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GPS Navigation Systems and Data Problems

We have a serious problem brewing with GPS navigation systems for automobiles and even motorcycles. There are however problems with this devise as a high tech toy are more serious than you might think. Ask anyone in a metro area who has bought a new car with one of those cool GPS upgrades for their SUV or new sports car. We have had our customers complain (customers of the carwash business, which is my profession). Oh they love the gadget, but they are under whelmed by the lack of data and streets, which are not listed. You see we have been seeing incredible suburban growth in many cities. Places near large DMA metros are a problem out in the middle class suburbs. In many areas such as outside Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Columbus, Cleveland, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, DC Subs, etc. And in NJ, NC, NV, OH lots of other fast growing growth pockets.

When GPS devises for cars first hit the scenes at the CES and SEMA shows in 1996, they became increasingly more popular, powerful and better data. But like VHS and Beta, Apple and IBM, competition became increasingly greater causing much consolidation in the industry along with patent fights. Much of the technology was former Defense Contractors peddling their wares through subsidiary consumer level companies. But the tight market remained due to the costs. Meanwhile companies like DeLorme and others tried to flood the market with low priced GPS units, which made things even more competitive. And the bugs were not fully out of the system yet. Someday all cars will drive themselves and people can watch TV, do video conferencing and use their transportation as a portable office or entertainment system while they are being driven to the location they have punched into their computer. Some things will have to occur before this is a reality of course. But eventually your dexterity skills to actually pilot a car will be worthless and un-needed.

First the satellites will need to be laser aligned and use multiple satellites to get absolute locations of ground items and vehicles. The cars will need to have additional anti collision devises made up of networked sonar and optic flow sensors. All of which are now available and the technology is getting better and better. Many military applications today will be civilian tomorrow. Just like Radar, Microwave ovens, Nuclear Energy, Cellular Phones, Satellite Communication and Jet Aircraft in Commercial Aviation. The flow of transportation will be brought to the next generation to serve man better.

For the time being the incremental changes in these technologies has hit a slight road block even though Honda, GM, Ford, Mercedes, Daimler Chrysler and Toyota have invested billions in anti-collision and safety devices which they will add comfort and desirable options which they can sell to customers as upgrades. Smart Car Technologies can add Thousands of Dollars to the price of a car and consumers are glad to pay for them. A factory GPS system with display can cost up to $6,000.00 and they sell a lot of them on the higher end cars. It is a high profit item upgrade, although there are some, which only cost $1000. And if you wish to compare these, some are very incredible with many features;

http://www.gpsnuts.com/myGPS/GPS/review%20…he%20review.htm .

There are many companies, which sell after market computer assist items. These companies are doing quite well and the systems work great. The big issue is just because you have a super duper incredible GPS system, does not mean the street you are looking for is even on the map yet. In other words it is like using an old map. If you are a studier of maps like I happen to be, you will see the problem with older maps. Even some companies keep printing old map data year after year without adding in new on ramps, city streets, infrastructure freeway improvements and ring-roads, it is aggravating for those from out of town. Even more aggravating looking for an address or street in a new housing tract, which you can see but the devise insists, does not exist? Then there are problems in areas like Cape Coral, FL and Tehachapi, CA or El Paso, TX and Knoxville, TN where the roads have been scraped and ready to put in or put in but do not connect or have nothing there yet. Of course it is very aggravating to see a road and try to go down it and find it is a dirt road that connects to nothing yet or an entire sub-division that does not exist? Is it a Mirage? If so where is the white Tiger Show?

Jack Dangermond of ESRI had set up entire networks of software makers who developed data for their awesome software products for GPS and GIS needs. Used by government, military, utility companies, transportation companies, private companies with GPS units to sell to the public, First Responders and school districts for buses. After the Dot Com crash those software companies were among some of the survivors, but had significantly cut costs. Thus without the proper data the GPS systems bought by the upper, upper-middle and middle class for their cars were not always good enough to support the price point for the newest technology. This is especially upsetting since the upper, upper-middle and middle class citizens who pay the most taxes live in the suburbs for the most part. The chances of a middle class American; who bought a home during the 3 years last housing boom; not being able to find their house or street on their new GPS devise is a higher probability then them actually finding it. We interviewed one man who bought a new Nissan Sports car.

