Those GPS trackers are coming with more bells and whistles than ever these days. While GPS tracking has extremely wide and varied applications—fleet management, social networking, law enforcement, and more—the most common reason we boot up that GPS is to get directions from point A to point B.

 

Modern GPS trackers are built to understand the flow of traffic in your area, alerting you to potentially dicey traffic situations. Most GPS devices, even phones, are equipped to tell you when you might be running into rough traffic. However, there is one interesting caveat to how your GPS understands the flow of traffic.

 

Road Work
Your GPS might not necessarily understand whether or not there is road work going on in your area. Here’s how these machines work: they connect to a satellite. The satellite communicates with the machine regarding both directions and flow of traffic. It does not, however, know what is causing a disruption in traffic, should there be one. That’s right: if there is an ocean of cones sealing off a lane down the road, your GPS doesn’t know the difference between that disruption and an accident.

 

An Interesting Feature for GPS Designers to Consider
Why is that important? If you are familiar with your local area, you no doubt have noticed that road work is seasonal: it tends to take place mostly during the summer months. It can also range from moderately disruptive to extremely disruptive. If that bridge you need to cross every day to get to work is out of commission, there’s an outside chance your GPS might think it is a simple traffic hiccup.

 

Categorizing GPS data may be the next step in using GPS trackers to enhance modern transportation. By adding that next step of analyzing the flow of traffic, GPS machines may give better suggestions, routing your vehicle in a more effective manner.

 

The Daily Presence of GPS in Our Lives
Either way, it looks like global positioning technology is becoming more of an essential than a convenience to most road travelers. The road maps are becoming outdated, and our dependence on data, on little ones and zeroes floating through the air, continues to enjoy a stronger grip on our daily lives. It’s truly fascinating to see our march into a truly digital age.