Next Generation of Watches – Incorporating Time and Space: Next Generation of Watches – Incorporating Time and Space Xinhang Shen NAC Geographic Products Inc.


Introduction: Introduction What will be the most significant change of the world in the 21st century? It will be the use of accurate location as often as the use of accurate time because they answer the two most important questions: WHEN and WHERE.


Timekeeping technologies: Timekeeping technologies Ancient time: the position of the sun 3500 BC: Sundials and Hourglasses 1300’s: Mechanical clocks 1656: Pendulum clocks (Christiaan Huygens) 1761: Pocket watches (John Harrison) The timekeeping watch has answered the question of WHEN accurately and consumer friendly no matter where you are.


Positioning technologies: Positioning technologies 3500 BC: Observing land marks Ancient Greece, Rome & Egypt: Observing the sun and stars, wind, waves and water 1100 AD: Magnetic compasses appeared 1904: Radar invented (Christian Hulsmeyer) 1978: GPS satellites launched 1990’s: Handheld GPS receivers available to all civilians Can a handheld GPS receiver answer the question of WHERE really like a watch?


Problem in GPS Receivers: Problem in GPS Receivers Although a GPS receiver can measure the accurate location anytime anywhere in the world, the geographic coordinates to represent the locations are inefficient and far too long for people to digest, remember and communicate. Therefore, the accurate geographic coordinates have never been directly used in the daily lives of consumers like accurate time.


Geographic Coordinates: Geographic Coordinates To represent a location to the accuracy of one meter, a pair of decimal longitude and latitude coordinates will have more than 17 characters: Longitude: -112.12453 degrees Latitude: -43.67321 degrees or even longer in UTM coordinates: UTM Zone: 12 Easting: 409348 meters Northing: -4836192 meters


Consequences: Consequences Due to the difficulties for people to digest, geographic coordinates are nearly useless to consumers. It becomes necessary for a GPS receiver to display a location on a map that makes the GPS receiver a) LARGE, b) EXPENSIVE, c) SHORT IN BATTERY LIFE and d) DIFFICULT TO USE.


Consequences Cont’d : Consequences Cont’d Up to now, GPS receivers are used in very limited applications by very small user groups. They can’t be compared with timekeeping watches that have made accurate time the most important part of all the human activities.


Solution: Solution As the world is entering the digital era, accurate spatial information is becoming as important as accurate time in order to benefit from the modern technologies. To solve the problem of geographic coordinates, a solution called the Natural Area Coding System has been developed


What Is the New System: What Is the New System The Natural Area Coding System is an optimized system which has introduced a unified and highly efficient representation for both an area and a location in the world. The system makes the representations of accurate areas and locations so simple that all consumers can easily digest, remember and communicate for their daily activities.


Represent Locations: Represent Locations To represent the location of a building Decimal longitude and latitude coordinates need more than15 characters such as: Longitude: -112.1245 degrees Latitude: -43.6732 degrees A Natural Area Code needs only 8 characters: NAC: 8CNJ Q8ZG


Represent Areas: Represent Areas To represent an area like a city Using longitude and latitude coordinates requires four decimal numbers for its southwest and northeast corners. Using a Natural Area Code requires only four characters. For example, the City of Toronto: NAC: 8C Q8


Applications of NAC: Applications of NAC An eight or ten character NAC can be used as A Universal Address to specify every building or house in the world A Global Postal Code to sort all mail from the world level to the final mail box automatically A Universal Property Identifier to represent each street light, fire hydrant, sewage exit, parking meter, electric wire pole, tree, etc


Advantages of NAC: Advantages of NAC A Natural Area Code is not only highly efficient, but can also be directly Pinpointed on any map with Universal Map Grids no matter its scale and projection Measured and navigated with GPS receivers Used to quickly estimate the distance and direction to any destination


Pinpoint on All Maps: Pinpoint on All Maps


Display Universal Address: Display Universal Address Capable to display the Universal Address, a GPS receiver will become small, light, affordable and easy to use, due to the elimination of maps. It will make consumer friendly accurate location information like accurate time available anytime anywhere in the world.


Time-Space Watches: Time-Space Watches To incorporate the GPS capability into watches including wrist watches, cellphones, cameras, etc will lead to the birth of the next generation of watches, time-space watches.


Photograph: Photograph 2004-03-30 8CDJ Q8SF


Business Card: Business Card


Yellow Page Listings: Yellow Page Listings


House Number Plate: House Number Plate


Advertisement: Advertisement


Street Sign: Street Sign


Property Listings: Property Listings


Event Notice: Event Notice


Location Based Services: Location Based Services


Mail Envelope: Mail Envelope


Sewage Exit: Sewage Exit


Street Light: Street Light


Parking Ticket: Parking Ticket


Many other uses: Many other uses Tell a fishing spot, a picnic table, a park bench Report an emergency location Identify a bus stop, a fire hydrant, a tree Record the location of anything happened Specify a target for missiles


Conclusion: Conclusion The wide use of time-space watches will start a new era of using accurate locations for all location related events and activities. Then you can answer the question of WHERE accurately and easily no matter where you are by simply telling the Universal Address displayed on your time-space watch.


Slide33: Thank You!