Never heard of GPS? I doubt it. The word has become so well used as the GPS revolution continues unabated. In my opinion GPS is right up there with fire, the wheel, flight, cell phones and ATMS as the most useful inventions. And prices are expected to fall further, by 20% in 2008, according to leading manufacturer Garmin.
A grid of 31 of the nearly 900 active satellites in space are used for the Global Positioning System. They transmit microwaves that allow GPS receivers on the ground to triangulate their location, speed, direction and time. Russia is getting its own new version ready. The second generation of Glonass (Global Navigational Satellite System) already has 14 satellites orbiting earth and it will be operational by 2010 with a further 10 satellites completing coverage of our planet. Like the USA, Glonass was initially used for USSR military reconnaissance but a recent Presidential decree has given civilians full access to its signals.
Shipments of mobile phones with built-in GPS capability are expected to more than quadruple by 2011, according to a report released by research firm iSupply - from 109 million units in 2006 to 444 million units by 2011. By late 2007 GPS leader Garmin had introduced software that teams with a range of gps enabled smartphones to turn them into Garmin navigators useable in North America or Europe. The Garmin Mobile XT offers preloaded maps on a microSD card and includes access to dynamic content like premium real-time traffic alerts and fuel prices, but does not require monthly fees or subscriptions of any kind. It costs only US$99.
Around the same time, phone company Nokia paid $8 billion for map data provider NavTeq, a move that will no doubt spur the growth of cell phone- based GPS systems at the probable expense of portable and vehicle mapping devices. This move followed close on the heels of European car navigation maker, TomTom, paying $2.8 billion for digital mapping company teleAtlas. Like Garmin, Nokia is working on a phone that would allow a user to tag photos with their geographic coordinates, allowing them to position the photos on a map on social networking sites.
Map sites are busy sites. The MapQuest Web site counts 54 million users per month and receives 6,000 emails a week, many commenting on route accuracy. AnyTrack has a 2 ounce gizmo that measures a mere 2.36" by 1.85" by 0.8" which can be used to track cargo. With cargo theft in America totalling some $ 15 billion a year, knowing where your goods are could be a wonderful thing. Whether you see it as good or bad, GPS manufacturers are apparently able to retrieve data from your GPS unit - information like speed, location, time of day etc and give it to authorities if they are forced to. Interesting fodder for court cases.
Bladerunner even has a children's GPS jacket which can be used to keep tabs on their whereabouts on, say, a snowboarding, hiking or biking adventure. Parents can even input the GPS information into Google Earth and track their child's location in real time. You can also "geofence" the device to trigger an alert when the child leaves a certain area the parent has established. Could be useful for older citizens with dimentia problems too. Just have $500 ready as well as $20 a month satellite tracking charge.
In Sydney Australia, 4,000 buses are being equipped (2008) with GPS devices that will link them to city traffic lights. Any bus running late will get priority at traffic lights. Mussolini would have loved that for his trains. Still in Australia and, in a world first, Aussie rules football players have been rigged up with GPS devices that allow their coaches to track how far they run, what speed they run at and the hits they absorb during the game. An Australian drugs researcher raised at an international sports ethics conference in Iceland the idea that athletes could wear a GPS bracelet or watch or carry a GPS phone.The idea was to avoid misunderstandings about missed drug tests as athletes have to provide details of their planned movements to testing authorities up to three months beforehand.
In the UK, you can buy a Satski GPS unit that can create an interactive piste map that can be used to guide, track , and record your movements on the ski slopes. The Satski can also help you find the best slopes for your skill level and help you improve by recording your average and max speeds, distance travelled, and altitude information.
Also in Europe you can buy MirrorPilot which places a small map in your rear view mirror.
The Batwa pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo are using GPS devices when they go into the forest to hunt and gather. They can record the exact location of their hunting grounds, sacred trees and important rivers. Another aim is to stop illegal logging by proving the existence of trees on certain land.
The US Marines are getting 3,000 GPS units for parachutists. Soldiers plummeting towards earth will soon have the advantage of GPS navigation with a Heads Up Display that will help improve landing accuracy and allow for target zones to be easily changed on the fly.
Why NDrive has released a Personal Navigation Device that has an inbuilt breathalyser so you can tell whether you're over the limit or not. Sexually violent predators in Colorado may soon be required to wear global positioning systems as they already are in El Paso County in USA.
A California teenager contested a speeding ticket (but failed) for doing 62mph in a 45mph zone, since a GPS system fitted to his Toyota Celica appeared to show he was actually within the limit.
Police in USA have attached a GPS device to a suspect's car and tracked it to another burglary scene which allowed them to make an arrest. In another American police case, one man has been charged with robbery after he was tracked by a satellite navigation system he had stolen which inadvertently alerted police to his exact whereabouts.
In Japan, moves were being made to equip key defence personnel with GPS enabled phones after one was caught getting too much lavish entertainment from a contractor.
The negatives of this wonderful technology? A man on stalking charges in 2007 apparently attached a GPS device to his victim's car and used a tracking information service to monitor her movements.
Thousands of New York cabbies struck twice in late 2007 because they believed the GPS units mandated by the city for all cabs invaded their privacy. Over in India calls were being made to install GPS in taxis there so women working late in call centres would be safer.
Apparently 100 million cell phones in the USA and another 250 million globally rely on GPS technology for precision timing. Let's hope the GPS system doesnt get jammed or goes down for any reason. The USA looks like relying on its old Loran system (World War Two vintage) ramped up as eLoran to be a backup system for GPS.
Czech lorry drivers as well as British and no doubt other nationalities have been known to throw caution to the wind and slavishly follow their GPS system down incredibly narrow lanes till they get stuck. The idea would be to keep common sense right alongside your GPS unit.
Some people are reporting more dead car batteries because GPS units were left on.
Despite the negatives, GPS is well and truly here to stay with manufacturers claiming we users are asking for more and more uses for the technology. My two favourites have to be the units for blind people that can talk to them and lead them to a nearby bank, coffee shop or other Point Of Interest (POI) and you can use audio guides on your GPS unit to be your personal tour guide as you travel the sights of a city of region - Casanova, the Catalan capital's most stylish hotel, offers guests a hand-held GPS iTour to experience Barcelona's top cultural attractions. Key points of interest, such as Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera as well as the Boqueria market, museums, restaurants and shops, are included in the iTour.
