How GPS or electronic positioning systems has made our lives easier

The Global Positioning System or GPS is having a massive impact on our life and the way different businesses and our everyday activities are operating. GPS is synonymous with the positioning system in today’s world of technology and we all refer to GPS as the only positioning system that we can use. However, NavIC is an indigenous GPS system developed by India, and there are also a number of other positioning systems that are limited to specific countries across the globe. The Global Positioning System or GPS, which is mostly used across the globe has made our lives easier in a number of ways and it is not only limited to tracking and navigation. 

Today I will talk about how GPS or the Global Positioning System has impacted technology and the whole world and I will talk about every single aspect of the Global Positioning System in our world of technology. Apart from the availability of GPS on smartphones there are also dedicated GPS trackers that are available in the market which offers more flexibility and accuracy compared to that of the GPS systems that are integrated into our smartphones. The Global Positioning System or GPS is baked into technology these days and it is almost impossible for us today to think about most aspects of our lives and technology without the use of GPS.

So, without any further delay, let’s get started with how GPS has impacted technology and the overall lifestyle.

Navigation

GPS is synonymous with navigation to most people and most people today use GPS only for the purpose of navigation while driving or walking to some unknown place. With the help of GPS nowadays, we do not need to ask local people for directions as GPS is always at our rescue, even at places where nobody is around. Depending upon the type of vehicle that will be used for the purpose of navigation, like a car, motorcycle or by walking, most popular navigation apps like Google maps will automatically display the most appropriate route to the destination depending upon the mode of transport that we will be using. 

Navigation using GPS or other positioning systems is also becoming smart every single day, and the apps also follow the local laws so that you or the driver do not face any problems while driving across some unknown location. When travelling from one place to another is one of the most important tasks for most people, GPS has made travelling and navigation much easier and hassle-free.

Easier tracking

If your beloved family member is out for some work, GPS has also made it easier to track your loved ones to find out, whether he or she is facing any kind of problem on the route. If the person who is out, has given you permission to track him or her, you can use Google or any other tracking application to know the whereabouts of the person who is out. So, if you are having a dedicated GPS tracker, you can also put it in the school bag of your small kid to find out whether he or she is reaching and coming back from school without any hassles. 

Additionally, fleet management and other business operations also use tracking on a large scale to find out whether the vehicles are moving in the correct directions. The same is also applicable in the case of cabs and several other delivery networks to find out whether the assigned personnel are not travelling elsewhere, with the help of GPS for fleet management. Thus, tracking using GPS has also synergized businesses to work effectively and keep an active watch on the employees during the duty hours, or on the overall delivery network in a logistics farm.

Crowdsourcing behind GPS

Crowdsourcing isn’t something that we directly use in connection with GPS but it is one of the most important elements or the driving force behind making GPS or Global Positioning System more efficient and effective worldwide. Crowdsourcing refers to collecting the data from the users and using that data to offer some sort of service to those users. In the case of GPS navigation, Google or any other navigation system finds out the number of mobile devices on a street as a count of the number of persons or cars on that street in order to find out, whether the route is congested or not. 

More aspects are also taken into consideration, like the speed of how fast the mobile devices are changing the location to find out, whether the mobile or the person is travelling in a car, or is simply walking. Depending upon the available data on a particular street, it will automatically mark the route as very busy, moderately busy, or free from congestion. Additionally, we also give information about when exactly a shop or any other business has the most number of customers so that we can plan a visit sometime when the shop or business is moderately empty. As we also get such kind of information from most navigation apps nowadays it is also a useful implication of crowdsourcing behind GPS.

Local businesses flourishing

We all search for local restaurants, and other businesses when we need those services. Google and other services that use GPS, track your location, and then it searches for the database to find out what are the nearest attractions close to your location. It is only after that, Google or any other similar services offer you a listing of all the businesses located nearby. Apart from businesses, it can also show you ATMs, hospitals, bank branches, or anything else that you can think of that offer some kind of service. 

It has made it easier for businesses to mark their presence in the locality and the common people living nearby can easily find that businesses when they open their favourite app, like Google Maps or any other similar app. So it eventually benefits both the business and the common people and everything here is powered by GPS at the backend. For the customers, they are getting listed, which should increase profits, and the local people can get benefitted by knowing about businesses that are located nearby. So, there is no doubt, GPS has made it easier for us to get services easily and benefit the businesses at the same time.

Keeping ourselves fit

Almost all smart wearables and smartwatches these days come with support for GPS, which eventually help the users to understand the number of miles walked by them and also the number of calories burnt by walking or by doing some other exercise. Even if you are not having a smart band or a smartwatch, or any smart wearable, the smart wearable can also give you adequate insights to find out whether the number of miles walked by you is good enough to reach your target of calories burnt. 

In the earlier days, when there was no GPS, you had to manually count the number of miles walked by you, which led to errors. But today, when smart and accurate pedometers are integrated into smart wearables and that too with the advent of GPS technology, it is easier for us to understand the number of miles walked and get fitness information at the same time. Thus, when it comes to GPS or any other positioning technology and our life, it is already having a positive impact on our fitness, which is an essential part of our lives.

Contact tracing

The concept of contact tracing was already there but it wasn’t known to most people, as it wasn’t always necessary. But today, when we are fighting against one of the worst pandemics of the century i.e. COVID-19 you might have heard about contact tracing as one of the ways to fight the Novel Coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 that causes the deadly COVID-19. Contact tracing is used to find out those individuals, who are suspected to have been infected by the disease or to quarantine those individuals, who might have had contacts with a suspected COVID-19 positive patient. China used contact tracing as one of the key tools to get rid of the virus and in India as well, Aarogya Setu app is built on the same model. 

What contact tracing does it simple! It keeps a record of the person you have met and if one of the persons you have met is a suspected COVID-19 patient you will get a notification on your smartphone or any other device. In this case, it also uses GPS to find out your location and then find out whether you have visited someplace where the density of COVID-19 positive patients is high. Some contact tracing apps can also use Bluetooth and cellular tower data to make the information available more precise, but GPS in and out it is a backbone of contact tracing and in the coming days as well, contact tracing can also be used to find more pandemics or keep the human race safe from other perils in the society.

GPS has really made our life a lot easier and I just talked about the most important impacts of GPS and other positioning systems on our lives. In the coming days when we will have our indigenous positioning system i.e. NavIC up and running, we can also find more citizen-centric services in our country that will definitely add more value to our life and will make our lives more comfortable

So, that was all about how GPS or other positioning systems has made our life easier and has impacted technology. Do you know any other great way how GPS and influence our lives? Feel free to comment on the same below. 

Other Articles:

• 5 reasons OEMs can’t take over the GPS tracking market
• What is NavIC? How is it different from the other navigation system?