Ed Fotheringham
Smart & Wired: Public Display of Affection
March 1, 2005
The u.s. department of defense (DoD) developed technology for a Global
Positioning System—or GPS—as a way for the military to track and locate objects
or people. Using radio signals, ground stations and 24 satellites, GPS was
designed to coordinate an exact location on Earth in an infinite number of
scenarios, whether for rescue missions or for tracking troops, in the thickest
jungle or the most windswept desert.
In the 1980s, GPS technology opened up
to civilian use. Companies; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
such as LoJack Corp. of Los Angeles—which offers a
GPS-based stolen car retrieval service—and Detroit’s OnStar Corp.—which uses GPS
to locate drivers in crisis—were quick to take advantage of the technology.
Still, it is safe to say that few GPS developers could have foreseen how many
civilians would eventually use GPS technology on a daily basis.
Today,
thanks to improved software, cheaper GPS hardware and the introduction of
wireless Internet access, everyone from fishermen to golfers to businesspeople
uses GPS in conjunction with handheld devices such as cellular phones and PDAs.
And since you can buy GPS add-ons for your existing PDA, there is a GPS option
out there for anyone. “GPS can be used at the office and during personal
recreational activities,” explains David Linsalata, associate analyst for mobile devices at Framingham, Mass.-based research firm
IDC. “The handheld market has been very flat over the past few years, but GPS is
causing excitement in this market again. GPS opens up a lot of possibilities.”
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