In the days before GPS, getting somewhere you’d never been before was a major time soak. Ideally, you had a good set of directions and a phone number to call for help. Failing that, you might have tried to consult a road atlas or a map, look for a landmark, and wander around until you got lucky. If you were really stuck, you might try pulling into a gas station and asking for directions.
When it came right down to it, finding something in the days before GPS could be terribly inconvenient. Fortunately, those days are over.
Today, both in-car and portable GPS navigation systems save time and trouble. Portable units are especially popular in vehicles due to their relatively low cost (ranging from $100 to $400) and ever-increasing gaggle of features. If you’re thinking about buying one of these units, there are ten things to consider: Read more »
Imagine being able to plan your entire route online, across town or even interstate. After you add your start and stop points, the website plots your journey. You get a detailed output explaining your journey, information that answers questions such as the distance between the two points, how long the trip will take (according to posted speed limits) and the turn-by-turn directions to get there.
You might not think that’s anything startling, you could get that using Google Maps but this is where the Telogis® GeoBase™ mapping API starts to really stand out, and why DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluids) chose to use the Telogis GeoBase business mapping program to power their website’s powerful search feature.
In last week’s post we talked about some of the failings of the current emergency rescue systems. This week we talk about what’s being done to remedy these problems.
The next generation of emergency location is DASS (Distress Alerting Satellite System) and local government agencies and NASA are working together to make it fully operational within the next couple of years. The biggest change involves switching from low-Earth orbit satellites to the medium-Earth orbit GPS satellites. With the ongoing work done by the U.S. Air Force to keep GPS constellation as the ‘gold standard’ in navigation this is a huge advantage over the current system.
Nine GPS satellites are already equipped with the new technology, with 12 more planned. Teams are in the middle of testing the new technology, as well as working with international agencies such as Galileo and GLONASS to extend the reach of DASS from North America to Europe and Russia.
Is the current emergency system too slow?
You probably don’t want to be reading this if you are on a sinking ship or lost in the woods but current emergency beacons can take up to an hour before search and rescue is alerted to your crisis and provided with your location details.
Hopefully your situation is not so life threatening that you can’t comfortably wait an hour before being rescued. However, there are times where minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Here are a few scenarios* where you want to be rescued in a hurry:
With a lot of different options, different makes and models, it can be confusing for the average GPS shopper. How do I know what’s right for me? How can I make sure I don’t pay too much or get a GPS system that is difficult to use or doesn’t do what I need it to do?
When faced with the job of purchasing a GPS system, most people would turn to Google. But what starts as a simple Google search to find the right GPS system can quickly become a nightmarish exercise in wading through pages of detail, reviews, product specifications and technical jargon.
How can you simplify the process of finding the right GPS system?
Here are 5 simple steps to finding the right device.
Map layers - Bringing maps into the 21st century
For people who think a GPS device is really just an on-screen map, then they may not know about map layers, the secret to making GPS systems highly functional and useful to a huge range of industries and professions.
When you think of a paper map, you imagine a two-dimensional map that offers basic road or topographic information. A paper map is static, never changing and can quickly become outdated, not to mention difficult to fold.
In contrast, a GPS device uses electronic maps as the basis for its location services. Electronic maps are regularly updated and delivered to a user via a website (e.g. Google Maps) or a mobile device (e.g. TomTom, Garmin etc.). Electronic maps are flexible, allowing users to zoom in or out to automatically change the scale and detail of the map. Because they are delivered electronically, they are portable, convenient and can be used in a huge variety of different ways – both for work and play.
Could a Taxibus system revolutionize public transport?
Technology is a powerful force in the world today, and like any power can be used for good or evil. A group of aspiring students, known as Team Phoenix, played their part in helping save the world using technology by developing a Taxibus system to promote more efficient and convenient city commuting.
Conveniently it was all part of the Imagine Cup held in France in 2008, promoted by Microsoft as an opportunity for young programmers to showcase ways technology can be used to help build sustainable environments.
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We talked a little about what is GIS (Geographic Information System) in our last post, using broad strokes to try and explain such a diverse and expanding topic. In this article I thought we could use a real-life example of a GIS to help explain further how it is used in the real world.
GIS data mapping uses a GIS to create maps showing unique, customized information in a separate layer that sits on top (overlaid) of the original map.
What is GIS?
Mar
GIS, which stands for Geographic Information System, is a huge topic, difficult to restrict to a simple or concise definition. It covers everything from a simple GPS handheld device that gives you your current location to tracking the growth of the Gobi desert. It is the science of translating geographical information into a format that can used to make informed decisions on anything from where to locate a new supermarket to finding the nearest gas station and everything in between.
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In times past if you wanted to know your exact location or get navigation assistance you needed a dedicated GPS device, like a Garmin or a TomTom. These days most cell phones have GPS receivers built-in, particularly those manufactured since February 2005.
In 2005, the FCC required that, for the purpose of locating cell phone callers in an emergency, when a cell phone user rang 911 it should automatically transmit information on the caller’s location to the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). Cell phone manufacturers responded to the new requirements (known as E911) by building phones with GPS receivers built-in that could provide location information, pinpointing a caller’s position to within 6 meters.
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