Never got word of GPS? I question it. The word has become so well used as the GPS navigation device revolution continues! In my humble opinion GPS navigators are 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 thirty-one of the almost 900 participating satellites in space are used for the Global Positioning System. They transmit microwaves that allow GPS Navigation Devices receivers along the ground to find their placement, speed, direction and time.
Cargoes of mobile phones with built-in GPS capability are anticipated to more than quadruple by 2011, according to a account 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 usable 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 doesn’t require monthly fees or subscriptions of any form. It costs only $99 USD.
Around the same time, telephone company Nokia anted up $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.
Whether you see it as good or bad, GPS Navigation Device 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 devices 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.
Despite the negatives, GPS units is truly here to stay with manufacturers laying claim that we users are demanding for more and more uses for the technology. My two favorites 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.
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