Technology Shows the Way Around Taiwan

In urban areas such as Taipei City and County or Kaohsuing City, a glimpse of the future shows searching for one's bus in the distance becoming a thing of the past.

In the afternoon, the fiery sunlight forces people to squint. At 2 o'clock, Mr. Chen emerges from the Taipei City Hall MRT station, preparing to return to his home on Mucha's Muhsin Road by taking a bus on the Green 1 route. Glancing at the bus stop's smart LCD display, he sees that his bus won't be arriving for another 15 minutes, so he heads back into the air-conditioned confines of the MRT station to escape the heat.

No more agonizing waits

Some 500 buses serve MRT shuttle routes in Taipei, but those on the Green 1 line are among the city's most advanced e-buses. Incorporating GPS functionality, they take advantage of technologies such as wireless data transfer and networks to send information about a bus' status to a control center, allowing operators to coordinate dispatch of the buses and members of the public to know when the buses will arrive at their stop.

"The full potential of this system hasn't even been realized yet," says Lee Kun-chen, section chief at the Taipei City Department of Transportation. Of the total of 4000 buses serving the city, only 500 are currently outfitted with positioning systems. As a result, riders have asked that the bus routes that they take regularly be included among those equipped with these services.

The reason that the Department of Transportation chose to first install GPS systems in the MRT shuttle buses is that these buses do not run often, making waits long. Moreover, when passengers emerge from an MRT station having just taken a precisely scheduled transit train, they won't feel the disparity in service so acutely if they can access "smart" shuttle buses. In the future, so long as budgets allow, the use of e-buses will be expanded to include routes covering Yangmingshan, and eventually all buses serving the city.

Two years ago, Taipei and Kaohsiung Cities, as well as Taipei County, began operating e-buses. Their introduction was part of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) project, with the central government providing subsidies (Taipei spending NT$46 million, with the MOTC chipping in half). The idea was to use advanced technology such as computers, electronics, communications, and sensors to enhance the interaction among people, vehicles, and roads. An example of what such a transportation system could provide is real-time road condition data that would enable drivers to avoid congested areas and select alternate routes.

Imagine how Taiwan's traffic system might be someday. Major roads or important public facilities in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung have positioning systems and wireless networks installed. Using system links, base stations could detect when a road user enters the heavily trafficked Hsinyi District, the system automatically transmitting messages with real-time traffic information. If someone enters the area in front of an MRT station and by chance service there has been interrupted, the person can learn of this through his mobile phone or PDA and choose another form of transportation. While waiting for an MRT train to arrive, a person could use a mobile phone to pursue activities such as sending and receiving e-mail, searching data, talking with friends, or learning online.

Taiwan's fishing boats were long ago fitted with GPS systems. With the help of technology, fishermen's safety is better assured.

Watching over us

The key technology for realizing the dreams described above is GPS. Using 24 satellites in orbit 20,000 kilometers above the earth, the system monitors all activity below 24 hours a day-activity ranging from something big like changes in the earth's crust to details as minute as the location of individual people and vehicles-taking in everything at a glance and able to pinpoint locations with precision.

GPS was originally developed by the US Department of Defense to assist in guiding missiles, tracking military targets or mapping the earth's surface. From the 1990s, the US gradually opened up the technology in response to demand from the public. The business potential of this new technology is now gradually being realized.

In Taiwan, companies such as Acer, HP, and Mio Technology have targeted the car travel and leisure markets by introducing in-car or handheld GPS navigation systems. Current vendor pricing is similar, with most such products costing around NT$15,000.

Mio Technology's Mio 268 series handhelds are examples of a GPS navigation system, and boast a silver-and-black color scheme, high-sensitivity embedded antenna, and smoothly contoured all-in-one design. The Mio 268 allows drivers to set destinations and plan routes. After the voice navigation feature, which provides assistance in Chinese, Taiwanese, or Hakka, is activated, tips directing the driver to continue straight, turn left or right at the next intersection, and so on will be given, allowing the Mio 268 to serve as a high-tech guide for people unfamiliar with the area in which they are driving.

