Successful workshop on promoting satellite navigation applications
Over 100 people attended a one-day workshop on Promoting Satellite Navigation Applications held at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), The Netherlands on 26 April 2005. The presentations given at this event are now online.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) organised the workshop to provide an open forum for discussion to satellite navigation application developers, users, universities, public authorities, private operators and agencies representatives.
Prior to the workshop, an open online forum was set up to enable the satellite navigation application community to discuss what tools and facilities are needed for the successful development and testing of applications for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and Galileo. The main objective was to build up an overview of the current situation and to identify future needs.
The workshop meeting was opened with an overview of tools and facilities discussed within the online forum. There were about 20 different initiatives discussed, ranging from small developments of simulators and sophisticated constellation signal simulators to fully-fledged facilities encompassing a range of tools and specialized infrastructures.
The workshop highlighted that there are many current initiatives but that in general there is a need for greater awareness. There are good prospects for collaboration among these initiatives. The establishment of a network of Applications Support Centres collating European, national and regional efforts was suggested.
