Monday, July 28, 2008

Mobile Phones That Are Integrated With GPS

By Stewart M. Russell

Global Positioning System, much better known as GPS, is a technology meant to track anything and everything. In mobile phones, GPS provides an invaluable service in case of emergencies. GPS is a special feature, integrated in some mobile phone brands and models, such as Nokia 6110 Navigator, Blackberry Curve 8310, HTC TyTN II, Blackberry 8800, HTC Touch Cruise and Nokia N95 (8GB version).

Right now, GPS functionality is reserved for the more expensive and high-end mobile handsets. As the demand for GPS-enabled mobile phones continue to rise, cheaper, smarter and sleeker GPS mobile phones are just around the corner. More mobile manufacturers are looking into investing in the GPS technology's evolvement.

Currently, navigation is the main use of GPS, but that's not what's interesting the investors. While people who refuse to use paper-based maps rely on GPS for accurately pinpointing locations, the ultimate use of GPS technology will be using it to deliver location-specific services. The software used with the GPS satellite links will be able to show a particular person's exact location, allowing emergency services, businesses and other individuals to track down the person, whenever needed.

The ultimate use of GPS technology seems to be a privacy violation, but the real objective is to make it safer for the public and improve on different services for their benefit. Each country has specific regulations to limit GPS utilisation and the restrictions include the inability to monitor anyone without their expressed permission.

High-rise buildings and developmental areas are still a hindrance to GPS tracking systems and the improved technology aims to remove such barriers too. The existing GPS devices are able to locate landmarks, major roads and popular places, according to the user's current locale. Mobile phones with GPS-integration are capable of gathering and presenting relevant information according to the present location.

Network integration is another future possibility with mobile phone GPS technology. Social networking sites and mobile phone networks will be able to exchange real-time information via GPS-integrated mobile phones.

The first step has already been taken by social networking sites such MySpace and Facebook, by introducing a mobile-screen version of their sites. The objective is to allow user generated content to be provided easily and efficiently via the user's specific location.

While GPS technology is a relatively new and great way to keep track of children, elderly relatives, important commercial arrivals and departures etc, it may become quite an annoying applied science for the general public. This is because, if the technology is used by unscrupulous marketers, they can target location-specific advertisements to each GPS mobile phone user.

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