By Michelle Bery
Today's modern society means ownership of a bevy of gadgets guaranteed to elevate us to new levels of convenience. What would we do with our cell phones, PDA's, and Blackberry's? And now, there's another handy gadget that sits in our palm; it may be small but it harnesses an enormous amount of power and brings it streaming right to our hands. The Global Positioning System - or GPS system - is the newest of modern gadgets that promises to keep us on the cutting edge of technology.
The GPS system uses the positioning of 24 satellites that circle the earth to pinpoint any location in the world. Having been developed by the United States Department of Defense, the GPS system was initially intended for military use when the first operational satellite was launched in 1978. However, by the mid-90s, 23 more satellites had been added to the rotation and the modern GPS system was born. Todays civilian consumers have taken the system and elevated it to ever-growing popularity.
The GPS system of today includes a network of devices used for mapping, navigation, and tracking that has replaced the compass and paper road maps of yesteryear. Users operate their GPS system in a variety of ways - from the computer mapping device to the navigational system available in newer cars.
One part of the GPS system is the GPS receiver - a hand-held device that receives its information from government satellites. Using this information, the GPS receiver does a series of latitudinal and longitudinal calculations that can precisely pinpoint the users location. A small screen will literally mark the location of the user amidst a larger map that shows surrounding points of reference. This can be enormously beneficial in a number of situations including the use by outside enthusiasts who frequently camp and hike.
The GPS system that seems to be most in use today is the navigational unit found in modern vehicles. While some units are portable and can be transferred from one vehicle to another, there are others that are permanently mounted in newer cars as part of their standard features. This GPS system - when given a specific address - can navigate the driver to their destination including turns, landmarks, and distances of all portions of the trip.
Most importantly, the GPS system of today is one that provides you with the most convenience that is specific to your needs and frequency of use.
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For easy to understand, in depth information about GPS visit our ezGuide 2 GPS.
Write Here, Write Now: And you thought you were overloaded with information now, just wait. Hewlett Packard is working on a technology to let folks print messages in mid-air based on their location incorporating GPS technology. I find this stuff fascinating, even if no one seems to have thought of a good use for it yet. The first sentence of the article is right, though: "The kids are going to love this." in New Scientist via RCPL's Liblog]
When the ALA summer conference was in San Francisco in 1997, the SF Museum of Modern Art had a fascinating exhibit called Icons: Magnets of Meaning. I spent hours browsing through it, but one of the pieces that has always stuck in my mind was called @: Marking the Electrosphere . It talked about the meaning of that one little symbol. How it can define, place, and root you in the world, but at the same time let you be found anywhere. Integrated, widespread use of GPS is going to take this to a whole new level.
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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automotive gps systems | gps mapping software
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