GPS Tidbits
AgWeb offers a list of things to know before you buy a GPS device for agriculture. The last one, about “intangible” benefits is one many people probably do not think of:
12. Intangible benefits.
“Now that I’ve used [GPS-guided] auto-steer, the stress reduction is bigger than I ever anticipated,” says Bryan, the Iowa farmer. “It’s hard to put a dollar amount on how much less tired I am at the end of a day. One example is my shoulders and neck don’t ache after a day running the planter like they used to. Intangibles like less stress are bonuses that sealed the deal for me.”
- AgWeb
Did you know driving with a GPS can help you understand drought? It did for Peter Foster who lives in China, which is undergoing a serious drought and is planning a serious engineering project in response.
The GPS (or ‘Tom-tom’ for UK readers) shows the reservoirs as large blue splodges on the moving map which, it often indicates, I should be able to see out the window.
Trouble is, half the time they just aren’t there. I look out expecting to see water and instead see grazing livestock and the stumps where last year’s maize fields have obviously been. Miles and miles of ‘blue’ is in fact ‘brown’ and doesn’t appear to have seen any water for years.
I don’t know what date the maps on my GPS are based on, but the gap between the computer and the reality gives you a powerful sense of the scale of Beijing’s water shortages.
GPS, among other technologies helped NYC officials get one unlawful cabbie of the road.The Taxi and Limousine Commission revoked Wasim Khalid Cheema’s license after a January ruling just made public. Cheema had been using the suburban rate for in city trips, jacking them up 100% in some cases.
The city determined the driver was overcharging by reviewing his records, including automatic trip sheets that are generated using global positioning technology. Taxis are required to have the devices.
- AP via NJ.com
On March 3 Russia launched three navigation satellites to bring its GLONASS constellation up to 22 satellites, with 16 operational. That’s getting closer to the 24 required.
- PTI News