"What's appealing about car navigation assistance is that it lets people explore without needing to worry about getting lost or finding their way around. There's no need to ask anyone for directions, and after you have a positioning system in place, you will always know where you are and how to get back home," says Mio Technology brand marketing manager Michael Hsu.

Seeing the growing importance that Taiwanese attach to their leisure-time activities, several vendors have targeted the leisure and travel market by introducing GPS systems for drivers.

GPS for travel and leisure

A year ago, the "endurance athletes" making up Huang Chin-pao's family, who made an around-the-world bicycle tour three years previously, received a gift of handheld navigation systems from a vendor. A few uses demonstrated its utility to Huang. Now before leaving home, he uses GPS and an electronic map system to plan his route, choosing for example between routes for getting from Taipei to Hsinchu-taking Provincial Highway 1 or Provincial Highway 15 along the coast. He can first calculate how much the two routes differ in distance, what the landscape they traverse is like, where he needs to make turns inside cities, and what places are better for taking breaks. After setting the route, he no longer needs to stop during a ride to check a map, as the navigation device will alert him audibly when he needs to turn.

Additionally, when two or more people are riding together and each has a navigation device and set the same route, each can get to the destination at his own pace, fast or slow, without feeling pressured to either keep up or to constantly look over your shoulder to find laggard partners.

Even more exciting for Huang is that the GPS device incorporates a great deal of readily accessible and useful information, such as maps showing where the nearest banks are located in the area where he has just arrived. If someone is injured, he can immediately know where the closest hospital is without having to frantically find the way there.

When they need to know the way somewhere, the Huang family no longer need ask. Now, when they need to know where to go, they simply consult the car navigation device.

Besides targeting the large leisure and travel market, vendors are eyeing the opportunity presented by the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Chinese officials have already stipulated that all rental cars in Beijing during that time be equipped with GPS systems. The more than 10,000 athletes from all over the world set to compete will be required to carry positioning devices. RoyalTek Company, which only issued shares for the first time on the OTC market in July, has ambitions to pursue the Chinese GPS market by manufacturing key components such as GPS receivers and system boards.

The market for positioning systems is about to take off. The Industrial Technology Research Institute's Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center forecasts that this year the production value of GPS products manufactured by Taiwanese vendors home and abroad will reach NT$37.8 billion, with production volume hitting 8.53 million units. The main drivers for growth will be in-car navigation devices and integrated information technology products such as PDAs and smart phones.

Motor scooter riders can take along a GPS device, and take advantage of voice navigation tips. Even on unfamiliar routes, they no longer need to stop and consult maps, but can simply enjoy the ride.

Pioneering applications

Technology R&D for GPS devices is progressing rapidly, and as Taiwanese pursue more leisure and travel, the business opportunities are vast. In fact, the use of positioning systems on mountain treks, during land and sea rescue operations, and in efforts to combat crime also provides obvious benefits.

In April of this year, eight canoeists paddled their boats from the beach at Penghu County's Makung City to Wang-an Township's Tungchi Islet, challenging Penghu's ancient fishing routes. Although the ocean currents were fairly calm, the canoeists needed only six hours to complete the entire 34-kilometer route. However, when they reached the vicinity of Penghu's notoriously turbulent Tungchi Islet, the sizable waves threw the boats off course at several points, and the tired boatmen had to continually fight the strong currents. Fortunately, they had a compass to indicate north and south and a GPS device to point the way to the destination so that they did not drift astray.

Two years ago, the Changhua County Police Administration became Taiwan's first police authority to utilize the latest positioning technology to combat crime. The county government allocated NT$16 million in funds for installing Geographic Information System (GIS) units in all 194 of the county's patrol cars. This year, such devices will also be installed on police motorcycles as well.

Changhua County patrolman Chou Pai-huang states that with the positioning systems, the average time from the dispatch center's receiving a report of an incident to the dispatched patrol car's arrival at the scene has been reduced from the original 15 minutes to just seven. Last year, the highway police gave chase to auto theft suspects on an expressway, with a gun battle erupting near the Changhua Interchange. Thanks to the positioning system, the Changhua Police Administration was able to immediately dispatch the nearest patrol cars and officers, successfully apprehending the suspects.

