Post by Flash on May 8, 2008 12:17:51 GMT -5
A RADIO that tells you about traffic snarls, plans your route, tells you the latest petrol prices and even finds you a parking spot could be the "killer application" when digital radio launches in Australia next year.
Commercial Radio Australia has begun working with Sydney company Sentinel Content to trial the application in the months ahead.
The service is already operating through a website, Mydrive.com .au, which delivers the information to subscribers online, through satellite navigation devices and SMS messaging. But Sentinel Content executive Darren Woolard says in Europe digital radio has proved to be a natural home for such an application.
"What we are doing is providing a dynamic content business," Mr Woolard said.
"It can be traffic information, fuel pricing and parking information, and digital radio offers the ideal opportunity to distribute.
"But it is more than just traffic information."
Through the next generation of digital radios people would be able to plan a route to a destination, taking into account roadworks and travel times.
Sentinel has been working with a European organisation, the Transport Protocol Experts Group, to define international standards for the delivery of such services. Standardisation of the data means the signal could be routed through a digital radio to an in-car navigation device.
"You could get real-time fuel pricing, not just where you are, but where you are going," Mr Woolard said.
"And when you get there you could get information ahead of time about how many parking spots are left in a car park."
Mr Woolard said that development of the digital radio system in Australia was in the embryonic stages, with versions of the application being tested through handheld digital radios.
Commercial Radio Australia hopes a successful trial would hasten the adoption of digital radios in cars.
Manufacturers are yet to commit to including the devices as standard in cars, but several have indicated it will be an option when full digital broadcasting begins next year.
In Britain digital radio manufacturer Pure has had immense success with a plug-in unit that turns a standard FM radio into a digital receiver.
The device, which works similarly to iPod accessories, delivers a short-range FM signal to a free channel on the radio and is expected to become an important driver for the early take up of digital radio in the Australian market.
Mr Woolard said it was too early to say how the financial model for the real-time traffic data would work, although he envisaged it would be delivered through a mix of models.
"I think there will be degrees of information we will provide," he said. "Elements of it could be sent out free of charge and others supported by advertising.
"Other parts could be subscription-based.
"I do see it as a platform that could truly be a game breaker for digital radio in Australia."
This week Mr Woolard was in Berlin looking at the application of digital radio traffic information and said many of the expanded applications being made available in Europe would find their way to Australia in time.
Free-to-air digital radio broadcasting begins in January in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.
Commercial Radio Australia has begun working with Sydney company Sentinel Content to trial the application in the months ahead.
The service is already operating through a website, Mydrive.com .au, which delivers the information to subscribers online, through satellite navigation devices and SMS messaging. But Sentinel Content executive Darren Woolard says in Europe digital radio has proved to be a natural home for such an application.
"What we are doing is providing a dynamic content business," Mr Woolard said.
"It can be traffic information, fuel pricing and parking information, and digital radio offers the ideal opportunity to distribute.
"But it is more than just traffic information."
Through the next generation of digital radios people would be able to plan a route to a destination, taking into account roadworks and travel times.
Sentinel has been working with a European organisation, the Transport Protocol Experts Group, to define international standards for the delivery of such services. Standardisation of the data means the signal could be routed through a digital radio to an in-car navigation device.
"You could get real-time fuel pricing, not just where you are, but where you are going," Mr Woolard said.
"And when you get there you could get information ahead of time about how many parking spots are left in a car park."
Mr Woolard said that development of the digital radio system in Australia was in the embryonic stages, with versions of the application being tested through handheld digital radios.
Commercial Radio Australia hopes a successful trial would hasten the adoption of digital radios in cars.
Manufacturers are yet to commit to including the devices as standard in cars, but several have indicated it will be an option when full digital broadcasting begins next year.
In Britain digital radio manufacturer Pure has had immense success with a plug-in unit that turns a standard FM radio into a digital receiver.
The device, which works similarly to iPod accessories, delivers a short-range FM signal to a free channel on the radio and is expected to become an important driver for the early take up of digital radio in the Australian market.
Mr Woolard said it was too early to say how the financial model for the real-time traffic data would work, although he envisaged it would be delivered through a mix of models.
"I think there will be degrees of information we will provide," he said. "Elements of it could be sent out free of charge and others supported by advertising.
"Other parts could be subscription-based.
"I do see it as a platform that could truly be a game breaker for digital radio in Australia."
This week Mr Woolard was in Berlin looking at the application of digital radio traffic information and said many of the expanded applications being made available in Europe would find their way to Australia in time.
Free-to-air digital radio broadcasting begins in January in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.