GPS and Its applications

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a nebulous technology. To some, this state of the art
technology helps them to locate the position on the earth and utilise it for the benefits of human kind,
while others manipulate this technology to support their “blackhat” operations. GPS technology
enables us to identify the exact location of GPS device holder on the earth. This can be done when
GPS device transmits the signal from its location. The transmitted signal is then processed by Satellite
receiver. The Satellite receiver will determine the location of the GPS holder location on the earth by
calculating the signal transmitted and assigns the coordinate value to it (Easting & Northing). Although
GPS can reveal the position of the device holder accurately but what is more important to address is
how this insights information helps us. There is no benefit of having GPS if it is not going to help us
any better. With that, the following are the examples on how GPS can be leveraged and extended to
help any kinds of industries.

GPS has been used widely in airline transportation industry. The like of AirAsia and Malaysia
Airlines System (MAS) for instance have been using GPS for their airline traffic planning and routing.
With coordinate system available on GPS, the movement of the plane can be tracked and monitored.
Any abnormality happens to the plane such as deviation of the plane movement from its pre-
programmed route will automatically trigger the command control centre on the status of the plane.
Moreover, the speed of the plane can also be measured as the movement of the plane is tracked by
GPS. In fact, a pilot can set the plane to “auto-fly” mode so that the plane can fly without human
interaction as it follows the pre-programmed coordinates that have been configured to follow GPS
coordinates. In addition to that, the time of arrival of the plane can be calculated too as the speed of
the plane that follows the pre-programmed route can be measured and calculated. With the
availability of the time of arrival, a consumers of the plane will be able to plan their journey
accordingly.

Besides airlines transportation industry, GPS is also use by land surveyor to measure the
boundary of each land. Land is always a sensitive issue. Failure to measure the land boundary properly
can cause a chaos to society. No one on earth can compromise their land especially when it deals with
their own property. As such, a proper technology needs to be used and adopted when measuring the
land. The traditional way of measuring the land is time consuming and resource hungry. With the
acceptance of GPS as a tool to measure the land by International Survey Board Committee, is has
speed up the process of measuring the land tremendously. The decision to adopt GPS as part of the
tool for land measurement is like hitting the nail on the head. It is wise decision with practical
implementation as GPS has coordinate values that can be used as primary data for land boundary
identification. Since the accuracy of GPS can be lowered down to sub centimetre and hence it should
not be an issue anymore as the accuracy of the boundary is precisely located on the ground.

Although GPS technology has a lot of benefits to offer, it does not mean that there is no cloud
on the horizon. The ability of GPS to locate the position of GPS holder on the earth is a bigger threat.
If the information of GPS holder location falls into a wrong hand, they can use this information to
monitor our movement anytime anywhere. Therefore, it is important that we as a consumer to take
precaution measures to activate and deactivate GPS function on our devices. Activating GPS signal on
our device shall be controlled so that the risk of people stealing our location and privacy can be
minimized. Activate it as and when is required.