Who lives in a newer developed area in the higher end Las Vegas, Clark County Suburbs, which only had the main streets on his GPS and had huge blank spots on his device? Some GPS devices allow the user to choose a satellite vendor and data vendor and software, but many of the Factory units do not. People think they are getting something really good and then find they cannot use it to navigate, which would really piss you off considering you may have paid as much as $6,000 for the unit. Even more dangerous is the information we learned from an EMT ambulance driver in Dallas area who told us of looking for streets for 15-20 minutes after battling through suburban gridlock to get to where they thought it might be. 3G cell phone technology may assist for those using cell phones to call in data to the dispatches. For all the training we are doing across this nation for first responders and on-going education of police, fire, Hazmat, etc. it appears that we have forgotten the problems of the system. Any time you build a system to serve humankind you must make it simple and make it work, that should be the first, the very first priority, then you can fix all the other issues.

With that said we interviewed a lady recently one evening who had a hell of a long day working for the Metro Police Departments Central Nervous System. The communications center and dispatch is to what we are referring. Although she was unaware of the problem at the center for bad data or missing data in the system, she could not say how they were able to get the information. Luckily serving a metro area they are probably connected to the planning departments computer, which they should be. And if the police department has the new data and no problem in this case, why have the software vendors not been able to access the data? It is a safety issue if someone with a GPS system pulls out a map and tries to read it while driving in an area they are not familiar with. It is guaranteed that in the history of the automobile in this country more people have been in serious traffic accidents from trying to read maps, than talking on cell phones, although cell phones no doubt a contributing factor in many lesser accidents will eventually pass this figure. Where the streets are, well frankly I cannot understand the need to keep this a secret unless it is the layout of Area 51, Prison, Power plant, Pentagon grounds, Military Bases, etc. If the emergency first responders divisions and contractors would share the data, there might be less accidents and they maybe able to get some assistance from the public being the eyes and ears

http://www.lancewinslow.org/nmwp.shtml

and also perhaps they could in fact use the idea of Smart Virtual Mobile Communities or FlashMob scenarios since budgets are strapped as the National Security “Red-Orange-Yellow-High-Risk-Danger-Days” come with high frequency, more police and first responders are on duty and that costs money. Without significant inflows the coverage of the Grid of a city is in jeopardy of slower response times. Fast response times are the easiest way to keep the peace, everyone, which gets away can cause problems another day and of course in case of International Terrorist Attacks.

It is essential to have the data for these devises and everyone is better served when communication flows. GPS units provide that and the data should be readily available and probably it is best to have the cities using the same formats as first responders and the same data can be used for utilities, consumers, military and even census data or academia studying urban sprawl and growth rates to have infrastructures ready during expansion. Things like water and energy, which has obviously been a major focus here.

There needs to be a nationwide coordinated effort to see that such data is filtered into the private sector, because as it stand the companies have been hammered in the industry and cannot perform the services to bring this stuff to market. Communication is important for government and citizen a like, increased efficiencies in business will save the government money and provide additional tax base and funds on the income of such businesses utilizing such data, as well as save money and time for all the government services discussed above. If we want a screaming economy we ought to be thinking how we can streamline and accelerate the flow of information to increase efficiencies and allow a small portion of the gain from the expanded pie to continue the growth. In other words, we make it easier for the Florist to deliver, the school buses to pick up more kids per hour and the soccer mom to take more kids to practice and still have time left to shop all of which serves man. The digital GIS divide is as important for our economy as the Digital Internet Divide. Kids in sports do less drugs, become more competitive, have higher work ethics and soccer moms can help keep the retail economy going. Every time you ease the flow, more things are possible. The exponential increase in American productivity is needed to offset the time lost in traffic and congestion. GIS-GPS systems can help in any emergency or simply driving around town getting things done to check off one’s list for the day.

