Most Underrated Use of VoIP Telephony

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on August 14, 2007 @ 10:26 am

With the proliferation, affordability, and convenience of broadband Internet and cell phone service, customers are foregoing traditional telephone service all together. Having a cell phone instead of a land line seems like a terrific idea. Cell phone customers do not have to be tied down to a location, they can get phone calls from anywhere, and plus they get long-distance included. In theory it seems like a good idea but actually it does not tend to work out as planned. Cell phones were not designed to be used for regular everyday calls while in your home. They were designed as mobile phones and most service plans treat them as such, with outrageous fees for going over the allotted monthly minutes. Most cell phone only customers find they run out of minutes every month and have enormous cell phone bills as a result. So they would be better off having a land line or paying for enormous monthly minutes on their cell phone service. There is a better way.

VoIP phone service is a wonderful way to eliminate the need for expensive, regular telephone service. With a VoIP adapter and VoIP service, customers can use their broadband Internet service and regular telephone to make local and long-distance calls for a low monthly fee. The monthly fee usually includes such typical services as unlimited long-distance, call waiting, caller ID, voicemail, 3-way calling, call forwarding, and other lesser used features that regular telephone companies charge extra. So for a modest monthly fee VoIP customers can have broadband Internet and land line phone services and still afford to keep their cell phone. VoIP saves money by eliminating expensive traditional telephone service and allows cell phone minutes to be used when necessary.

Visit http://www.cleardigitalvoice.com for more information on how to save money with VoIP phone service.

Sol is the owner of ClearDigitalVoice.com, a new VoIP provider for residential and small business customers. http://www.cleardigitalvoice.com

Once You Go VoIP, You Never Go Back!

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on August 12, 2007 @ 3:14 pm

With the current explosion of VoIP all over the world, it is not surprising that many people in the U.S. are now jumping on the VoIP bandwagon. The technology works by routing voice conversations over the Internet via IP networks. The voice data does not use circuit switch transmission lines of the past, but instead uses packet switched networks that do the same thing, but cheaper and more efficiently.

This amazing technology has many benefits for consumers and businesses today. Take a look at these top benefits and decide if you want to switch to VoIP today!

VoIP Doesn’t Drain the Bank Account

Here is a quick exercise. Take out your current telephone bill and examine each line item. You might find something like this: (1) $19.99 for the basic phone service, (2) $5 for call waiting, (3) $2 for caller id, (4) $10 for voicemail and the list goes on. This total amount doesn’t even consider any long distance charges or applicable taxes either. Once calculated, your phone bill might be between $60 and $75 dollars. That is too much money to pay for phone service.

With VoIP, consumers pay one low monthly fee for phone service. And, the beautiful thing is that all the features are included in the fees; with some features not even being offered by the phone companies like voicemail to email and call forwarding to name a few. Now here is the mind blower: included in the low monthly fee is unlimited calling to the US and Canada! The industry standard for VoIP service is anywhere from $15 to $25 per month; not bad cost saving at all.

VoIP is Portable

One thing most people hate about moving into a new house is not the hard labor of lifting boxes all day long; it’s having to call the phone company to disconnect and reconnect their phone service. It’s a hassle and there are always fees associated. Because VoIP is connected to a high-speed internet connection and not the traditional land line, it becomes almost as portable as a cell phone. Essentially, consumers can take their phone number anywhere they move; and even if it’s just for a weekend getaway.

For example, let’s assume that you have to go on a business trip to New York. Simply pack up your phone adapter, (power supply & cables) and your touch tone phone. When you arrive at your hotel in Manhattan, set up your phone adaptor and phone just as you had installed it at home. You can then make and receive telephone calls as if you were sitting down in your living room back home. It’s that easy.

VoIP Lets You Choose Your Phone Number

With VoIP, consumers are no longer tied to their local phone number. What that means is that even if you live in Nebraska, you can have a California phone number. Many consumers take advantage of this feature when they have several friends and family members who live in a different state or city.

Most VoIP providers also offer virtual numbers. A virtual numbers is an inexpensive secondary line that rings to the primary VoIP line. In another example: let’s assume that you live in San Francisco where your primary VoIP phone number has a 415 area code. Your mother-in-law lives in Florida and her area code is 561. You can get a virtual phone number with a 561 area code that rings to your primary line in San Francisco. That way, your mother-in-law can call you everyday without having to pay long distance telephone charges. This benefit alone should convince you to switch over to VoIP!

