2021

Assignment: The
importance of GPS
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Assignment

a) Did you know that GPS technology might help protect the environment? (a) Identify

ways in which GPS could benefit the environment.

We are living an era where sustainability has become important more than ever before

with increasing population and depilation of resources. The sustainability can be improved with

the better use of resources which is achievable through better decision making. The better

decision making requires the up-to-date information which can be made easily accessible and

can be shared effectively. Gathering the right information on the right time has been the most

challenging part for both the government and non-governmental institutions. The Global

Positioning System (GPS) significantly has reduced this information gap and the sharing and

spreading of information has become really important. The data collection system provides

descriptive information to the decision makers about the information that needs to be spread

across the globe. GPS makes it possible to analyze many environmental problems such as

pollution, wildlife migration, air quality and much more from different perspectives. The data

collected through GPS can be transferred to geographic information software, this allows the

analyses of spatial aspects using other information that creates far better picture of an

environmental situation in a particular region.

The aerial studies of the most difficult wilderness is also conducted with the assistance of GPS

technology to evaluate and areas wildlife terrain and infrastructure. The mapping information is

collected using GPS which helps to better organize the infrastructure and other matters of

managing metropolitan areas. GPS also help in analyzing the weather pattern which helps in

crucial decision making. GPS are used for earth quack detection in earth quack prone regions,
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the devices are really helping the scientists to predict the earthquake which can be lifesaving.

Another important use of GPS is for the farmers and it helps them for harvesting and in the

airplane industry to for the navigation for pilot.

The overall use of GPS can be categorized into the following key broad areas:

1. Location

2. Navigation

3. Timing

4. Mapping

5. Tracking

(B) Have you used a GPS device or mobile navigation app? If so, describe what you used it

for?

Yes, I have used Google Maps as a GPS device. Google Map is a web and mobile app

created by google which is used as navigation device for location finding purposes. It has the

ability to find any place around the world and has the features to show the street view of any part

in the world.

I have been using this app for traveling purposes, sometimes I have to travel, and I don’t about

the locality and distance of the place. The google map application helps me to find the place in

real time. Also, I can track my devices through this app if I have synced it with other devices

such as mobile or laptop. This is an effective app and it has made traveling real easy for

everyone who is not good with location finding.

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(c) Do you think that GPS should be standard equipment for every new car? Why or why

not?

I believe that GPS should be standard equipment in every car, but it can help tracking the

vehicles effectively. These can be important in navigating the stolen vehicles or in case of any

emergency tracking can be easy. Also, if a consumer doesn’t want to continue with the device

they can uninstall it but it should be preinstalled by the car manufacturers.

However, there is a drawback of using these devices because of the privacy concerns. There will

be question on the privacy of consumers because the companies have the ability of track the

location of the vehicles that can be used for malicious purposes.

(d) Do you think that it should be required by law? Why or why not?

This should not be required by the law because of the underlying ethical issues. The consumers

should be free to make the choices and the law should not enforce them to use these devices.

Although the devices are important for navigation purposes, but it should be entirely consumers

choice to use it or not and they should be forced to go against their will.

The reason is that if someone believes that they are safe without this device and they are not

comfortable being tracked, it should be completely fine.