EzineArticles Expert Author Lance Winslow

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

An Excellent Hint You Simply Must Look at — Chocolates

Fannie May has flourished and changed a good deal recently, still it has demonstrated that terrific service, high quality, and a gorgeous selection are the secret recipe for winning. It all started in Chicago, Illinois in the early 20’s. And so this famous business has evolved from a single store into a booming network providing the Midwestern US with scrumptious chocolates. Fannie May’s ability to mix the freshest ingredients in precisely the right manner made them such a favorite that they expanded to just below 48 shops in merely 15 years. Many people don’t know that the management were so dedicated to the standard of their chocolates they chose to close the business temporarily rather than change their formulas during the food shortage of WWII. Fortunately, many of the recipes it used back in the early days are indeed still in production and being sold today.

Naturally each and every chocolate looks as great as it tastes. Exquisite presentation boxes and baskets add that special touch and you’ll have a gift anyone will appreciate. Have a box or tin sent for birthdays or as a thank you, or even order a giant tower of delicacies for a friend, loved one, or business contact. If you wish to select particular fillings that’s easily done, nonetheless a outstanding variety of carefully put together gifts are on offer as well. Fannie May nowadays have franchises not just in America but in many other countries worldwide. So you can order from your desk and have your gift box sent anywhere at home or abroad. While they do have some delivery limitations during the hotter weather, Fannie May has the ability to deliver the vast majority of gifts all over the world.

Special dietary requirements are not any problem. Bakery items and other goodies are available as well as gourmet chocolate with no sugar added. If you need a large amount of gift boxes or wedding favors, Fannie May have a range to choose from. Give them a ring or contact Fannie May online with your plans and ideas. It’s easy to see why Fannie May chocolates are such a big success. So, the tricky part is picking from the vast array of alternatives on the web site. With every sweet treat you can think of from mints to vanilla to be had, you’re bound to get exactly that ideal present!

A Fundamental Guide To Procuring The Best Baby Bouncers

A pernickety, colicky infant is no fun at all. Being the parent during this time can be rather stressful & depressing. Luckily, today there are lots of different tools that can be acquired by the 21st Century parent that will help keep your toddler amused when they are awake. Newborn babies are familiar with constant motion whilst in the females’ womb and when their child gets unhappy, a lot of parents are comforted to call on the support of a baby bouncer to help reproduce this restful feeling. Despite this, knowing what to obtain can easily be terrifically confusing, however this article provides a few tips that will help you make the correct decision.

Basic Features: Without a doubt, a bouncer ought to provide the bounce aspect. When a mother is unable rock & soothe their baby, it is great to have a consistent stand in. The majority of baby bouncers have a soft seat that is attached to a U shaped structure. When the baby moves around, the chair has a spring like reaction therefore soothing the toddler. The most straightforward baby bouncer products have just these essentials & can be procured for under fifteen pounds. Yet, there are dozens of additional features available if you pay a bit more cash. A lot of baby bouncers these days are battery controlled & can run even when your child is not moving. There are also seats that can switch between rocking & bouncing, for considerably more selections. Lastly, it’s really common to have a toy bar on a baby bouncer. Toy bars permits you to place toys in front of your baby for distraction and fun. Baby Bouncers with added features can range between £50 and £150.

Locate Your Individual Style: While it has been well-known for a while to find baby items that are charming, it’s not always to the taste of the parents. Your personal style could be considerably cleaner or more up-to-date and therefore you would want your decorations, which consists of your baby items, to echo that. After all, you’re the one that has to lug the bag & look at the items each & every day. You ought to be fond of your bouncer! Luckily for you while there are still heaps of cute baby prints on the market at this time, you can also find clean lines & plain styling. Both Bloom & BabaBing brands make a superb example of a up-to-date, but sensible, baby bouncer.

