Lately there have been news stories about GPS “creeping” into the workplace. It’s well known that GPS technology gives businesses a tool to monitor and assist workers to increase efficiency and production levels. Workers’ fears and concerns may be a bit misplaced and then again it’s easy to understand their complaints.

Enraged cabbies, truck drivers, and most recently WABC-TV News employees are feeling paranoid these days, some would claim for good reason. Union officials in a various industries are waving the yellow flag that rights are being violated. It’s just a matter of time before courts become flooded with cases about GPS and alleged constitutional rights violations.

Five years back a convicted first degree murderer appealed to the Supreme Court of Washington, whether a warrant was required for the installation and use of GPS on his vehicle. The court held that a warrant was required before authorities can install and use a GPS device on a private vehicle. Is GPS in for some good legal battles? The jury is still out.

Regarding GPS in private vehicles, New York Civil Liberties Union claims it’s not getting involved though they put their weight on the side of the drivers against the City Taxi and Limousine Commission’s decision to install GPS units in taxis. We’re not holding our breathe, we have a sneaking suspicion that the chaps at the ACLU aren’t about to shy away from appearing in the courts battling GPS ‘intrusions’ in the workplace, privacy is something we all cherish. GPS in the workplace could be viewed as part of the routine like punching a time clock.

There are all kinds of ideas for GPS applications, ranging from brilliant to pure zaney.

I read at www.globalideasbank.com that it would be a good idea to put GPS tracking devices on guns just in case the gun’s owner decides to take take the gun with him into a no gun zone. Police could be notified via GPS immediatly. Interesting.? Yes. Privacy issues? Definitely. The NRA wouldn’t be thrilled.

Bottom line is GPS technology is powerful. How we use GPS impacts significantly on the quality of our lives. The development and usage of GPS applications and units we are witnessing in our society today are not only truelly amazing they are proving to be extremely beneficial to us in countless profound ways we could never have imagined just a few years back.

NavigatorGPS hears the truckers, the cabbies and the WABC-TV News crews and agrees with your protests though we don’t view GPS as ‘big brother’ ‘creeping’ and ‘crawlin’ into the workplace. Media prefers to portray issues in black and white, in this case GPS applications and privacy rights is a grey area worthy of debate and discussion. Companies need to be more sensitive to their workers and employees may have to “bite the bullet” because GPS is part of the new work environment.
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GPS Tracking - high-tech ball and chain
Cheating spouses & slacking employees

Sometimes I still laugh when I think back to an old high school pal of mine who had moved overseas. About nine years ago he got this job where he actually had to return to the good old USA as a sales representative. I spoke to him before he left and boy was he excited for his reunion with America.

What he soon found out swiftly after landing was that he wasn�t the sales rep at all�he had been hired as the logistics guy(navigator) and driver (pilot) without the luxery of having a TomTom Go 700 GPS navigational unit nor a Lowrance iWAY 500C by his side to guide him on his journey! He called me his first night on duty, exhasted, in tears,terribly lost in—— (well, I’ll leave out the name of that city).

There he was lost in the big apple in a rent-a-car. He had been up the entire night before plastering his way through AAA maps and out the door on the freeway at the break of dawn zipping out the door down the NJ turnpike and then returning through Staten Island and somehow finding his way until he got lost.

Next morning after our brief chat, he heeded my good advice, contacted the rent-a-car company and exchanged his car for another with GPS. Enough maps for crying out loud!

Next day he calls from his car phone (cell phones were still connected to cords) and tells me about this ‘mini-computer’ (GPS system) he�s got in the car that�s mapping out his journey for him. That was cool, the start of many great trips to come with GPS! A life-saver.

Only problem was sometimes, the GPS unit would display a route that turned out to be a dead end, a baseball diamond or an exit ramp that didn�t exist. Today though that�s rarer, GPs units have evolved incredibly.

GPS will soon not be an option when you buy a car but a standard item. GPS navigational systems are quickly becoming the norm; something we expect in our vehicles along with an MP3 player,surround sound stereo systems and plasma TVs. Have we become more spoiled? Not sure, I like being able to know my way around and get updates on changing weather conditions.

Most of us don’t like unexpected surprises when we’re out on the road. Why bother getting lost, if we don�t have to? It�s not being smart. Time is precious. If we can input our local position and have the easiest and fastest route mapped out before we begin our trip, why not?

And, even though a lot of us are procrastinators and not the planning types it doesn’t matter cause a GPS receiver will produce your route for you in a few seconds.

Being a good navigator and knowing your way about is a godsend particularly when you can avoid major traffic jams along with certain neighborhoods and map out alternative routes just by clicking a button on your Megellan RoadMate 300 . Megellan and Garmin GPS interfaces are becoming increasingly super user friendly.

Bottom line —-GPS units beats pulling off on the side of the road at 2:00AM in an unfamiliar city, fishing through your glove compartment for a flashlight then doing battle with a map that�s been re-folded a million times.
Yeah, what the heck, I�ll �settle� for a GPS receiver anytime.
!!
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