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It seems that positioning is set to become a new "general purpose technology" in line with inventions like the steam engine or the Internet. In recent years, there has been a rapid development within the use of electronic maps and outdoor positioning with GPS.
The Galileo Platform project focuses on acquiring knowledge and on the commercial exploitation and potential of the Galileo system, the European counterpart to the American GPS system. Once the Galileo infrastructure is in place in 2014, the system will provide both greater accuracy than GPS and better possibilities of indoor positioning.
Research and development is carried out in three parallel themes in the Galileo Platform project:
1) A general software toolbox for positioning applications
2) Indoor satellite positioning and software-defined satellite receivers
3) Business models that can facilitate the integration of positioning functionality in the organisation.
The project has special focus on bringing (satellite-) positioning indoors, e.g. illustrated in cases dealing with tracking of cows and surveillance of smoke-helmeted firemen in action.
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