When your toddler is weeping and needs to be calmed, you basically yearn for a baby bouncer that works. Finding this in a bouncer should not be an ordeal. Even the cheapest baby bouncers will probably get the job done properly. For added features, you can spend a bit more cash for added convenience. Finally, with countless brand new bouncers, you don’t have to be stuck with the same old bouncer. Let your interests reverberate your own distinct taste. Find a huge selection of baby and child products including; baby bouncers, prams and cotbeds from leading brands online.

How to Make Christmas Banners for Your Website

You might have read the term “web banner” used a lot on the internet. This phrase depicts two sorts of imagery. First of all, you have the traditional ad banner, commonly utilized as a way to market a site, as clicking the banner takes you to the promoted website. The other sort of banner is discovered at the very top of an average site – the site header area. This area normally ushers in a person to the site with a main title, maybe a strapline, and of course graphical images to help theme the website. Both types of banner serve essential roles in both bringing visitors to a website, and making a website “sticky” – by instructing them simply with the primary premise of the site, and influencing the individual to peruse the website more, applying compelling graphics and strapline text.

How does one go about creating such banners? There are numerous online services which are able to assist you with this undertaking. Also many provide you with hosting in addition. Just type in a phrase such as web banner maker into a search engine and you’ll locate plenty of banner maker services.

What information to put in your banner? If you have a shopping site, it’s a good tip to put the payment gateways your site uses for processing payments, as it gives people a visible hint that your website is an e-commerce website as well as letting the individual know how they can pay. Arrange some pictures of the products you are selling too, as this is yet another visible prompt as to what types of products you sell. The strap line phrase is important as well. Ensure the strap line clearly and concisely puts forward what the site is about in just five or six words.

And as transparent as all this sounds, a mistake many websites make is to assume the site visitor knows automatically what the site is about before seeing it. We should not assume that every visitant knows such info, so you must grab each visitant’s hand in the essential first couple of seconds upon arriving at your site.

Capital Instrument Delivery Systems, Tonometers, Examination Chairs & the Opthalmologists’ Practice

Knowledge, experience, and still more are called for in this vocation. The optometry equipment you opt to work with is paramount, as well, as this equipment will ultimately govern over the quality of your work. The desired equipment can be bought refurbished, remanufactured, new, or used. Following that, you will need to scrutinize each piece on an individual basis including exam chairs, tonometers, and treatment cabinets in order to find the most appropriate option to meet your requirements.

Intraocular pressure is taken by tonometers which can be had in many different styles like applanation, non-contact, digital, pocket, and handheld disposable models. A selection of models or a particular tonometer might be perfect for just about every opthalmologist. Check that the tonometers you decide to order are high quality. Such opthalmology instruments make for a major improvement of diagnosis, in particular when proffering both ease of use and accuracy.

You need a chair that’s capable of more than simply keeping your patients where you want them: your chair needs to be able to keep them comfortable for as long as the visit will take. Your choice of exam chairs has to keep in mind both positioning and comfort — the best on the market can assist the smallest and largest patients equally in settling in to the right position.

Your optometry equipment ought to aid your work, not become a frustration. This means that a good set of equipment cabinets is a precious addition to your practice.. You should be sure to buy a cabinet in a size which fits into your office space comfortably.

Three of the items of optometric equipment that will affect how well you do in your job are the examination chair, the tonometer, and the treatment cabinet. Before you commence shopping, you should ensure you know your exact requirements. Imprecise tools will probably trigger issues, but the smoother to handle and the more ergonomic your tools, the more efficient you should do. You’ll find yourself simply stunned by how simple the perfect equipment can make your practice… In summary: the equipment you buy will have significant influence on your performance in your professional tasks as a whole, and, as a consequence, on the growth of your practice.

A Shoppers Guide To Selecting The Most Suitable Digital Cameras

With numerous options being sold, you might perhaps be baffled of where to begin if you are wanting your first digital camera. The tremendous news is that there are only several things to bear in mind to make certain that your acquisition suits your individual needs. By making sure you play very close notice to these points, you can make certain that you get your hands on an incredible digital camera for both your skill level and your elected budget.

