Rockwell Collins unveils 'Hi-Focus' maps for Airshow 4200

HAMBURG (September 20, 2005) - Airlines looking to offer their passengers detailed views of their flight path can now look to new high resolution maps on Rockwell Collins' Airshow 4200 moving map and information system.
 
The new Hi-Focus maps offer passengers up-close views for a wide variety of cities and points of interest, revealing details such as rivers, roads, buildings and other features on their travel route and at their destination.

"Airshow 4200's Hi-Focus maps meet passengers' growing demand to stay informed during their flight," said Matt Smith, senior director Airshow Systems for Rockwell Collins. "Rockwell Collins' next generation of in-flight information services can help provide airlines with the differentiating factors they need to grow their customer base."

Hi-Focus maps offer more than 60 times the detail and resolution of previous map offerings, with an available worldwide standard resolution of 15 meters per pixel, providing individual map views of approximately 70 square kilometers (43 square miles).  Higher resolution map data, in detail up to and greater than 1 meter/pixel, is also available for over 300 cities worldwide. The maps are produced from actual satellite photographs, which results in a new level of real-time detail for the Airshow 4200.

A baseline set of Hi-Focus maps have been developed and integrated with the standard Airshow 4200 worldwide map package, and appear automatically during the flight.  Airlines can incorporate additional custom Hi-Focus maps to optimize views for their own route structure and destination cities.

The Airshow 4200 system, introduced in September 2004, offers a full-featured multimedia platform, incorporating a wide variety of capabilities, including 3-D route maps, real-time news feeds, connecting gate information, and points-of-interest media libraries. It captures real-time flight information from the aircraft's flight management computer, long-range navigation system, and aircraft communication systems.  The Airshow 4200 system can use the on-board ACARS connection to retrieve current airport terminal information.  For Airshow Network news feeds such as Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg and others, the Airshow 4200 system can connect to the aircraft's communications systems.

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