YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 11, NOYAN TAPAN. A group of scientists of the Institute of Mathematics of the RA National Academy of Sciences (NAS) together with experts of Macadamian AR CJSC, the Armenian subsidiary of Macadamian company (Canada), have launched Optimus Project. It is planned that as a result of the project's implementation, it will become possible to receive global positioning services by mobile phones in Armenia starting from March 2010, scientist of the RA NAS Institute of Mathematics Smbat Gogian announced. According to him, within the framework of the project it is envisaged creating Map Editor software based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). Via the Internet website serviced by this software, tourists will get the opportunity to orient themselves in the territory of Armenia in the real mode of time, find the necessary objects and travel to them, while drivers will also have the opportunity to avoid traffic jams. S. Gogian said that Map Editor will be compatible with Windows Mobile system. By visiting the respective website, tourists will be able to find the necessary place and determine the most convenient route to it. Transport service providers will be able to determine automatically the mechanism of servicing as many customers as possible by available vehicles with the minimum use of gasoline and time. Besides, the way passed by a tourist may be recorded in the webiste, and the outline of the given route will be available in the form of a file to be used in the future. It is planned that the signs of the objects on the map will be interactive which will allow to easily provide additional information about objects. S. Gogian said that the cost of daily servicing of a phone by Editor Map will make a sum equivalent to 3 dollars. It is envisaged organizing the sale of this software in three ways: by renting it to tourist companies for its provision to customers; by permitting to use it, via the website, for 50 dollars a year; and by organizing car services. He explained that the GPS-based interactive systems are used by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, as well as some companies that produce electronic road maps. However, there is no information on Armenia's GPS maps in their websites, and they have no intention to create such maps. S. Gogian informed those present that unlike these companies, the group engaged in Optimus Project intends to use another format of map files: Map Editor will automaticaly generate a road map from traffic not in a JPEG format but in a coordinate-vectorial format, whose use presupposes the preservation and transfer of information in small volumes (10-100 times less). For financing the scientific and some technical components of the project, the scienists engaged in Optimus received a grant of 10 thousand dollars under the 2008 Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Program sponsored by the RA ministry of economy, the US Civilian Research and Development Foundation, and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation. In the words of S. Gogian, the group of Optimus Project has already created software for GPS-SM-0.1M device. The import of 80 such devices has already begun. From December 2008, they will be installed in vehicles of customer services.

---