The very first point to come to a decision on when obtaining a brand new digital camera is what you propose on using the digital camera for. If you only have in mind taking a handful of snapshots, for instance, a point and shoot camera is the recommended choice. These specific cameras are undoubtedly the tinniest currently available & are great if portability is crucial to you. For the more sophisticated shooting requirements why not take a look at a super zoom camera. These particular products have considerably more features than a conventional point & shoot but still have the benefits of automatic shooting. For a truly commercial digital camera, you will need to buy a digital Single-Lens Reflex (SLR). These specific digital cameras come with swappable lenses & are incredibly customizable. They have various preset settings, but are best suited for manual photography. Although, they are also the most expensive choice available.

Once you settle what model type to buy, make a budget. This will in all probability shape what manner of features you will be thinking about. In addition your budget limit will help you choose a product choice if you are undecided on what you actually need. If you would like an excellent camera, but have a tiny budget, then you will most likely be interested at super zoom ranges rather than a SLR camera. With point & shoot cameras, your budget will shape features such as display size and zoom ability. If you are adamant to change to an SLR, then budget limits will perhaps mean purchasing the introductory package. You can very easily upgrade & add extra lenses later as needed.

Cameras of late are better than ever. Even the cheapest products incorporate a viewing display & zoom capability. On the other hand, lower priced items may have only a digital zoom. Optical zoom will give you a far sharper image; thus think about that when looking. What’s more, various mid-priced digital cameras are recently starting to incorporate things like multi-point focus, automatic face detection and compensation for camera shake. Also, battery life fluctuates extensively between different makes and brands, therefore always take care about this when shopping as well. Or else, this can be supplementary cost when operating your camera.

In conclusion, purchasing a spanking new digital camera is enjoyable & very straightforward. First, come to a decision on what your needs are. Next, pick a budget that you can afford. Lastly, choose which features attract to you the most. Before you know it, you’ll be taking photos with no difficulty. Find a selection of technology products such as; digital cameras, acer laptops and televisions from leading brands online.

Horoscopes Are Usually Based on Four Primary Angles Which Can Then Be Used to Create an Accurate Overview of Your Life

Most horoscopes tells something that is related to an activity, something in the past relating to the point in time it represents. It is a chart or diagram which stands to represent the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, the sensitive angles ans astrological aspect at the time of the event, like the birth of a person.

Defining the horoscope are four primary angles. Although the cusps of the houses is not included, it often included as an essential angle by some astrologers. The eastern point or the ascendant is where the ecliptic and the horizon intersect. It is considerably the most vital and personalized angle. The ruler called the chart ruler is also of great importance.

The opposite point in the west is called the descendant. the ascendant is traditionally placed as the left-hand side point of the chart, in creating a horoscope. In the course of a day, due to the Earth’s rotation, the entire circle of the ecliptic will go through the ascendant and will be advanced by about 1. This gives with the term rising sign, the sign of the zodiac, that was rising in the east at the exact time that the horoscope is calculated.

Midheaven is the point on the ecliptic that is the farthest to the horizon. The opposite point is called imum coeli. Events that happens when the planes and horizons coincide are in a limiting position at 90 degrees from the ascendants.

For Chinese, horoscopes are based on the symbolism of the Chinese Zodiac. It is a system of elements and animals that are linked with each year according to the sexagenary cycle.

Whether horoscopes are real or not, it does a great help in one sense. Certainly for people who wanted to be enlightened, the choice of sticking with it is not at all a bad idea. After all, the end depends on the person himself, to believe or not to believe.

