A company called Satski has launched GPS navigation system for skiers giving an interactive map of the mountain that will guide, assist and record movements. The system will constntly update the current position on the map, give statistics and record coordinates, altitude, speed, and distance. www.about-electronics.eu

The New South Wales Government shall equip more than 4,000 buses with on board GPS devices that will link them to the traffic light control system. If a bus is running late it will get priority at traffic lights. abc.net.au

The fourth US Air Force modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR satellite has been launched successfully. It is the 4th in a series of eight Block IIR-M spacecraft that Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems has modernised for its customer, the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base,CA, USA. Each satellite includes a modernized antenna panel providing increased signal power to ground receivers, 2 new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal that will provide users with an open access signal on a different frequency.

Under the modernisation plan, the Mumbai Police department control room has equipped itself with GIS that has the digitised maps of the city with its landmarks and routes. The GIS integrated with the GPS devices fitted on police vehicles provides the personnel manning the control room with the exact location of the vehicles. So far, Rs 240 crore has been allocated for these programmes which have been given an extension till the year 2010 from 2005.