest in the data that can be gleaned therein. Such reports are an essential source of information for both industry participants and investors. If your interest is in consumer applications of GPS, you are well served with data, as a quick search of many market report websites will conﬁrm. Most of ROB LORIMER Managing Partner, Position One Consulting Often the only data on professional or industrial GPS applications comes from larger global studies that attempt to cover a dozen or more market segments. the research companies in this space have extensive experience in consumer electronics, often specializing in a range of synergistic wireless technologies. With professional or industrial applications for GPS, however, pickings become a lot thinner. Often the only source will be one of the larger global studies which attempt to cover a dozen or more GPS market segments from consumers, from machine control to animal tracking. Understandably, what these large global reports make up for in breadth of coverage they often lose in depth of data. It can be frustrating when even 12 GPS World | May 2008 fairly low expectations of the data component in such a report are not met. In one report, for example, a large billiondollar corporation' s revenues appear to be entirely credited to GPS, despite the fact the company has signiﬁcant revenues in lasers and optical survey equipment. is artiﬁcially inﬂates the value given to speciﬁc GPS market segments in the report, as well as the company' s supposed market share. One recourse for the frustrated client is to commission a private research report, of which our consulting ﬁrm conducts a number each year. Private reports have the advantage of being tailored to the client' s speciﬁc interests; however they are more expensive than buying an oﬀ-the-shelf report, and the data does not enter the public domain. Publicly available market reports of a reasonable standard and quality bring some signiﬁcant and speciﬁc advantages to all players. The data becomes accessible to a wide range of industry participants, many of whom would never consider commissioning private research; The data becomes open to scrutiny and debate; this can improve the quality of subsequent reports; They provide a benchmark for privately commissioned reports, which still have validity for many clients. For all these reasons, in my opinion there is a need for more speciﬁc and detailed reports covering professional and industrial markets for GNSS. We have started the research and interview process and plan to publish the ﬁrst of these in the fourth quarter of 2008. We welcome as much industry participation as possible, so if you have any questions, ideas, suggestions, comments, or data you would like to contribute, please do contact me. My e-mail is robert_lorimer@positiononeconsulting.com; our website is www.positiononeconsulting.com. Vidal Ashkenazi Sally Basker Jean-François Bou Alison K. Brown Pascal Campagne Olivier Colaïtis Ismael Colomina Jordi Corbera Paul A. Cross Nicolas de Chezelles Clem Driscoll Bù rje Forssell Alain Geiger Nottingham Scientific Ltd., United Kingdom General Lighthouse Authorities, United Kingdom & Ireland Thales Group, France NAVSYS Corporation, United States France Developpement Conseil, France Alcatel Space Industries, France Institut de Geomàtica, Spain Spanish Institute of Navigation, Spain University College London, United Kingdom Ministry of Defense, France C.J. Driscoll & Associates, United States Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway ETH Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, Switzerland Art Gower Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services, United States Sergio Greco Alcatel Alenia Spazio, Italy Jörg Hahn European Space Agency, The Netherlands Michael Healy Astrium Limited, United Kingdom Günter Hein Institute of Geodesy and Navigation, University of the Federal Armed Forces, Germany Larry D. Hothem U.S. Geological Survey, United States Len Jacobson Global Systems & Marketing, United States William J. Klepczynski Institute for Defense Analyses, United States Gérard Lachapelle The University of Calgary, Canada Wolfgang Lechner Telematica, Germany Jingnan Liu National Engineering Research Center for Satellite Systems, China Pietro Lo Galbo European Space Agency, The Netherlands Keith D. McDonald NavtechGPS, United States Terence J. McGurn Consultant, United States Jules G. McNeff Overlook Systems Technologies, United States James Miller National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States Terry Moore Institute of Engineering, Surveying and Space Geodesy, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom Ruth Neilan Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States Bradford W. Parkinson Stanford University, United States Ivan G. Petrovski NVS Technologies, Switzerland Mario Proietti TechnoCom Corporation, United States Martin U. Ripple European Aeronautics Defense and Space, Germany Michael E. Shaw National Space-based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Coordination Office, United States Giorgio Solari Galileo Supervisory Authority, Belgium Jac Spaans European Group of Institutes of Navigation, The Netherlands Thomas Stansell Jr. Stansell Consulting, United States F. Michael Swiek U.S. GPS Industry Council, United States David Turner Department of State, United States A.J. Van Dierendonck AJ Systems, United States Frantisek Vejrazka Czech Technical University, Czech Republic Akio Yasuda Tokyo University of Marine Science & Technology, Japan ADVISORY BOARD UPDATE Vidal Ashkenazi, CEO of Nottingham Scientific Ltd., delivered the keynote address at the European Navigation Conference in Toulouse on April 22. His talk focused on current and potential benefits of all space technologies, including Vidal Ashkenazi GNSS, Earth observation and satellite communications, and terrestrial sensors, and how they will affect practically every aspect of society and government, generating new business, creating new jobs, and adding to the wealth, well-being, security, and quality of life of European citizens. www.gpsworld.com http://www.positiononeconsulting.com http://www.gpsworld.com

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GPS World - May 2008 Contents Out in Front Letters to the Editor Expert Advice GPS III Contract Award Now a Reality? Near-Space Location Boost RTK Crops Up in Precision Ag Safety Afoot 50+ Leaders to Watch Making a Difference with GPS Product Showcase Advertisers Index & Company Directory Marketplace Classifieds Seen & Heard

GPS World - May 2008

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