Cyprus SatNav

cellco · new member

We have only just discovered Paphos this year, however we have fell in love with Cyprus. We have stayed in Kato Paphos and Emba and traveled aroud the south of the island. We live in the UK and would welcome the chance to move to Cyprus. I am at present self employed and my business is SatNave, Multi Media and Hands Free Car Kits into high marque cars (Aston Martin,Jaguar,Mercedes, BMW etc) Does anyone know any job opportunities and/or companies around the Paphos area they could advise me on. In the mean time we will keep visisting and searching for our oppertunities in this wonderfull counrty.

Piratis · Moderator

SatNav is Satellite Navigation? GPS?
If you do something that there is not a lot of supply in Cyprus then maybe you should market your products for the whole Cyprus and not just for Paphos which is a small town.

P.S. If you bring GPS in Cyprus let me know. I am interested.

sk · instructor

several friends of mine were interested about these things and had to import them from abroad bc of the high prices in cyprus.
if you offer reasonable prices and considering the high number of bmw and mercedes cars on the island i suppose you will be quite succesful.....

cellco · new member

Thanks for your reply.

Yes it is GPS I refer to. I know there is GPS coverage all over the island as it is Global. I am returning to Cyprus 31 Aug to trial GPS. The problem is in the digital mapping required to run the GPS. The GPS reciever (in this case a mobile telephone) knows wher you are, all it needs to know is where you want to go and a digital mapping software to navigate you. I will post my finding on my return.

Many thanks for youe interest I appreciate your time.

Mark (UK)
Rolling Eyes

Piratis · Moderator

cellco · new member

GPS Mapping is extremely detailed and is covered by approximatly 5 suppliers across Europe. The detailing is exact to about 20 meteres. The GPS utilises an American military satelite system. Not sure if you are in the UK or Cyprus. Is your vehicle fitted with a Sat/Nav system ?. Maybe I could take a look when I come to Cyprus.

Thanks
Mark
Shocked

Sotos · professor

Do we have GPS in Cyprus? I never saw one here. How much does it cost? I think GPS is really cool. But Cyprus is a small island do you think many people will need it?

devil · lecturer

Of course GPS works in Cyprus. You are able to find your latitude and longitude and altitude with no difficulties; that is what the Global Positioning System means. It is possible to obtain such devices for from about €100 upwards. However, this is not much use, as we don't have accurate maps (like the UK Ordnance Survey maps). The best they can be used for would be to trace back a route the way you came.

Without an accurate map, no one can write the software for automatic street/map display.

Even the cadastral maps, as used by the Land Registry, have enormous errors, as well as not being up-to-date, and are certainly useless for the software writers. For example, the public road I live on is not marked and the boundary along which it is supposed to run is ~50 m from the reality.

I don't know how much writing the software and scanning in the inexistent accurate maps for an area the size of Cyprus, determining one-way streets and other obstructions (and major road works), would cost, but I could easily imagine that we are looking well into the 6 figures, if not 7. Let's say £500,000. With marketing and distribution costs, that would be doubled, so that you would have to sell 5,000 at £200 each just to break even. Other than the cities, Cyprus is easy to navigate and none of the cities are big enough that a simple street map would not be sufficient for most purposes. Do you really think that more than 5,000 punters would spend £200 on the software plus as much again on the hardware? I doubt it, even if the basic precision maps were available.

Sotos · professor

Is the cost once off? Or you have to pay something per year also? If the software was good,something like google earth, then I wouldn't mind to pay about 100 pounds per year to have such service. I guess cellco will have to make a careful market research first.

cellco · new member

Firstly I would like to thank everyone for there interest. I am aware of all the mapping issues as I have been involved with GPS since 1989. I also know any GPS reciever will plot you. There is mapping available, however it conflicts with the softwre available and used in many countries. In the UK you can purchase navigation softwre from £115.00 sterling and run it on a Symbian cell phone or use PDA bundles costing around £300.00 sterling. Fixed vehicle navigation comes at a higher cost staring at £750.00 sterling. Once again thanks for your input. Keep the info coming