Mobile phones are becoming powerful enough to rival some of the most powerful field data collection devices ever made. Our industry is catching the attention of some software developers who are writing software for smart phones that can be very productive for field personnel.

This may be the most important column I’ve ever written. It’s certainly the most expensive. At $40,000 worth of equipment for this writer, multiplied by 17,346 readers, we’re talking $694 million. And that’s not nearly the full extent of industry impact; the Department of Commerce has some figures that I will quote later.

It’s going to be a few years and then some before we can take advantage of L5. And when the time comes it may require an investment in new hardware, even if the receiver you have today claims to be compatible. Nevertheless, it will be a boon to the high-precision user.

A functioning Galileo system may still be some years away – current projections that plan on having a full satellite constellation in orbit within five years may prove wishful thinking. Nevertheless, Galileo can mean nothing but good things for survey and construction, and the sooner it gets here, the better.

Japan’s satellite-based augmentation system has brought meter-level accuracy to that region, which is great news for mapping. But there are even centimeter-level options available that take advantage of Japan’s MSAS.

The use of GPS and GNSS technology for precision agriculture hasn’t changed much in years. But lately, supplemental technology has been showing up more frequently down on the farm.

I covered this subject a while back, but I think it’s time to revisit it. Personal navigation devices (PNDs) are still selling like crazy. If you don’t have one, someone you know does. Tens of millions of these things are being sold per year.

There has been a lot of activity on both the civilian and military sides of GPS/GNSS these past few weeks. Instead of a central theme to this newsletter, I’m going to comment on three points of interest: a DoD directive regarding position, navigation, and timing; PRN32; and some new product developments.