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(NAPSI)-Signals from space are doing more to improve your life than you may realize. It's got nothing to do with little green men, but everything to do with what many consider the next big thing: Global Positioning Systems, or GPS.
How? Picture this: A cable technician was scheduled to arrive at a customer's house for new installation between the hours of 12 noon and 6 p.m. It's now 6:30. The customer calls the cable company to find out where the technician is and how long before he arrives. In seconds, the dispatcher can tell the customer exactly where the technician is-less than three miles from the house-by pinpointing the driver's location in real-time and instantly on a single map display, all with GPS technology available on mobile phones.
Just a few years ago, GPS technology was not widely used for business or individuals. When GPS-enabled mobile phones first hit the market, there were limitations to their capabilities. Now, however, the technology has improved and most systems offer robust data. The technology is one of the fastest growing services in the wireless industry.
Here's how it works. Handsets automatically tune in to a satellite-based radio navigation system run by the U.S. Department of Defense. Using 24 satellites orbiting the Earth, GPS provides an accurate location nearly anywhere, anytime. With built-in GPS receivers, mobile phones such as those from Nextel Communications, can pinpoint locations in seconds.
A Smarter Way for
Business to Manage
Mobile Resources
Location-based technology on GPS-enabled mobile phones is expected to become a standard part of wireless business applications just as data and voice services are already. Innovative GPS solutions provide the means to deliver services faster, smarter and at less expense than do manual traditional processes.
Businesses can:
• Get real-time turn-by-turn driving directions
• Do mapping and route planning
• Assign and manage employee's jobs, hours and locations
GPS for the Individual
IDC Research recently noted, "GPS ties directly to the innate human need to be aware of one's surroundings and location."
Meeting that need is a partnership between Trimble and Nextel, offering Trimble® Outdoors service. It lets customers plan an outdoor adventure, share the trip with friends and family and research trips taken by others. They can even view routes and points of interest on street, aerial or topographic maps of the continental U.S. and parts of Alaska and Hawaii. The application lets outdoor enthusiasts download, from the Internet, trip planning information and maps to several Nextel phones.
Another service, TeleNav™ from Televigation provides phone-based visual and audible turn-by-turn driving directions at a fraction of the cost of comparable vehicle-mounted GPS devices.
Technology Advances
Today's mobile phones are powerful, portable computing devices. Wireless technology has moved far beyond the days of two-way radios and text messaging to providing an entirely new and smarter way to manage mobile resources and eliminate repetitive labor, downtime and guesswork with fast, precise, location-based information.
For more information, visit www.nextel.com.
It took 38 years for radio to reach 300 million listeners, 15 years for television to reach 300 million viewers and five years for 300 million people to sign on to the Internet from their PC. It will take much less time for millions to realize the benefits of the latest location-based technologies.