BackBlog

I apologize extremely for not being able to update this blog and answer questions posted here. When I first started this blog, it was merely to show my friends, my In-Car GPS proof of concept and to get feedback if there is indeed enough interest for such a service in the Philippines. It’s a pleasant surprise though, that at the time of writing, it found its way to the top of google’s search list.

My line of thinking then was that there is always a need to localize the engine and content of these types of services (as opposed to adopting a generic mapping engine that is used elsewhere).

How hard can it be? After all, it is just software and content right? And in this part of the world, geeks and knowledge workers like me are valued cheaply.

Well after a year of dead-ends, I was faced with economic realities that I can’t simply ignore especially when they affect already some of my immediate personal plans. Also, support (even mere moral support) was lacking in the places I expected.

This led me to finding work as a crypto-engineer in a multinational company that does pretty interesting stuff. I still however remain a GPS enthusiast. I will now continue to update this blog and I promise to work on the backlog of questions.

BTW, the latest engine that I worked on before abandoning ship was this online routable map engine that routes pretty well. Once I clean up the source code, I might probably place it in public domain.

Filipino Tech Legend named Executive Chairman and Interim CEO of GPS chipmaker SiRF ; Stock Price rose to more than 17 percent

SiRF CEO Resigns, Banatao Takes Over
Apr 18, 2008
GPS World

SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. announced after the close of markets Thursday, April 18 that Michael L. Canning, its CEO and president, had resigned effective immediately, and that its board's founder would take the reigns of the company.

Diosdado P. Banatao, a founder and chairman of SiRF's board of directors, is now serving as executive chairman and has assumed the role of interim president and CEO. Banatao has served as chairman of SiRF's board since its inception and was the initial outside investor in the GPS chip maker.

"Establishing SiRF as a market leader in the location technology field and taking the company public has been a rewarding experience for me," Canning said. "I continue to believe in the market opportunities for location enabled devices and I wish SiRF continued success."

"We are very appreciative of Michael's contribution to the success of SiRF and wish him all the best," Banatao said. "We started SiRF with a vision to bring GPS to consumers and I am very excited about leading the company to the next level."

Banatao is also a managing partner at Tallwood Venture Capital. Previously, he was a venture partner at Mayfield Fund. He is also the founder of S3 Inc., now SonicBlue Inc., where he served as president and CEO from January 1989 until January 1992 and as chairman from January 1992 to December 1997. He also cofounded Chips & Technologies and Mostron. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Mapua Institute of Technology and an M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from Stanford University.

Wall Street reacted positively to the change in leadership. In early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, SiRF's stock was up more than 17 percent. It closed at $5.47 per share on Thursday, and was trading early this afternoon (Eastern Daylight Savings time) at $6.42.

SiRF has had a hard time of it with investors this year, between the economic slowdown in the United States and reports of pricing pressures at many of its customers in the crowded personal navigation device (PND). SiRF stock was selling for nearly $30 per share late last year as the market headed into the end of the year holiday season, but like many others involved in the PND supply chain, its stock has dropped steadily since.

At the beginning of this year the company was still trading on the Nasdaq in the mid $20 range. Following SiRF's Q4 2007 earnings report in early February, however, in which it reported a net loss, its stock price plunged.

http://cp.gpsworld.com/gpscp/Latest+News/SiRF-CEO-Resigns-Banatao-Takes-Over/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/511008?contextCategoryId=1385

http://www.nasdaq.com//aspxcontent/newsstory.aspx?selected=SIRF&symbol=SIRF&textpath=20080417%5CACQRTT200804172130RTTRADERUSEQUITY%5F1827%2Ehtm&cdtime=04%2F17%2F2008+9%3A30PM

Take this Survey! Win an iPod!

Hello everyone,

Please do take this survey. It is part of a market research effort to determine the demand for GPS devices in the Philippines.

GPS leads police to carjackers' hideout

A sport utility vehicle's (SUV) anti-carjacking device led policemen to the hideout of suspected carjackers in Filinvest Heights in Quezon City Wednesday, ABS-CBN News reported.

Police arrest four suspects. One of them identified as Gilbert Sablan. Officers also recovered five stolen vehicles from the hideout.

The Quezon City Police District said Fortunato Leynes and his son, Efren, reported that their Mitsubishi Pajero 2003 model was stolen while parked inside the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman.

Police said after the complaint was filed, Efren sent a text message to the Rover anti-carjacking device that is installed on his SUV. The device which uses a global positioning system or GPS replied with the SUV's location.

The police immediately conducted a search inside the subdivision until the carjackers' hideout was located.


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storyPage.aspx?storyId=83444

Project Screenshots

To give you a visual impression of the functional capabilities of my In-Car GPS prototype, I am sharing with you some of my screenshots.

Please click the link below:
Screenshots

Tribes Effectively Barred From Making High-Tech Maps

This article came out in National Geographic dated April 26, 2007. It mentions that some governments have have outlawed "Participatory GIS" - the practice of blending local geographic knowledge with modern mapping data. It mentions the Philippines as an example.

Excerpt below:

For example, Philippine lawmakers have changed an existing law so that only officially recognized engineers "could do anything related to measuring space," said Dave De Vera, director of the Philippine Association for Intercultural Development.

"In short [participatory GIS] is illegal, including all of the attendant activities critical in its conduct," he said.

The Philippine law, he added, carries fines and the chance of up to three years in prison.

I find this absurd. Instead of encouraging and educating citizens in using accessible technology correctly for territorial disputes, they have outlawed this practice. Judging from the past, It seems that our government really has a habit of creating tech-unfriendly laws.


Read more from source

Galileo faces uncertain future

MPs have raised further concerns over the future of the European Union’s (EU’s) Galileo global positioning satellite system.

The Commons European Scrutiny Committee, which monitors the work of the EU, has expressed doubts over the plans for a public procurement of all 30 proposed satellites, after a space industry consortium undermined an attempt to proceed on the basis of a private finance initiative by refusing to accept the risks involved.

The committee says the European Commission’s argument that EU industry would lose out in the satellite positioning applications market without Galileo ignores the existing success exploiting the US-owned GPS system.

Read more from source