Travelers and Hotels

It often takes one or more trips to make an arrangement worth having for return visits in Manhattan hotels. However, with a little research, it becomes easy to choose the best hotel deal and enjoy your vacation or business trip. You’ll find there’s a price difference between basic hotel rooms and rooms with everything you might want. Between these two extremes are rooms with different features, each of which costs a different amount. Step one is to examine each feature and ask yourself whether you’d get your money’s worth from it. You can then narrow down the short list of possible accommodation to only hotels offering your desired package. Is it worth paying for a kitchenette, or is all you actually need a warm bed and a shower? Next, hold this list against a city map. Plot out where you’d like to go while you’re in the city in order to settle on the most nearby boarding house. The balance between access to the metropolitan area with a peaceful enough area for a restful night is key, for example, to a holiday mostly spent shopping and clubbing. Naturally, for a holiday that you want to spend sightseeing in the local area or getting close to nature you will have an easier time of it if the chosen rooms are on the outskirts of the city. It’s also a good idea to find out reviews of your chosen hotel. There are reviews aplenty to be read on the web, but you should examine a number to develop an unbiased understanding of the pros and cons.

Customer testimonials can be very useful, as they provide you with information about what you’ll experience while staying in the hotels in question. A question worth asking is how well does your chosen hotel make good on its promised extras? We advise you consider discussions of cleanliness and on how comfortable the rooms are. It’s straightforward to identify an offer that will promise you reliable accommodation by looking at the leading Manhattan hotels, so sleep sound. What you need to do is determine the deal which strikes a balance between your needs and what you can afford. Employing the entire process we’ve discussed here, this is suddenly a much less daunting chore.

Going for the El Gordo Lottery with the E-Lottery System

A key part of the Euromillions Euro lottery is the Loteria de El Gordo – and you should want to know more about this part. This lottery is noted for payouts that can match the biggest around the world – payouts up to more than two and a half billion Euros. But this is not the end of the story, not by a pretty long shot. There is even more you definitely must know about. In this lottery the odds of winning something are a staggering one in six, and these prizes might be any of over 13,000 different amounts. That’s very good by the standards of the prizes offered by competing lotteries!

Should you want to get in on the action you can get a full ticket called a “serie”. You can also choose the cheaper option called a “d©cimo”, worth one-tenth of a full ticket. Unfortunately, both options are costly ways to play nor will either of them ramp up your odds of winning anyway. As a result the Euromillions Euro Lotto has put an e-lottery system into operation.

Each month the Euromillions Eurolottery holds one draw. Three months a year see bigger draws featuring way bigger prizes. Namely, the January “El Nio”, Summer’s “San Ildefonso”, and the Christmas “Elgordo” (which aptly is Spanish for “the Fatso”) with Christmas’s Elgordo drawing being the biggest and most popular of the 12.

Unusually among lottery systems, the balls required by the Elgordo lottery sport five digits on each, in a numerical range from 00,000 to 84,999. During the draw one ball is selected from a bowl to determine the winning ticket while a second is pulled out of the second bowl to determine the prize value.

Everyone’s certain of winning a prize when participating in the e-lottery system. Simply buy your way into the Euromillions Euro Lottery syndicate where you’re sorted into teams. With each team having a number between zero and nine, the final digit on the winning number determines the winners and they take the prize. The money is then divided among the team members. Everyone then renews their subscription for the draw the following month and it starts all over again.

For more advice, we recommend you surf to this one of a kind page for Euro e-lottery products.

Job Search Using the Web to Succeed

The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job seeker, but also presents several potential challenges. It also adds some complexities, and a lot more things to think about…and be mindful of.

Job hunting needs to be thought of as a personalized, very targeted marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an advertisement. Your extended network is your source for job information.

So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we just posted a job on Craigslist and got 650 responses in a week. For a single opening. That’s increased job hunting competition.

Had a suitable candidate contacted us ahead of our posting that ad, they could have secured the position prior to getting all that competition. How? By knowing an employee at our company who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew of the job for at least 13 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?

Be sure to check your cover letter and resume carefully! When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily taken out with a swift triage process. How? The same way any HR professional would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our position description. By passing over candidates whose cover letters gave us grounds not to hire them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating job hunters whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by eliminating job hunters who didn’t trouble to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.

So the good news is that job boards give you a feel of who is hiring, and for what kinds of positions. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still try, if you have a well thought out resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another issue to be aware of is how quickly you can be checked out on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some pictures and comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing crazy, but enough to rock our thinking about who to choose.

AA-Careers provides a encompassing set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!

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