One of the characteristics of many great technologies is that although they can have a serious business application, they often can be used to enrich our personal day-to-day lives. For example, GPS trackers have a range of purposes, some in the business world, and some just to make our lives that bit more interesting.
Of course the practical applications are great. Of course businesses need to track their vehicles or monitor vulnerable lone workers, and parents value the assurance of being able to follow their childrens' movements. But, how can we get something extra from these devices? Here are a few quick examples.
Let people follow your fundraising challenge: More and more people are getting involved in endurance fundraising challenges, which can range from a sponsored walk or marathon run, through to an adventure over many days and hundreds of miles, perhaps by bicycle, by foot or even by boat. By carrying a small personal GPS tracker or GPS enabled phone with you on your journey, you will be able to enable those following your progress to see exactly how you are getting on and they will be encouraged to come back often to see how you are getting on. They will soon find themselves totally involved in your challenge.
Fitness tracking: Well, exercise isn't for everyone, but if it is for you then what better way to keep tabs on your progress and achievements that to have a GPS tracker do the hard work of accurately recording your run, noting times, speed, and which areas on your route you struggled the most, but most importantly letting you see progress by comparing one session with another. You shouldn't underestimate the power of getting objective data on your routine—seeing where and why you need improvement, not to mention how far you've come, can be really motivating.
Geotag your photographs: There is something special about being able to see exactly where and when a picture was taken. Increasingly, people are using geotags to tag photos with where they were taken - i.e. the exact latitude and longitude. Using a hand-held GPS that displays your position on a screen, you can make a note of the location down as you take the photo, or save effort by simply taking another photo of the screen. Alternatively, just make sure you have a note of the time the photo was taken, and when you get back to base, look up your GPS trace and get the position that corresponds to the time the photo was taken. Using a service like Flickr you can tag your photos with their latitude and longitude.
On day out with Friends: You know the scenario. You have headed into the city with friends or family and split up for a while, then you want to know where each other are and arrange to meet back up again. You can try calling them, but if you are not familiar with the location, then its hard to really know how close or far apart you are. So what if your group each carried a GPS tracker, which in practice might simply be their GPS capable cell phone, then you could quickly open a map on your phone and see precisely where everyone is at that moment. How much easier would that be?
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