2010 European Satellite Navigation Competition Winners!
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The GNSS Research & Applications Centre of Excellence (GRACE) which is part of the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG) at the University of Nottingham ran the UK leg of the competition for the first time with great success GRACE received a record number of entries – the highest of all the regions involved and the competitions history. GRACE would like to thank all the judges and sponsors involved are looking forward to working with everybody again in running the UK region again next year, with the competition starting in April 2011
We are pleased to announce the winner for the United Kingdom was Rosemary McClenaghan of TaxiZapp, who provides a solution that connects taxi drivers and potential passengers. This taxi hailing application can be accessed via the Internet or GNSS-enabled smart phones and enables potential passengers to locate available taxis in their area that are registered with the TaxiZapp system. Using a digital mapping system, passengers can locate any available taxis in their immediate vicinity, electronically ‘hail’ the nearest or a preferred taxi and if accepted by the driver, watch as the taxi approaches, providing an innovative, fun and easy way to ‘hail’ taxis.
The application will save passengers valuable time and money in quickly finding a taxi, and provide taxi drivers with a new sales channel. TaxiZApp targets independent taxi drivers and passengers requesting immediate requests for hire, rather than advanced bookings.
Rosemary said “TaxiZapp, due for release November 2010, has been in development since April this year. Winning the UK and Ireland section of the ESNC has been a validation of the merit of my idea to develop a website and iphone application which utilises satellite positioning capabilities to link potential passengers with available taxis in the area. Attendance at the Munich Award ceremony was a wonderful opportunity to present TaxiZapp to a wider audience and to network with the other winners. I am delighted that part of my prize is incubation support from GRACE which will be invaluable as my business launches.”
GRACE’s General Manager Paul Bhatia said: “This is a fantastic result for GRACE and the UK. The ESNC is a fantastic springboard for new companies and new ideas using satellite navigation technologies. We look forward to working closely with TaxiZApp and other entrants to help them realise their ideas and we would like to thank all of our sponsors who made it possible for us to achieve such a great result.”
The ENSC provides opportunities for the winners to gain support, global market exposure and funding to help their ideas become a commercial success and is open to any idea that uses ‘sat-nav’, whether for position, navigation, time or any other application. The 2011 competition will be open from April next year, so start getting your ideas together.
This year's winning entry - decribed as a revolutionary navigation system - was Wikitude Drive, which uses augmented reality to superimpose driving directions over live street video on smartphones.
The start-up company Mobilizy, of Salzburg, Austria, took home the €20,000 grand prize in the Competition. It also won the prize for the best application using the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS). Wikitude Drive – Augmented Reality Navigation.
To find out all the details of all the regional and special topic prize winners and photo’s from the awards ceremony, visit the ESNC website.
Partners GRACE, UoN, emda
Sponsors for the 2010 UK competition include:
The ESNC website is: www.galileo-masters.eu
The UK site is: http://www.ukesnc.com/index.php