Cost savings, portability and frequent phone calls from your mother-in-law are all reasons why you should make that switch to VoIP. This technology is here to stay and there is no better time to adopt VoIP today and start saving on your phone bill tomorrow. It’s a guarantee that once you go VoIP, you will never go back; to traditional phone service that is.

Click here for more in-depth information about voip telephony products and services.

Michael Brito is an internet marketing consultant and freelance writer for a variety of consumer related products.

GPS Navigation - A Necessity For All Drivers

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on July 24, 2007 @ 12:37 pm

For any driver travelling some distance, GPS navigation systems are essential and can save both time and money. Many people will think “I don’t need one of them, I never get lost”, nevertheless at the price that you or I could pick one of these up for these days, it’s common sense to purchase one for even the occasional drive to a new location.

The GPS systems that are available today offer a lot more than just the map info that many people assume. Since GPS systems have arrived, the technological advancements have added such benefits as locating hotels and restaurants, and notifying the driver of speed cameras nearby. Furthermore, they constantly update with a detailed map of the area, with details of nearby facilities like hospitals; which is a feature that can be highly advantageous in an emergency situation.

The majority of vehicle manufacturers are capable of providing the car buyer with a built-in GPS system. These systems are able to advise the necessary authority of the vehicle location in scenarios where the vehicles’ airbag is deployed, and also when the car has been reported by the owner as stolen.

The detail that many GPS systems can provide in terms of road maps and directions is incredible. Even when abroad, the relevant software is available for you to be able to use your GPS there. The software is regularly available via the internet for the GPS user to download instantly, and to benefit from in almost, if not all countries.

So let’s take a look at some of the most useful and “must-have” options with a GPS device:
- A good viewing screen is vital as it obviously displays all of the data that you will need to see. Make sure it will be clearly visible and easy to understand whilst driving, and all information is displayed in a simple easy-to-follow manner.
- Consider selecting a GPS product that is easy to use, so that you do not need to fiddle around with the setup whilst in the car, but instead can set up what you need in a few seconds.
- Purchase a device that has good mapping software, which will display detailed streets and information on facilities. Ensure that it can also be updated online so all information can remain current.
- A voice enabled system is highly important, as it allows the driver to find their destination without taking their eyes off the road to constantly check their position on the GPS.

For those that do not have a GPS device, you may still decline the need for such a product; however for those that own one, i’m certain that they will never again be without one. They are practical to keep in your vehicle and provide good-quality information when required. They can save you time when travelling to a location and vehicle costs such as petrol whilst doing so. Take a look around at the GPS devices available to find out more detailed information, and to browse the deals that can be found. With the range of equipment available, finding one to meet your requirements should be relatively effortless.

Justin Brown is the owner of the site http://www.idealauto.co.uk where you can find satellite navigation equipment and also sell any used cars in the UK.

World On IP Community versus Telecoms’ Monopoly

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on July 19, 2007 @ 5:49 am

World on IP community versus the TELECOMS’ monopoly or a dream of a visionary

Why VOIP will grow over the usual telephony

Without qualification, if one had to choose between usual telephone lines or IP telephony for carrying the voice, the first would be a better fit for the needs of voice communications. Also, IP telephony is generally subject to transmission delays.

Voice communications is highly sensitive to delays or irregularities in the transmission of voice signal components.

Even when transmitted in digital form, not only must the transmission delay be small (so as to be imperceptible to the listener), but also the time between the arrival of digital signal samples at the receiving end of a transmission must be at regular intervals. Any significant form of delay, whether delay of all samples or one sample relative to the other, can significantly degrade the quality of the voice signal recreated at the far end of the transmission.

Besides, Ip telephony during network congestion is subject to the loss of “packets” and with them part of the words of a conversation.

In the usual telephone lines, this doesn’t occure, because new calls are blocked from entering the network and there is no network congestion.

Why so much activity was spent in the last few years to overcome these problems?

Now, we are definetly able to offer a very good and reliable VOIP , with phones that can be used also on a Modem or ISDN connection. ( very attractive for the countries that are mostly penalized with high cost of telephone charges: India, Africa and rural zones in general.) A high compression and a new algorithm for it will allow the transmission of voice without any delay, the priority given to the voice packets will kill the congestion, all this resulting in a gorgeous quality of voice.