In addition, when the police receive a call from a foreign bride reporting domestic abuse, and the woman cannot speak Chinese and is not familiar with how to give an address, the GPS system combined with Chunghwa Telecom's address display system for incoming calls means that if she is using a home or public phone, the police can instantly pinpoint where she is and dispatch the nearest patrol car to the scene.

Disaster rescue efforts best demonstrate the utility of GPS systems. Satellite positioning puts even remote mountainous areas in view.

Technology dilemma

For businesses, the GPS system can be of help in raising productivity, strengthening customer service, and controlling labor costs. However, it can also be used to track employees. Foreign news agencies reported on an executive at an American waste disposal company who said, "Before, you never knew how long it took employees to finish a route. Those guys might take off anywhere, or go see a girlfriend. Now, they have nowhere to hide."

Someday, business owners might demand that GPS equipment be installed in employee automobiles or mobile phones.

In 1996, the US Federal Communications Commission announced that mobile phone systems would have to include positioning functionality by 2005, forcing mobile phone vendors to develop technologies needed to integrate GPS features into mobile phones. It is projected that GPS-equipped mobile phones will grow rapidly in popularity over the next several years.

Latitudinal and longitudinal positioning ensures that errors that may occur when asking the way due to misunderstanding or just plain bad directions can be avoided. The adoption of positioning systems has also become essential in the current era because it overcomes problems stemming from changes in place names or unclear road signs.

However, for those who enjoy exploring places in depth, stopping to talk with townspeople or even deliberately letting themselves get lost, the growing popularity of GPS devices may be a cause for worry. Will travel guides using geographical concepts such as latitude and longitude eventually make orienting oneself relative to roads an outdated practice? And if they do, will the new technology cause the cultural perspectives and historical significance attached to roads to also fade?

When outdoors, a person with a handheld GPS receiver can determine his precise location.

The Global Positioning System

Research for the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system began in the 1960s. At the time, the US and the USSR were competing with each other to launch man-made satellites, also developing a triangulation method for calculating positions on the surface of the earth using the wavelength of radio signals and the time taken for the signals to arrive. In 1978, the US Department of Defense launched the first navigation satellite that could provide precision timekeeping through on-board atomic clocks and distance measurements, following up by eventually deploying a complete fleet of 24 satellites, which began full-scale operation in the 1990s.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union also developed a global navigation satellite system called GLONASS to compete with GPS. Subsequently, due to Russia's inability to bear the enormous costs of operating the satellites, this system was retired. In recent years, the European Union has also developed the Galileo satellite navigation system, which will come online in 2008.

The US's GPS satellites circle the earth once every 12 hours. As long as you are not indoors or underground, and there are no obstructing objects, you can receive satellite signals at any time and from any place, regardless of weather conditions.

Generally speaking, positioning through military-type receivers provides greater precision, and such receivers include anti-interference devices. In 1991, during the first Gulf War, only 20% of the missiles fired used GPS for guidance. But in the second Gulf War in 2003, 97% of all bombs and missiles employed GPS for targeting. This presumably allows greater accuracy, improving the chances that bombs will hit only their military targets.

Furthermore, once national governments establish GPS stations to facilitate resource surveys, geological measurements and map creation, these sites can be used to track changes in the natural environment. Traditional on-the-ground triangulation measurements are time-consuming, to say nothing of the need for obvious landmarks. GPS measurements on the other hand completely overcome spatial limitations, making it easier to spot illegal or unauthorized use of mountainous regions or forests.

When outdoors, a person with a handheld GPS receiver can determine his precise location.

Taipei's MRT shuttle buses and some buses on regular routes have positioning systems built in. A rider can consult the LCD display outside the bus stop to find out when his bus arrives, no longer needing to peer into the distance trying to spot it.

Taipei's MRT shuttle buses and some buses on regular routes have positioning systems built in. A rider can consult the LCD display outside the bus stop to find out when his bus arrives, no longer needing to peer into the distance trying to spot it.