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18-04-2006 Europe still keen on Japan joining Galileo GPS project
In just four years, Europe will bring about a sea change in the world of car and man navigation, which has long depended on a single service source, the American global positioning system.

As the continent prepares for the full operational launch of Galileo, its own version of GPS, the European Union and industry are watching with keen interest to see how Japan, a heavy GPS user, eventually positions itself.

"Japan would be a very good test market for Galileo because there are many people using mobile phones and people who like gadgets," Paul Flament, administrator of the Galileo Program at the European Commission Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, says. "Japan is at the forefront of technology. That''s why we would like to cooperate with Japan--because we know the country is important in the domain."

"I would very happily like to see Japan enter into the Galileo program, because of its leading position in the use of GPS in the past," Peter Grognard, founder and managing director of Septentrio Satellite Navigation NV, the first and currently the sole supplier of Galileo signal receivers, stresses.

Grognard acknowledges that Japan is "years ahead" of Europe in the adoption of GPS in car navigation and mobile phones. "I think Japan will be an excellent and early adopter of Galileo, just like it has done with GPS," he believes.

Both Flament and Grognard were part of an EU delegation to Japan in December 2003 to seek Tokyo''s participation in the Galileo program, a request that Japanese government officials gave the cold shoulder. The European Commission sent another mission the following year, but again met only a stubborn refusal from Japan.

"Somehow, the Japanese government was afraid to enter into an agreement with Europe on satellite navigation, because Japan already has good relations with the United States," Flament says. "Japan did not want to take the risk of hurting the Americans."

He adds, however, that on an unofficial level Japanese officials showed a lot of interest in Galileo.

Nevertheless, Japan has opted to stick to GPS, while mapping out a plan to launch a satellite system to complement and augment GPS signals, called the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, or QZSS.

Japanese users, in addition, will enjoy the benefits of Galileo''s 30-satellite system even without Japan participating in the program, thanks to an EU-U.S. agreement in June 2004 to make Galileo and GPS compatible and interoperable.

Experiments have shown that people in cities packed with skyscrapers at present have only a 50 pct chance of skies with at least four GPS satellites available, the minimum required for accurate position calculations. But the figure rises to 95 pct with the addition of Galileo satellites to the GPS network.

This means that Tokyoites with GPS-Galileo receivers will no longer suffer jumps or inaccurate position fixes in their car and personal navigation devices.

Still, if Japan stays out of the Galileo program Japanese industry will miss the opportunity for direct access to and influence over the satellite system, as well as the chance to have local requirements reflected in its operations.

"It would be worthwhile for Japan to join the Galileo program and get political guarantees that Japanese interests are properly taken care of," says Rob Van Essen, director of global strategic research at Tele Atlas, the world''s leading digital map provider and one of companies participating in the program.

Tele Atlas expects Galileo to make way for a whole new range of applications that are not possible with GPS, which was initially designed for military use and whose signals can degrade or be switched off without advance notice.

Because Galileo''s continuity and quality will be guaranteed, Van Essen says, Galileo-based location information will be used in safety-critical services such as landing airplanes as well as in helping European governments monitor the transportation of dangerous materials, among other potential uses. Traffic control through road pricing is another market that is almost certain to appear, given Europe''s jurisdiction of the Galileo system.

"We believe that Galileo will create a bigger market for our products," Van Essen says. "We expect to serve new types of applications and we will expand content of our map."

He adds that governments and companies involved in the Galileo program, which is costing the European Union a whopping 3.8 billion euros, will be much keener to meet market demand than the American operators of GPS, for whom commercial use is only a by-product.

"Europe is trying to create a market in which expected revenues are supposed to offset the cost," Van Essen points out. "That is a much more complicated model than the military-based GPS."

Septentrio''s Grognard believes that "Japanese companies would be great partners" in the drive for broader uses for Galileo, because of their knowhow in mass producing high-quality electronic products.

He points out that Japan''s participation in the program would likely facilitate joint ventures between Japanese and European industries, as well as between Japanese and European government agencies, such as the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency.

While Tokyo has turned down Europe''s requests so far, a number of non-European countries have joined the program, including China, South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

"It is not that we want to be really proactive in seeking partners, but if countries are ready to discuss with us we would be willing to listen," Flament says, expressing hopes that the EU-U.S. agreement on GPS-Galileo cooperation will encourage Japan to take part in the Galileo program.

Grognard likewise recognizes that the agreement may give Japan an incentive to participate in the Galileo program. "I would imagine that the agreement changes the global picture to a certain extent," he suggests.