GPS Tracking

As we have learned, the Global Positioning System is operated by the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation & Timing. These three eponymous capabilities have always been the core benefits of GPS in its simplest iteration, but the staggering amount of applications that have proliferated within this past decade have been much more varied, constrained only by the limits of human ingenuity. At the intersection of unprecedented technological innovation and decades of policies that have stimulated the growth of GPS, this simple tool has become an omnipresent and nearly invisible part of our daily lives.

On www.gps.gov, the official federally hosted informational Web site, possible applications run the gamut from roads and highways, rail, marine and aviation to agriculture, public safety and disaster relief. These illustrate the tremendous capacity that GPS has for serving the public interest by making infrastructure more efficient and responsive. Numerous cities have come to rely on geographic information systems, or GIS, which use GPS technology to collect data and synthesize it into useful information used to make important municipal decisions, from drainage plans to emergency vehicle routes. GPS is also a critical component of Intelligent Transportation Systems, communication-based technologies that use real-time data to manage traffic flow.

Going places with GPS

All forms of transportation and those who use them has benefited from GPS technology. Commercial fishing boats use it to locate prime fishing locations and follow migration patterns. Freight trucks use it to identify service stations and road blocks along each route and to track employees and time-sensitive deliveries, a crucial component of many modern businesses. Airplanes use it to navigate with reduced reliance on ground-based aids and chart flight paths, especially during inclement weather. It helps racking complex webs of trains, subways and rail lines to ensure dependable schedules and minimized delays while also improving safety and guarding against possible collisions. As an added bonus, many private GPS units allow tracking of subways and trains, allowing motorists to avoid traffic obstacles and commuters to plan their arrival times. GPS units are becoming more common in everyday civilian vehicles, with many automobiles coming equipped with built in devices. These units offer convenience by not only providing synchronous driving directions, but also identifying businesses, gas stations, shopping, restaurants, WiFi hotspots and points of interest in the surrounding area all with the push of a button. Beyond matters of personal comfort, having a GPS also offers security by signaling roadside assistance crews or emergency vehicles with an automobile’s location in times of danger.

During times of natural disaster, from Hurricane Katrina to the Pacific Rim tsunami, GPS has been a critical part of the relief effort. GIS helps determine the extent of the damages, information useful in planning rescue and aid missions. Emergency personnel like firefighters spend hours training with GPS equipment. At times when visibility is low from smoke or debris, using GPS may be the only way to know where to go and how to get back out. For some disasters, like earthquakes and flooding, GPS may play a key role in anticipating and early action.

The Lighter Side

GPS technology goes beyond the realm of transportation and reaches into our very pockets. Since 9/11, the government has encouraged the embedding of GPS chips in cell phones that continuously send signals to cell phone. This controversial action has lead to some public outcry of privacy violation and high-profile lawsuits, but when consumers use in-phone GPS capabilities to their advantage, the results can be spectacular. When linked with Internet capabilities, newer high-tech phone models like the iPhone allow people to find nearby friends, create walking tours, obtain hyperlocal news headlines or hail a cab from nearly anywhere in the country. As we become increasingly dependent our our cell phones, the permeation of GPS into our everyday routines only increases.

As recreation aids, GPS can serve as personal fitness devices, tracking time, distance, pace and routes of runners, cyclists, hikers, hunters, snowmobilers and skiers. During the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, the country’s biggest hot air balloon festival, GPS units track balloons so that spectators can follow balloon races using online maps. An entire worldwide treasure hunt game known as geocaching has developed around the technology and has developed a fiercely loyal and quirky following. To join, players find coordinates to “caches” online and, using a handheld GPS devices, attempts to find them hidden in parks, along roads or even in more exotic locales around the world. Once found, geocachers log their finds online and keep track of their finds as badges of honor. Some hard-core participants have recorded tens of thousands of finds. From the pragmatic to the whimsical, GPS has found diverse applications for all walks of life.

But even this is still thinking inside the box. Here are a few wild ways that GPS is being used:

• A new application being developed for the PSP uses GPS to track your movements and remix music within video games. New sounds and effects can be “collected” by traveling to different locations.
• A farmer in Massachusetts has created his own agricultural roadside attraction by turning his fields into elaborate mazes with the assistance of GPS technology.
• Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison are using GPS for asthma research by tracking the usage of inhalers. By monitoring embedded GPS devices, the scientists hope to identify new allergens and trends that might hold the key in the fight against the illness.
• An English artist working in San Francisco pioneered the concept of “biomapping,” which combines biometric data from polygraph tests during experiences of actual volunteers at locations through the city, tying specific physiological responses to geographic locations. “By interpreting and annotating this data, communal emotion maps are constructed that are packed full of personal observations which show the areas that people feel strongly about and truly visualize the social space of a community,” Nold says on his Web site.

Tags: GPS Tracking, History of GPS, Uses of GPS

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 9:24 am and is filed under All Articles, GPS Tracking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.