GPS and road pricing, insurance

By: Drivers.com staff

Date: Monday, 23. November 2009

The EGNOS enhancement to the GPS system just announced by the European Union has a level of accuracy superior to the GPS system widely used by current navigation devices.

The full name for EGNOS is European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. It offers an accuracy level to within two meters compared to the 10 meters offered by regular GPS services. In addition, the EU is offering EGNOS as a free service, and most navigation devices sold in Europe are already EGNOS-enabled.

However, the service is only available in the 27 EU member states, although it is expected to expand to some neighboring states and North Africa very soon.

Some American users already have the equivalent of EGNOS in a system called the Wide Area Augmentation Service (WAAS), and the Japanese are also working on a similar system.

Some of the uses envisioned for EGNOS: it could automatically charge road tolls or special lane fees; help enable pay-per-use car insurance; help farmers with precision application of fertilisers; supply accurate traffic information; and even have uses for emergency services in locating crashes, lost hikers, skiers. Another suggested possibility is as a guide for the blind.

EGNOS developers anticipate that the next generation of smartphones will utilize the more accurate GPS capabilities of the system, potentially opening up a whole new array of features for users.

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