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GPS-Many Uses
Global Positioning System
GPS: The Many Uses
These
are just a few of the many uses for a GPS. Also called a Personal
Navigation Device (PND). It’s a 24/7 technology (24 hours a day), in
all weather conditions, and used worldwide for navigation on land, on
water and in the air. You can Track it, Navigate to it, Locate it, and
more. One of the important things to understand is what we call cross-uses.
If it works in the car it may work in the boat or on the motorcycle.
When buying a GPS, check that the base map is to your liking and/or if
you can upgrade to a more detailed map such as lake, satellite, aerial imagery or topographic maps. (MMC/SD card or a PC connection). Some of the newer GPS units offer: MP3 player, picture viewer, voice recorder, digital camera, wireless downloads and communicate to each other.
Hand-held units can be used for most outdoor activities. A reminder: if
you use it around water, ya! Make sure it’s water proof. You may want
to take a few spare batteries just in case. Please note: Some of the
GPS devices talked about on this page are not sold online by Tech & Tackle.
Personal uses include but are not limited to: boating,
fishing, hiking, fitness training, biking, hunting, camping, rafting,
ATV’ing, snowmobiling, skiing, horseback riding, backpacking trips, hot
air ballooning, aviation, search and rescue, auto off-road’ in,
emergency vehicle tracking. Here is a few detailed examples:
Boating & Fishing:
Mark the good fishing spots and easily locate them next time you go
out. Fishfinder Combo’s are very popular with both Sonar and GPS.
You may want to get a unit that takes MMC/SD memory cards so you can
upgrade to higher detailed lake map. Good luck!
Fitness, Training & Biking:
Heart rate monitor, time/speed/distance, course mapping, laps, pace
partner, software to compare and analyze work outs. A must have for the
serious athlete.
Hunting, Snowmobiling & 4-Wheeling (ATV):GPS
and FRS together? Yes! A GPS with a 2-way radio built in. Know where
all your group members are on your GPS and talk to them too.
Peer-to-Peer Positioning! It’s great for a group of hunters in the
wilderness. Waypoint (mark) the locations where you got that trophy.
Hunting Dogs:Ya! That too! The dog wears a special collar. You look on your hand-held GPS receiver and know his location. Dukes back in town!
Hiking, Camping, Backpacking, and Horseback riding:
Basic or Mapping hand-held and wrist units work well for these
activities. The basic hand-held units are light weight, simple to
operate and lower priced. Mapping units give direction on and off the
road
Auto, Motorcycle & RV’s: Please note that most of these units are portable and can be used for several different activities (cross-uses).
Be careful when buying these because the list of features is never
ending. Some of those features include: Voice prompts, MP3 player,
audio book player, travel clock/currency/measurement converters, remote
control, picture viewer, Blue-tooth hands-free calling, speaks street
names and exits, and more. Note: When buying a new GPS for your automobile, look for the SiRF Star III chipset (high sensitivity receiver).
Why? Some say its the most important improvement in GPS technology in
years. It works very good in dense urban area's and is very fast when
highway driving.
Kids & the Family Car:Yes
you can! You put it in the car before they go out. When they get home,
you plug it in to your computers USB port. The route, speed, distance
and times are displayed. Note: Please be careful, check on local, state and federal privacy laws.
Laptops, PDA’s & Mobile Phones: For a very reasonable price you can add GPS technology to your laptop, PDA, Palm or cell phone. Note: Aways check the software requirements. Video graphic cards with lots of memory are a must for some of the newer versions.
RACEf/x and NASCAR: Race
fans, did you ever wonder how they make that halo around the cars or
that name tag follow the car? Yes GPS! The RACEf/x system uses GPS
satellites to track cars within 20 millimeters of their actual
position. This information is updated 10 times a second. Some of the
other data they collect includes RPM, speed, acceleration, gear
position, fuel consumption, braking and to display car locations. WOW!
Geocaching: Treasure
hunting with a GPS. People look for hidden treasures using GPS
coordinates posted on the Internet by those hiding it. The cache has a
log book, something to take (then you leave something for them). Then
return the cache to the same place in the same condition you found it.
To learn more please go to Geocaching page.
Commercial Uses: Here is a quick list of some commercial uses.
Agriculture-Auto pilot for the tractor is here!
They also help tell us how many bushels per acre.
Construction-Site positioning and grade control.
Military-Bomb guidance, airborne navigation, surface navigation.
Do we know everything they do?
Mining-Truck location and grade control.
Public Safety-Find destination fast and police vehicle location during car cases.
Ship Navigation-On the open sea or in the harbor.
If you would like to comment on or add to this page, please contact me using the information below.
Thanks much,
Tech Tiny
Your opinions, questions, and feedback are important to us.
Please Contact Us or e-mail me at techtiny@techntackle.com.
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