What is GPS?

Consumer reports on GPS (Global Positioning System) devices say that GPS locators can be very useful and enjoyable devices to own for both professional and recreational purposes. By utilizing satellite receivers floating around the earth, a GPS is used to provide you with precise information on your longitude and latitude.

Formerly used by military, these GPS tracking devices are currently in use in Afghan and is presently utilized in Iraq to precisely track the movements of ground troops during excursion operations, mobile recon, and urban conflicts. Future developments in GPS devices include human interactions with the technology, which may include inserting chips behind the neck of soldiers to help track their bodily signs, injury status, and course their global positioning.

GPS devices come in many different sizes that sell for little to nothing in prices. Most of the big retailers have a variety of different products to choose from. For mobile navigations, there are the smaller but popular Tom-Tom GPS devices that can be outfitted to sit on the dashboard of your car or mounted directly on the front window for better visibility. For more outgoing adventurers there is the more expensive GPS tracking device that basically home in on real time positioning and locate your whereabouts in a matter of seconds. Garmin has a bunch of outdoor GPS and mapping devices suitable for those weekend outdoors men who love to hunt, fish, hike or bike through the rough and tough wilderness. For the corporate traveler, crossing the globe can be tiring and you may find yourself lost and confused. Well there are tons of GPS accessories that fit direct onto your phone. Or you can opt for the third generation PDA’s that come with GPS applications built into the phone.
Wonderful Uses for a GPS

The uses of a GPS range quite a bit. The most obvious use for one of these machines is to use it to find your exact location if you are lost somewhere. With exact information of your location, you can aid rescue workers in finding you or help you find a nearby road.

Another use of the GPS is to find other locations and establish your relative distance between you and them. For example, if you are driving down the interstate and you see a highway that might be a shorter route between you and your desired destination, GPS devices will tell you not only if it is shorter, but also how much shorter and how long it will take to get there.

Finally, you can also use a GPS as more than just a locating device. Some can be used as asset management devices (depending on its GSM status), some can be used for mobile communication, and some can even be used to search the Internet. These, of course, are just the practical uses of a GPS; there are many fun uses as well.

A popular game for people who own GPS devices is known as geocaching. Geocaching is a game in which challengers are given a group of different waypoints (coordinates of longitude and latitude), and they must be the first team or player to get to each location first. While most people cannot participate in a game like this because of practical responsibilities (most games take usually a month), it is very easy to make a scaled down version of this game, with just one waypoint or two, on a family camping or hiking expedition.

Who dominates the GPS World?

Popular GPS gadget maker Garmin, currently king of the U.S. navigation device market, controlling about 57% of the consumer and enterprise markets, and its dominance will only grow in the next couple of years.

Garmin currently has 57 percent of the American consumer market for GPS navigation devices, followed by Magellan (12 percent), Tom-Tom (nine percent) with the others rounding to 12% of the entire market.

What is GPS doing for the industry? One example is the organizations with huge number of employees especially in the service industries often employ GPS to keep tabs on their workers as well as send and receive communications on their location when employees are on the go.

Within the next couple of years GPS technology will see a transformation from cars to GPS enabled mobile phones. A single touch screen user interface that can be used as a basic GPS device that can be mounted in your car, and can also convert to a Smartphone, multimedia player, camera, and with a fully functional web browser, this trend on GPS devices will continue to grow and thrive.