Although voice communications continues to dominate the market today, this will ultimately change as data communications grows at 100% per year, ( in Italy last year we had a 250% growth of DSL lines and they say next year will even be better) while voice only increases by 8 to 10% per year. Thus, the doubling of the existing lines ( creation of voice over IP world ) only makes sense in the case the data customers want to use the data line for voice communications as well. For example, a multi-location user that uses a commercial data network service to connect those customer locations might want to cut down expenses by using that same network for voice communications, as well. It has been estimated that companies can lower their communications costs by as much as 80% by placing their voice traffic through the unused space in their data networks .

How we plan to compete with the giant Telecoms of today

Entering the market against the Telecoms is downright dangerous and potentially fatal in today’s capital environment. The net revenue derived from investment should be small relatively to the size of the investment. A single large business may generate many thousands of dollars per month in revenues for an investor , while a big residential consumers investment would generate very little revenue compared to the infrastructures required.

That considered, it should not surprise us if firms try and serve large businesses rather than residential customers.

If competition is less likely when the revenue is small relative to the size of the investment, there are three ways to increase competition in a market:

a) increase revenue

b) reduce the investment required

c) do both.

What has all this to do with being a Utopistic dreamer or visionary as many defined me while I explained my project?

I have an exciting project, which, if succesfull, will allow all the people who own a DSL line to be able to call the world with a portable IP phone. I will try to explain it as much as possible ( you can also see my web pages at http://www.worldonip.com/community. )

It is very simple.

Instead of sharing the bandwidth to download illegal MP3 or movies, we share it to telephone for free.

You need to connect to your DSL line an Access Point, to place the antenna on a window. You do not even need to have the computer on 24 hours a day, just connecting the access point. You will create a ” Hot Spot” that every other member of the community will be able to use. You will then need a (real) portable IP phone, you will connect to the Net either through your own Hot Spot or through the hot spot of any other member, wherever you will be ( all the continents will have people sharing hot spots. )

A call with our device consumes maximum 20 k, thanks to to high compression of the voice and the quality is absolutely gorgeous.

Our telephone will have a price around 200 - 250 US dollars. An access point costs not more than 100 US dollars. The value of the investment highly overcomes the amount.

Imagine, being able to call for free for the rest of your life!!! And imagine what kind of doors opens a connection like that!

Going back to the market competition.

In my particular case

a) Increase the revenue. Every member would have enormous revenues under the voice” Free call wherever he wants”.

b) Reduce the investment. Being a shared investment, every member will invest in the enterprise the cost of an Access point ( around $100 or even less). Considering that in the beginning we will have members who already have a DSL line with a flat rate, and already use it for other purposes, also the cost of running the system and relative bandwidth will amount to almost zero. The cost of the phone is irrilevant compared to the benefit of having FREE CALLS.

Not only does the Community reduce the investment required to provide a competitive service to almost ZERO, it also significantly reduces the risk involved in funding a telecom start-up venture. The Community allows an entrant to begin a new service at minimal sunk capital cost.

Further, once a critical mass of customers is signed up on the Community, it becomes far more cost effective for the entrant to build a new ” Hot Spot”.

To the unskilled eye, it appears as if the competition envisioned by the authors of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 for residential and small business markets was not much more than a dream - an unrealized and unrealizable nirvana.

The project of the Community is making that dream a reality and offers the potential for building a really strong TELECOM able to compete against the World Telecoms’ monopoly.

Our model is easy to realize ( because the infrastructure already exists), brings enormous revenues to the members of the Community and the investment is really minimal.

Without considering the NON-Polluting system that will be created in competition to a Highly polluting system existing.

World on Ip community versus Telecoms’ monopoly. A real challenge?

Patrizia Demaria

About The Author

Patrizia is an italian pharmacyst, fond of Internet and Internet related subjects. She is also an e-books publisher with a website of more than 700 free classic literature e-books in English, French, Italian, German http://www.easymediabroadcast.com all personally published by her.

