Magellan Systems Corporation has engineered and designed its products for commercial uses and markets. To bring GPS down to Earth and within the reach of as many people as possible, Magellan developed a low-cost, high-performance GPS receiver that is both reliable and affordable. Magellan GPS customers are an inventive group. They have come up with ingenious and exciting uses for the positioning and navigation device. Here are just a few examples of how Magellan is helping people track, locate, position and navigate:
Wildlife Management: In the Mojave Desert, an ecologist with the National Park Service uses the ProMARK V to locate, map and study desert tortoises in California's Joshua Tree National Monument to determine why the tortoise population is declining. (The tortoise has been designated a "threatened" species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)
Atmospheric Studies: At the University of Denver, an atmospheric research team uses the Magellan OEM GPS receiver module in its airborne testing packs to map testing locations and track atmospheric balloons. By adapting the Magellan to withstand extremely cold temperatures, the unit is capable of providing position and altitude information at heights in excess of 50,000 feet. One project entailed mapping the ozone layer over the Arctic and Antarctic.
Air Quality/Environmental: AeroVironment of Southern California used the Magellan NAV 1000 PRO in air quality research studies. The environmental engineering firm was retained by the Lake Michigan Ozone Study Consortium to audit air sampling sites in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. The audit verified the accuracy of the data collected at the sampling sites. To determine precise position of the reporting locations, AeroVironment used Magellan's GPS receivers.
Environmental Protection: Radio Satellite Integrators has incorporated the Magellan GPS BrainTM core module in the "Oil Tracker," a GPS-based, oil-spill tracking buoy. Linked via radio telemetry with a central station, the buoy provides information on the speed and direction of the oil slick. That information is downloaded to a computer modeling program that projects the rate of dispersion and direction of flow so protection resources can be applied in a timely and effective manner.
Automatic Vehicle Tracking and Locating: Auto-Trac Inc. of Dallas, TX, uses Magellan's AIV-10 OEM GPS receiver module in a variety of automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic vehicle tracking (AVT) systems. Combining GPS-based automatic vehicle locating/computer aided dispatch/mobile data communications system (both two-way radio and cellular), Auto-Trac systems are used by public transit departments for bus routing/tracking, by public safety agencies for vehicle dispatch and by private companies for fleet management. One customer, KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, uses Auto-Trac to monitor and dispatch news vans to cover late-breaking news stories throughout the state of Oklahoma.
Exploration: In two separate National Geographic Society projects the Magellan was used to provide precise location and positioning information. In the first expedition, conducted in conjunction with the Soviet Academy of Sciences, scientists used the Magellan to map the floor of Siberia's Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake. In a second project, a joint venture with Soviet and Canadian explorers, the Magellan was used to precisely locate the Titanic in its resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Archeology: A cooperative venture involving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Geographic Society, Mississippi State University and the Guatemalan national Commission on the Environment used the NAV 1000 PRO in a project designed in part to develop a reconnaissance model for preclassic and classic Mayan archeological sites.
Oil and Gas Exploration: A Texas-based geophysical exploration firm uses the NAV 1000 PRO to accurately locate and navigate among abandoned oil well sites in the remote jungles of New Guinea.
Conservation: The Wilderness Society is using the Magellan PRO receivers, remote sensing, ecological modeling and geographic information systems in its Endangered Ecosystems Mapping Program to help create reliable and timely maps and analyses that describe the status and health of some of the planet's most endangered ecosystems. Through this effort, the Society hopes to save many native species that were once abundant but are now threatened with extinction.
Public Safety: The Los Angeles County Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team; Boise, Idaho, Mountain Search & Rescue Center; and Kilgore, Texas, Search & Rescue all train with and use Magellan GPS receivers to assist them in their efforts to locate and retrieve lost and injured hikers, backpackers and campers, and other people in distress.
Zoological Research: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the NAV 5000 PRO in its California Condor Release Program. On the verge of extinction, this largest of North American birds is being saved through the efforts of a captive breeding program at the Los Angeles Zoo and subsequent release into their natural habitat of the coastal mountain ranges of California. Researchers use the NAV 5000 PRO to locate and track the condors once they have been released, marking feeding, mating and nesting areas for ongoing study.
Marine, Outdoor and Recreational: Fishermen (freshwater and saltwater), hikers, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts use Magellan GPS receivers to locate and land game fish, mark trails and map the back country. Balloonists are taking to the air with Magellan GPS and the International Arctic Project navigated the North Pole region with Magellan. Magellan GPS receivers have been to the South Pole as well, and to the top of Mt. Everest.
