GPS ( Global Positioning System ) is used in many places like maps, navigation, fitness, etc. Most of the innovations in modern society were driven directly or indirectly with the help of GPS systems. It can be said for sure that without GPS technology, the current world would come to a halt and our day to day activities and the modern life we live will come to a stop. There are so many applications for GPS. Here are the 19 important ones,
1. Navigation
GPS is most commonly used in navigation in vehicles and helping people find the shortest route to the destination from their source. GPS in navigation has improved people’s lives in exploring new places.
2. Asset Tracking
GPS is used in monitoring the location of valuables such as vaults, containers, other merchandise and equipment while transporting them from one place to another. Thus this acts as a layer of protection for the owners to protect their valuables.
3. Personal Safety
Wearable GPS devices and smartphones are equipped with GPS receivers which helps in sharing the location of the children or a person in a remote place, to their family members and friends.
4. Fitness Tracking
Fitness bands and apps are capable of tracking and recording activities such as running, cycling, hiking, etc and provide users with the data such as distance covered, speed and elevation which helps in keeping track of the person’s fitness goals.
5. Emergency Services
Emergency services use GPS used by the people performing dangerous sports such as forest camping, hiking or trekking mountains to quickly respond to the distress calls and locate people in case of any catastrophes.
6. Fleet Management
GPS trackers are added by businesses to the trucks to monitor the driver behavior and real time manage the fleet of vehicles to optimize the routes and improve the efficiency of the fleets. Thus creating a reliable and predictable system.
7. WildLife Tracking
Researchers and wildlife activists use GPS trackers to monitor the animal’s movement and behavior and also monitor the number of packs of animals if the species is endangered and provide information to take informed decisions to protect diversity.
8. Agriculture
Modern tractors and machinery are equipped with GPS guided systems to enable precision planting and fertilizing. Thus Enabling farmers to efficiently spend resources, reducing wastages and increasing crop yield.
9. Surveying and Mapping
Surveying of the Land and creating maps of a place is easier than before because of the deployment of GPS technology which is used in creating detailed maps and measurement of the distances and giving more accurate elevation details too.
10. Aviation
Pilots use a GPS enabled navigation system which is used for auto pilots when the flight takes off of the ground and is used in designing precise flight plans, approach procedures and location information during flights.
11. Time Synchronization
GPS satellites are not just highly position accurate but also highly time accurate because of the atomic clock equipped inside of them. Thus this make it very suitable for synchronizing time accurate applications, telecommunications, financial transactions and network synchronizations.
12. Disaster Responses
During any natural disastrous events, coordinating relief efforts and locating the affected areas become hard. In situations like that, GPS plays an important role and provide highly accurate position data without much land references.
13. Sports Performance Analysis
GPs enabled tracking devices are used by sports personnel and the devices record and track the players movements during the training. This data is later used to optimize the training and enhance the performance of the player.
14. Augmented Reality Games
Games such as Pokemon Go uses GPS to overlay pokemons on top of the real world and creates a fun real world experience for users to explore pokemons at different locations and makes it an interactive experience.
15. Location Based Advertising
Businesses and Companies use GPS data from the user devices such as smartphones and computer to target customers in a certain location with appropriate advertisement helping companies with better targeting customers and helping customers with appropriate advertisements.
16. Archeological Survey
Historical sites and uncharted territories are documented and mapped with the help of the GPS technology which is used by the archaeologists and explorers to better document and preserve the history and historic relics.
17. Outdoor Recreation
Activities such as hiking, camping, off road biking and off roading in general relies mostly on GPS to go to their destined places and go through the forests and land masses which is an assurance to find an optimized way.
18. Military
The GPS was initially developed for military purposes and later was opened for general public use cases. In the military, the GPS is being used mostly for missiles and drones. It is used for tracking the tactile units on the ground and making informed decisions on it.
19. Location Based Social Network
Social Media applications such as Facebook and instagram use GPS data to allow users to checkout a trending topic in a specific location and share whereabouts to their friends and family. These apps also use GPS data to tag photos and mark memories with locations.
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