Atlanta, GA — (press release excerpt) — EarthLink's Research and Development department today announced the grand prize winner of its open standards-based Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) device application development contest, held to explore new and future vehicle telematics applications.

The AVL contest was created as an open source application development competition to encourage developers to submit best in-vehicle computing applications. Contestants submitted entries in the categories of navigation, directory, entertainment, security and m-commerce.

A recent study published by Jupiter Media Metrix showed that consumers in the United States are interested in vehicle-based wireless services — similar to what was explored in the AVL contest. Jupiter's April 2002 report stated that 45 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in navigational services, 44 percent in emergency services, 36 percent in remote monitoring services, and 33 percent in stolen vehicle tracking services.

Dr. Steve Dimse, of Cudjoe Key, Fla., won the overall, grand prize for his proposal to integrate the AVL device into an existing worldwide tracking system exclusive to handheld radio operators. This system, the Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS), which he helped create, is currently used by 20,000 people globally, but because of its dependency on handheld radios could not extend beyond the world's 8 million handheld radio operators. Dr. Dimse's proposal would extend the reach of the APRS by allowing it to be used by anyone with an AVL device and access to the Internet.

“The far-reaching benefits of this type of service include anything from keeping up with your kids to tracking down a stolen car,” said Dr. Dimse, an emergency room physician. “APRS has always been a hobby of mine, but the EarthLink open-standards AVL contest provided an affordable avenue in which to expand upon our system. Now, a service that is presently only accessible to the world's 8 million handheld radio operators has unlimited potential to reach the general public.”

Prizes for each category — plus one overall, grand prize — included AVL Developer Kits, up to one year of free EarthLink High Speed or Dial Up Internet Access, EarthLink wireless Internet service on BlackBerry handhelds, and cash.

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