234 Part II • Information Technology
their proximity to other adopters and to billboard
advertisements- use of spatial technologies in a variety of new
settings, such as taming out-of-control data ware-
houses and point-of-sale (POS) data, visualizing
network security attacks, and identifying the
country of origin of an Internet service provider
(ISP) to be able to return a Web page customized
for that country
EXECUTIVE INFORMATION
SYSTEMS/BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS
The key concept behind an executive information system
(EIS)is that such a system delivers online current informa-
tion about business conditions in an aggregate form easily
accessible to senior executives and other managers. An
EIS is designed to be used directly by these managersIntelligent Locations or Location Intelligence?
People are always someplace in space, whether at home, working, shopping, playing, or traveling.
These days, they are likely to have a portable, wireless, location-aware, audio-visual device with them:
their cell phone. And, if they are in Oregon within a certain radius of a franchised ice cream store of the
type that they frequent, they might receive discount coupons on their cell phones. And, a certain ice
cream franchisee might see a 10% boost in sales. Or, they might be your 16-year-old, newly licensed,
teenager driver speeding (?) home (AccuTracking, 2010). Or, they might be the crew on a multimillion-
dollar racing sailboat in head-to-head competition for the coveted America’s Cup. Or, they might be
stranded mountain climbers, or a wandering dog, or a misplaced pallet in a warehouse. (These last two
examples are not people with cell phones, but they still might have location-aware devices such as
RFID chips.)
The application of spatial technologies to identifying where someone or something is in real time
is called location intelligence. The technology most responsible for the shift in geographic technologies
from being about maps to about location is the Global Positioning System (GPS).
GPS, created and operated by the U.S. Air Force, is a worldwide satellite-based system in which
small receivers can determine longitude, latitude, and altitude. Fully operational in the 1990s, the 24
original satellites offered the U.S. military unprecedented accuracy in navigation and targeting any-
where in the world. An encrypted signal gave military personnel accuracy within 3 feet; the free public
signal offered accuracy within 30 to 50 feet. The potential for GPS in nonmilitary applications, both
public service (such as navigation and search and rescue) and commercial (such as finding discounted
ice cream), quickly built up a multibillion-dollar market.
The importance of location for military, government, commercial, and personal pursuits is behind
two new satellite initiatives: GPS III and Galileo. Not surprisingly, GPS III is a new and improved GPS
funded by the U.S. government. More satellites in a different orbital pattern, carefully designed
frequencies, and the addition of a “beam” antenna will enhance both military and commercial
applications when GPS III is fully deployed sometime after 2016. Less dramatic is a pattern of regular
upgrade and replacement of the existing satellite fleet (called GPS II), designed to maintain operational
readiness and accuracy and improve the ability to locally disrupt the signal to hostile forces (while not
impeding civilian use).
Galileo is the name for a satellite navigation system under development by the European Union
and European Space Agency. Conceived as a primarily civilian alternative to the U.S. military-
controlled GPS, Galileo will provide higher accuracy and better signal coverage at latitudes closer to
the poles. Galileo will offer a free, lower-precision open service; a fee-based, encrypted commercial
service with higher accuracy; a safety-of-life open service for applications where guaranteed accuracy
is essential; a search-and-rescue service; and an encrypted, regulated navigation service for
government use. As of spring 2010, two experimental satellites have been launched, with four
operational satellites (out of 30 planned satellites) scheduled to be launched in 2011. Full deployment
is expected no earlier than 2015.
[Based on AccuTracking, 2010; European Space Agency, 2010; Global Positioning System, 2010; Wikipedia, 2010a; and
Wikipedia, 2010b]