Her english is not always perfect, but the temperament and passion with which she espouse a cause overcome her (eventual) mistakes. Lately all her efforts are devolved to the creation of the World on IP community.

http://www.worldonip.com/community

patrizia@worldonip.com

Enterprise VoIP

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on July 17, 2007 @ 4:07 am

Enterprise VoIP is making inroads among enterprises that cling
to their circuit switched voice networks. The lure of Enterprise
IP voice is having a single network to serve all modes of
communication. Enterprise VoIP introduces efficiencies into the
network, and allows for tighter integration

Enterprise VoIP is making inroads among enterprises that cling
to their circuit switched voice networks. The lure of Enterprise
IP voice is having a single network to serve all modes of
communication. Enterprise VoIP introduces efficiencies into the
network, and allows for tighter integration. Certainly from the
supply side, we can see that Enterprise IP voice is taking off.
Enterprise IP voice is still in the early stages of adoption,
but is starting to move into the mainstream.

Awareness of Enterprise VoIP is winning over companies for its
ease of use/manageability, flexibility and operational cost.
Ease of use and manageability get high ratings because
Enterprise IP voice equipment overcomes the hassle of performing
mundane telecom tasks. For example, to change a user’s location
within the building in a TDM world while maintaining the user’s
current extension, physical changes would have to be made to the
network. For companies that don’t have qualified staff, they
need to pay for a service call. In an Enterprise IP world, user
identity is coupled to the phone’s MAC address, and not to a
particular port, so a user can simply pack their desk phone,
plug it into the LAN port at the new desk, and be up and
running. The convenience of Enterprise VoIP is a huge selling
point.

Other drivers propelling Enterprise VoIP include scalability and
the desire to consolidate voice and data networks. Implementing
multiple wide area networks is expensive, and complexity
increases as the number of networks and sites grows. Large
organizations seek network convergence, and Enterprise VoIP is
the way to get there.

Consumer adoption of VoIP services may also spill over into the
enterprise VoIP world, as was the case with wireless LANs. Once
people get used to advanced features available at home–for
example, visual voicemail–they may end up pushing for the same
capabilities of Enterprise VoIP at work. For companies that are
deploying Enterprise IP voice, the advantages outweigh the
barriers. The initial cost of deploying Enterprise VoIP
technology are capital expenses. There are also some technical
hurdles to adopting Enterprise VoIP although in the long run,
the future of Enterprise VoIP is assured.

For more information on Ent
erprise VoIP and emerging VoIP over
IP technology, visit AudioCodes

How Using A VoIP Phone Service Can Cost You Your Life

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on July 10, 2007 @ 8:32 pm

VoIP Phones are all the rage. These Internet phones are
becoming increasingly popular with the general public as
well as among the technologically gifted avant-garde i.e. geeksRus.
Chances are high you know someone who uses one or you may even
use one yourself.

But did you know it can cost you your life?

We will get to this life-threatening issue later but first you
should have a basic understanding of what a VoIP phone is and
how it works.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. These phones
are also commonly referred to as Voice over IP or Voice over
Internet. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol is a way of
using analog audio signals, like on your regular phone, and
turning these signals into digital data that’s transmitted
over the Internet instead of over conventional phone lines.

How does it Work?

A Voip Phone Service can work on any computer that has
broadband connectivity. If you have a headset/microphone,
along with a Voip phone system set-up or software program
installed on your computer, you can place calls from your
computer or laptop to anywhere in the broadband-connected
world. Assuming that your friends have the same software
set-up or have a Voip Phone Service from many of the commercial
providers, you should be able to communicate, i.e. talk to
each other.

It basically works by sending small packets of data from one
computer to another over the Internet. And since it uses the
Internet, the route these data transfers take is as varied and
as wide as the Internet itself. You call a phone number and the
data is sent to your VoIP company’s call processor. The call
processor connects you to your friend’s phone and a session is
formed between your computer and your friend’s computer.
Your call can now be handled as if it were an e-mail or a web
page but each system must have the same protocol in order for
you to communicate or talk.

This may be over-simplifying things a bit, but this method is
less expensive than a conventional phone system.

Many VoIP companies offer many services that a traditional
phone company will charge you an arm or leg for! These include:
Caller ID, Call transfer, Call waiting, Return call, Repeat
dial, and Three-way calling. And because it is over the Internet
you can check your voicemail via the Web - you may even attach
messages that’s sent to your computer or handheld.

VoIP Phone Services have many advantages over the traditional
system, mainly its cheap price and availability or access. As
the broadband world increases, VoIP phones may become even
more popular.

So what’s the Problem with using VoIP Phones?

There are some major hurdles Voip Phone users should be aware
of and it is where the life saving advice comes in.

