By Simon Wyryzowski
GPS or Global Positioning Systems is a term that most commonly conjures up images of vehicle navigation systems, space-age satellite technology, and interactive maps for outdoors-types and sportsmen. But the reality is that there are far more applications of Global Positioning Systems beyond GPS vehicle
tracking or map navigation that everyday people like us can benefit from. All it takes is a bit of creativity, and some trial and error. Here are a few of the many possibilities that can benefit you right now in your busy and hectic life.
1. Know where your children are using services from companies like uLocate Communications.
2. Keep track of elderly members of your family, so that they don't wander off alone.
3. Plan a road
trip around interesting points of interests, landmarks, campsites, diners, etc, and hear fewer 'Are we there yets?'- and of course get the most out of that
expensive gas.
4. Get emergency road side assistance at a touch of a button from your vehicle, so you can get help exactly where and when you need it.
5. Keep a visual journal and bookmark collection of your favorite hot spots, sceneries, and points of interests, that may not be listed in any travel guide (You can create your own mini travel guides and memories).
6. Find lost pets easily using collars with built-in GPS, better than running around in your pajamas hollering like a maniac.
7.
Feel safer with cellular phone 911 calls, so emergency personnel can pinpoint your location once you make an emergency call. Please double check your carrier
service to see that it has GPS features and get a primer on how it works if possible.
8. Get to your interview, or any important time sensitive destination or engagement, faster by finding shortcuts and correct directions.
9. Find a good Italian restaurant near your movie theatre on the fly.
10. Track your luggage, laptops, and anything of importance while traveling.
11. Track and find family, friends in a crowded concert, graduation, or any social gathering.
12. When going on a vacation, feel free to separate from group for a while to venture on your own based on your own interests and find them later on with your GPS enabled device- even in an unfamiliar place.
Our ability to use GPS so far is limited by the relatively poor connection to the satellite feeds when we are indoors in buildings, homes, or behind anything that could obstruct the GPS connection. However with the investment and development in a new satellite network called Galileo which should be completed in the near future, these problems should be eliminated drastically. Despite these problems, GPS still offers a world of benefits as mentioned earlier, and with any technology, it will only get better.
In addition to more practical usage applications, GPS will make a great educational and fun gift for your loved one's and friends as well. Consider just two of the many creative and educational uses of GPS:
1. Stay physically active and fit by playing RayGun! A locational based cell phone game based on GPS technology.
2. Become more cultured, make global friends, and learn about the world playing GeoCache, a global GPS based treasure hunt.
With many affordable feature-rich models to satisfy anyone's preferences and budgets, now is as good a time as any to learn more about GPS technologies, which are surely to become more assimilated into the mainstream within the decade. One day we will take these things for granted just like we do now for the internet and cell phones. The key is to dive in, without paralyzing yourself with the overwhelming array of choices in the GPS market, and enjoying some truly amazing technology.
About The Author
Simon Wyryzowski is a GPS enthusiast and regular contributor to GPSZoom.com. For even more practical, creative, and common uses including GPS tracking services for people, please visit http://www.gpszoom.com/
Normally, marine GPS systems are used by the Coast Guard to keep track of ships as they move along the coastlines. This will give them an idea of the direction in which a vessel is heading. They may be able to communicate with the vessel and provide precise information regarding its current position and directions to take to get to its destination.
Qualcomm's Vision of the Wireless Future "When he finished, there were 20 brand-new, CDMA-based mobile handsets and devices arrayed on the table, the high-tech souvenirs of Belk's most recent trip to Hong Kong and Japan.... 'These are not PowerPoint slides,' Belk said. 'These are real devices that are already shipping in volume in Asia.' " at Business 2.0]
And there's the rub. When I do my presentations, that's all I have - pictures of prototypes or of devices not available in the U.S. Europe and Asia really are 18 months ahead of us in this area.
"Beale also discussed Qualcomm's gpsOne location technology.... It also opens the door for many new location-based services, such as traffic information and local weather forecasts. On Japan KDDI's network, there are already more than 20 location-based services available -- all of which are relatively inexpensive, costing less than $5 per month."
I'm looking forward to being able to travel and have information come to me automatically based on my location. For example, if I'm at a conference and I'm looking for a restaurant, I'd like my phone/PDA/whatever to know where I am and offer a list of nearby choices. Maybe it should tell me what movies or plays are on tonight and if there are still tickets available. You get the idea....
"Predictably, both Belk and Beale anticipate strong growth for the wireless industry as ever-more-compelling products and services become available and the industry settles on a single communication standard. How long will that take? Belk, whose career began in the personal computing business in 1983, likened the wireless industry today to the PC business of the 1980s. 'I wouldn't worry about the wireless industry yet, it's still relatively young,' he said. 'Just look how long it took the PC industry just to get to the point of standardized parallel cables.' "
Not to beat a dead horse, but the ebook industry is even younger than PCs, and PDAs have really only come into their own during the last few years. So don't count any of these technologies out just yet.
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