subject: GPS Devices Revolution: How the GPS Changes the Way We Ask For Directions [print this page] GPS Devices Revolution: How the GPS Changes the Way We Ask For Directions
The Global Positioning System or what's more usually called simply GPS is a navigational system that employs a constellation of more than 24 satellites that provides coordinates info to a GPS device. This amazing technology was first utilised by the military for precision weaponry until civilian use was allowed in 1985 changing the way people like you ask for directions.
The initial commercial units were bulky single-channeled machines that should be mounted on vehicles and had limited portability.
Then came the 1st handheld GPS devices in 1989 that practically introduced the world to the mysteries of GPS technologies and prepared the ground for the availability of portable GPS devices open to you for a wide variety of applications.
It would be really difficult to track what quantity of folks have these devices now, but virtually all new mobiles have GPS capabilities as mandated by the FCC. On top of that are the manymillions of other GPS-enabled devices : car DVD players, wristbands, handheld navigators, location finders, geocaching devices and a host of other devices with GPS capabilities.
Asking for Directions : Then and Now
Back in the old days the only possibleway for you to find your way and go to where you're heading is to dig your way through piles and pages of confusing maps that would usually get you more lost than you initially began. You next option is to ask for directions from the locals hoping you'd understand how they point you in the direction of the correct direction.
But those days are gone now, at least to people who have moved up and employed the big variety of available cartable GPS devices in the market. There are a few diversifications you can select from, depend ent on what you want. They can offer you accurate information regarding where you are and plot this on a digital map. You may also set the coordinates of where you need to go and the device will give you turn-by-turn directions and show you the way.
These devices are packed with a whole lot of extra features thatyou can use that go past the essential functions of these movable GPS devices. You can play multimedia files, hear music, surf the Net, send texts, and use it as a high-tech rearview mirror if fitted with an additional camera module.
Revolutionizing The Way Folks Communicate
Portable GPS navigators are also changing the way folk communicate with each. Instead of calling your mates on their cellular telephones to explain where you are, you can simply give them your coordinates based on info from your GPS device.
They in turn can enter this info into control themselves and presto the device can show them where you are exactly. You can also describe a landmark to make it even simpler, a bank or a store, and the GPS device can show your chums precisely where these places are.
There are however some problems linked with the use, or rather abuse, of GPS devices and locators especially in tracking the location and movement of folks without their information. The size and portability of GPS locators make it possible for anyone to throw it in or attached it to someone's car without their knowledge so asto track their movements for whatever purposes it brings them. Law enforcement agents have for a while been accused of abusing the use of the GPS devices in their quest to detain perpetrators.
Still, GPS devices have revolutionized the way folk navigate as well as communicate, saving them a lot of valuabletime as well as providing larger degrees of safety especially for autos on land, sea and air.
Discover why coordinates are cooler than directions. Check out the great GPS devices online, by visiting Chinavasion.com or pasting this URL into your browser: http://www.chinavasion.com/gps-sat-nav/
