Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide radio-navigation system formed from a constellation of 24 orbiting satellites and their ground stations. It is funded and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense and was originally intended strictly for military use. GPS uses these satellites as reference points to calculate positions accurate to within meters, or with advanced forms of GPS to within a centimeter.
In recent years, GPS has become a common tool used in applications such as cars, boats, aircraft, construction equipment, farming machinery, laptop computers, and even hand held personal devices. Not only has this technology become very portable, but it has also been made affordable to virtually everyone, and will soon become as standard as a cell phone or telephone.
Development of GPS has advanced the technology far beyond its original intended uses. It now provides not only soldiers, but delivery drivers, pilots, hikers, sailors, emergency crews, dispatchers, sportsmen, farmers, and more, with the means to make their work safer, more efficient, and even easier. GPS has taken the guess work out of search and rescue operations, vehicle and property theft recovery, fleet vehicle management, and even a parent’s ability to monitor the location and driving habits of their teenage driver.
What are some of the benefits and applications of GPS technology?
The dynamic and evolving GPS/Telematics industry has opened the door to a limitless number of benefits, including:
- Simplified fleet, shipment and asset management
- Auto guidance systems
(Please click here to view a summary of a Purdue University study on auto guidance farming)- Exact control and route execution
- Efficient use of equipment
- Increased safety and reduced liability
- Sales force management
- Replacing timesheets with precise reports on vehicle movements (distance, route, time, stops, etc)
- Reduced fuel and maintenance expenses by reducing vehicles’ average speed.
- Excessive speed alerts
- Automatic vehicle locator
- Zone alerts
- Increased employee accountability
- Increased profitability
- Service call tracking
- Increased efficiency and customer support
- Pinpoint accuracy worldwide for an ever increasing clientele
- Cartographers – increased map accuracy and detail
- Engineering/Construction – exact building and location measurements
- Military surveying
- Seismic, Exploration and Natural Resource
- Exact location and route mapping on land, sea or air.
- GPS is the backbone of logistics networks, reducing costs and increasing efficiency along the entire supply chain.
By establishing its roots in an industry with such room for growth and strengthening relationships with companies that will promote this growth, NXGen Inc. is positioning itself to be a part of the projected explosion of the GPS/telematics marketplace for years to come.