Satellites that help you find yourself
GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS GPS plays role in business, farming No longer just for pilots and boaters
For centuries, mankind has looked to the skies for guidance. Today, instead of relying on the stars, businesses and individuals download data from the 24 global positioning system satellites orbiting the Earth.
“ GPS used to be a niche market that boaters and airplane pilots used in order to navigate, but now, when mixed with software programs, there are many new uses,” says technology analyst David Senf. Whether it’s sales representatives using Google maps and a vehicle-navigation system to plan the day’s calls, or a customer of a service such as General Motors’ OnStar concierge service calling to ask the location of the nearest gas station, most people don’t realize there are 24 satellites in the sky guiding them, he says.
“ They don’t know, or care to know, about longitude and latitude. All they want to know is where to turn right or how to avoid a traffic jam to get to work more quickly.” When GPS technology is incorporated with software programs, it becomes more userfriendly, and “ new and useful ideas” are popping up all the time, he adds.
For instance, GPS could help locate a missing dog — collarsize units will soon be in pet stores.
Telus Mobility is working with a police department in Western Canada field- testing GPS units on its tracking dogs, says Chris Langdon, director of business enterprise solutions at Telus. The company already offers cellular phones embedded with GPS.
“ When people find a neat place they want to tell their friends about, they use the camera phone to send a picture and the GPS tells them how to get there,” Langdon says. The OnStar technology combines a GPS with a cellphone and offers its 200,000 subscribers in Canada services ranging from emergency assistance to information about the nearest gas station or restaurant, says Tom Odell, a technology planning manager for General Motors of Canada. OnStar handles more than 107,000 calls a month — including 700 requests to track stolen vehicles, he says. It will be standard on all 2008 GM models sold in Canada. But GPS technology isn’t all serious business.
Georgetown’s Ralph Schuessele and his 7- year- old son Tylor use GPS in a new sport called geocaching. Geocache enthusiasts have hidden more than 208,000 treasure troves worldwide — 3,000 in Ontario, alone — and treasure seekers with hand-held GPS units hunt them down with longitude and latitude co- ordinates downloaded from the Internet. AGPS tracking unit feeding information to a website allowed 15- year-old Evan McGregor’s classmates in Calgary to follow his progress on a 4,000-kilometre bicycle relay ride. Evan and his father, Brian McGregor, were among 40 riders fundraising for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which helps support cancer survivors and their families.
“ It was great, because our friends and families could see exactly where we are,” says Brian McGregor.
While GPS is creeping
into everyday life, it’s in
business and agriculture
where it has its strongest
foothold, Senf says.
“ After trying it for three
years, I wouldn’t want to
run a towing company
without a GPS in every truck,” says Barry Robbins of Robbins Towing Company in St. Catharines. The Lasso CSI GPS units use wireless technology to transmit the location of each of his five tow trucks to Robbins’ computer. This enables the company to dispatch the trucks more efficiently to accident scenes and breakdowns.
“ I even get a message when a truck is left idling outside the coffee shop for more than five minutes, or if one my trucks is speeding.”
Robbins says the resulting savings in fuel more than make up for the cost of the units, which can amount to $ 1,000, and the fee per truck of $50 a month. “Then there’s the peace of mind of knowing it’s put an end to my trucks being used for private jobs,” he adds. On Lennie Aarts’ farm on the Niagara peninsula, GPS keeps his tractor on the straight and narrow. A GPS-linked autosteering system ensures there is no overlap when spreading fertilizer or herbicide. “When you farm more than 3,000 acres, that adds up to big savings,” says Aarts, adding that the $ 4,000 system more than paid for itself in less than a year. “ And it’s more environmentally friendly to be using the exact amount of fertilizer.”
“ It’s taking over agriculture,” says Doug Aspinall, of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture.
It allows farmers to work through the night at planting time. GPS units are used to monitor yield, locate drainage tiles and mark boundaries.
Meanwhile, Senf predicts the cost of GPS technology will continue to drop as it is more widely used. He even predicts travellers will eventually be able to track lost luggage using GPS luggage tags.