The VoIP Phone is only as good as the Internet system or computer
you’re using. There may be down times, for example, if you lose
your power, a Voip phone will not work, whereas a regular wall
phone or conventional phone will. In many natural disasters, be it
a blizzard, tornado or hurricane, the power is sometimes the first
utility that fails. Communications often become critical in these
situations and being stuck with only a powerless VoIP phone may
pose a problem. Assuming, of course, you don’t have your VoIP
Phone hooked up to a portable Wi-Fi battery operated laptop!

You must also keep in mind that your laptop or computer must be
able to handle the phone calls, other programs running on your
system may disrupt or distort your voip signals if your computer
is overloaded or not powerful enough.

Next, perhaps the most important concern, Emergency 911 calls
are a real challenge with VoIP. VoIP phones uses IP-addressed
phone numbers and not NANP phone numbers. There’s no way to tell the
geographic location with an IP address; thus routing the emergency
call may pose a problem for 911 operators. Obviously, this is not good
in an emergency of any kind!

No doubt this hurdle will be fixed in the very near future as Voip
Phones become more commonplace and integrated neatly in the wireless
Wi-Fi systems/networks around the world. But for now, it is something
every VOIP Phone user should be made aware of and prepare for in the
case your VOIP phone becomes your only lifeline.

Another challenge, as more and more voip phones come online, there is
no world-wide standard in place. This would include hardware and
protocols that would make this system work anywhere in the world.

Despite these hurdles and challenges, many believe VoIP Phone Services
will eventually replace the traditional phone lines over time. But the
revolution is just starting! According to the Forrester Research Group
only 5 million U.S. households will be using VoIP phones by the end of 2006.

However, it doesn’t take a Crystal Ball or even the Forrester Research
Group to tell us we are becoming more and more of a ‘wireless world’.
VoIP Phones will find themselves ‘center stage’ in our ever increasing
technologically enhanced universe. No doubt, neatly blended into some
fully loaded portable, Video/VoIP Phone, XM radio, Search Engine, Wi-Fi,
GPS Emergency Beacon, Computer Handheld Contraction. As long as we can
keep our ‘heads attached’ until this technotopia item comes along, we
should be ok.

Hey, when Google finally decides to build that Google Box, maybe someone
should suggest they load it up with a few extra goodies. Can we talk?

Titus Hoskins - EzineArticles Expert Author

…..

The author runs a modest website on Bizware and Business Solutions
- including a section on VoIP Phone Services.
VoIP Phone Services
Get a few Free Marketing Tools
for your business. Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource
box stays attached.

GPS Navigation Systems and Data Problems

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on June 12, 2007 @ 11:24 am

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/

GPS and the Military

Filed under:Better Telecommunication — posted on June 6, 2007 @ 3:57 pm

For those of us in the military, the humble gps unit is far more than a luxury, in fact gps is a necessity. GPS units allow soldiers and officers to get accurate and timely data such as location, altitude and time. In many cases, these rudimentary pieces of data would be almost impossible to obtain without the help of GPS technology, and can prove invaluable in real time scenarios, albeit training or the real deal.

GPS units have become an especially valuable tool in the context of indirect fire support. The ability to coordinate artillery and fast air support has been greatly enhanced with the advent of GPS. This is primarily due to the fact that GPS allows men in the field to accurately reference their position and hence calculate their proximity to targets. Essentially, this greatly reduces the inherent dangers of being on the ground during live firing.

Another aspect of GPS technology is that is has greatly increased the potential for command and control of soldiers. Real time LocStats and the ability to de-conflict a battle space are just two of the giant leaps that have been made possible by GPS. Many of the other benefits lie in target acquisition and the adjustment of offensive fire. Furthermore, GPS is quickly reducing the need for human adjustment of artillery as the combination of laser and GPS begin to realize their potential. The interfacing of these two tools is resulting in a degree of speed and accuracy that can scarcely be matched by humans.

One major criticism of the use of GPS has been the loss of field craft within the military. Due to time constraints and ease, the skill of navigating by map and compass is slowly being lost. The theory is that GPS units are used as a secondary tool to traditional navigation techniques, although in reality handheld GPS units have become a primary means of navigation for many soldiers. Simply walking in the direction that an arrow on an LCD display is pointing is becoming more common, but perhaps this is the face of progress. Moreover, in a game of life and death who can blame people for choosing speed and accuracy over tradition.

The author is a regular contributor to http://www.thegpscentre.com and permission to reproduce this article is given only on the basis that all links remain active and intact.


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