Verizon has introduced the next generation location service, featuring Hyper Precise Location using Real Time Kinematics (RTK).
GPS has become one of the most important tools in modern times, used by civilians, governments and militaries worldwide. While GPS access used to require dedicated devices, such as those by TomTom, modern cell phones have largely taken over the consumer market. Compared to cell phones, however, dedicated devices are often more accurate, despite only providing three to nine meter accuracy.
Verizon’s announcement, however, ushers in a significant evolution of GPS, leapfrogging the accuracy provided by traditional devices. The company deployed RTK stations nationwide to provide IoT devices with pinpoint accuracy.
“We are scaling RTK to enable mobile location accuracy to within a few centimeters, transforming what is currently possible when it comes to location-enabled services and new IoT solutions coming onto the market,” said Nicola Palmer, Chief Product Development Officer for Verizon. “Continued growth in the IoT environment means billions of devices in fields where precision location services are becoming more critical, such as vehicle automation, unmanned aerial vehicles, precision agriculture technology, infrastructure monitoring, asset tracking, and high value shipping.”
Verizon’s new RTK network will have far-reaching implications on multiple industries, and will help the company continue to play a dominant role in the wireless industry.