Changing landscape of GPS and the TEK TALK with Mike May

I wanted to mention a contrast regarding GPS at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show verses shows in the first ten years of this century. I used to spend time seeking out and exploring the GPS products of Garmin, Magellan, Delorme and a smattering of start-up companies. Five years or so ago, the first GPS watch products came out.

When GPS shifted from being a separate device to being integrated in phones, the landscape sure changed. Other products started having built in GPS like the Braille Sense and lots of mainstream products.

This was the first year I didn’t visit Garmin and the other GPS specific companies at CES. This year, I was particularly interested in the Indoor navigation. There were various start-up ventures. The most visible effort was from Radius Networks. They put beacons all over the show. I talk more about that in my Tek Talk on Accessible World Podcast from February 9.

There was an announcement that there will be location beacons at the ACB conference this summer. I think we will start seeing this at more and more conferences. We will also talk more about this in our Sendero/Sweetman sessions at the upcoming CSUN conference March 4-7 in San Diego.

Mike