By Edwardo Mascasas
Where am I? Where am I going? Where have I been? These were some of the few questions involved in our day-to-day activities especially if you are involved in an activity where you are required to travel or go to secluded places.
Today with our advancing technology, navigation and positioning has never been this easy. If you feel lost then GPS technology can shine some light on your location. With the use of satellites and ground stations the ability to track aircrafts, cars, cell phones, boats, and even individuals has become a reality.
GPS technology comes in many forms for various needs and industries. With miniaturized GPS units and fewer integrated circuits this makes GPS technology economical and accessible almost to everyone. GPS technology is a navigational system that has changed the way we work and play .
A Global Positioning System or GPS is a satellite navigation system that works by continually transmitting high-frequency radio signals containing the time and location of the satellite in relation to earth. This information is obtained by a GPS receiver on the planets surface from three of more satellites and the GPS receiver has calculated the users position on the planet.
The receiver pinpoints, between 3 and 15 meters, where the device and thus the user is located. With multiple measurements, the receiver can also calculate speed, trip time, distance to destination, altitude, sunrise and sunset, and more. On average, eight satellites are always within sight of wherever you are on Earth. The more satellites your GPS receiver can contact, the more accurate your readings will be.
If you are thinking about getting a GPS for mobile use, make sure you have a laptop, probably the one you already use, a GPS receiver and software. Installation is the same for almost all GPS models.
To install GPS on a Windows XP-Based laptop, you just need to start your Windows XP-based laptop, install the software, and plug the GPS receiver into the laptops USB port. With Windows XP and Plug and Play hardware, you really cant go wrong. Most GPS systems come with extensive mapping software and the installation is as simple as inserting the CD into the appropriate drive.
After you configure a GPS, install software, and fully charge the laptops battery, its time to take off on an adventure, right? Well, almost. You need to configure the laptop for optimal settings before you go.
To configure battery alarms:
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options.
2. On the Alarms tab, under Low battery alarm and Critical battery alarm, specify the settings you want by dragging the slider.
3. Click Alarm Action to select the type of alarm notification and power level you want.
To configure a power scheme:
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options.
2. On the Power Schemes tab, in the Turn off monitor, Turn off hard disks, System standby and System hibernates lists, configure the time settings you want. (See the list below of how to configure them.)
3. Click Save As, and in the Save Scheme dialog box, type Travel.
4. Click OK twice.
Running your laptop on batteries, configure the settings as follows:
* Turn off monitor: After 2 minutes * Turn off hard disks: After 8 minutes * System standby: After 3 minutes * System Hibernates: After 10 minutes
So thats it, youre ready to go. With your powerful laptop-enabled GPS and your road experience will never be the same again.
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Give It Time To Get A Lock. Your GPS receiver needs the right positioning to get a lock on the satellite's read, and it also needs time, sometimes as much as 20 to 30 seconds. This is particularly true when you first power up the device, at which time the best approach is to stand still in as open an area as possible and let the device acquire its target, to use military jargon. If you don't, you could end up with readings that are inaccurate to a distance ranging from a few feet to over a mile, not exactly useful when navigation matters. When you change position or altitude significantly, allow additional time for locking in.
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All The Latest News From The automotive gps systems World
Global Positioning Systems offer everything from hole overviews to Internet access "Shortgrass Technologies' Internet-based sports information system and financial ticker enables golfers to check college football scores on a Saturday afternoon or the price of stocks any weekday. Global positioning systems can track golf cars no matter where they are on the course, thus discovering bottlenecks and slower play. Golfers can order beverages and food en route to the turn, so golf clubs can offer more than a quick hot dog - a higher priced chicken sandwich, for instance...."
I always thought that GPS would go mainstream in automobiles first, and in a way I suppose it has, but maybe golfers will lead the real charge. I could have used a portable, library-centered GPS system myself to navigate the Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Library when I was there last fall!
Lots of interesting articles from today's PC World. First up, Microsoft Takes on MapQuest: "MSN launches MapPoint online mapping service, offering maps, directions, and more."
Apparently this is going to be yet another component of MS' push for .Net services with hooks into other MSN services. MapPoint is XML-based, which makes it interesting in other ways, and there it launches with a phone-based direction service. The articles notes that this is another step towards location-based services. "For example, you might someday be able to click on a Windows Messenger buddy's name and retrieve a map showing the location of his or her home."
Good or bad? You make the call. I like parts of this, but I'm incredibly wary of .Net.
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.
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