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Exploring Technology's Impact upon Humanity |
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Exploring Technology's Impact upon Humanity |
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Society
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GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS - Locating That Needle in a Haystack Part 2
In Global Positioning Systems, Locating that Needle in a Haystack Part 1, we learned how GPS technology works and how it is being used to track packages and mobile assets such as rented video cameras. Part 2 will continue exploring how GPS and RFID (see sidebar) technology have become a part of our everyday lives. GPS, RFID, along with computer generated Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are indispensable in monitoring the environment, cutting costs while increasing accuracy in construction, helping to save lives, lower crime rates, and assisting in recovery efforts after terrorist attacks. However, these technologies can also become invasive in that they enable the tracking of individuals with or without their knowledge. Monitoring the environment Monitoring our planet's environment, be it the atmosphere, oceans, or weather systems has become easier due to GPS technology. Data received from these monitoring devices helps us become both better stewards of this planet, and to cope with nature's earthquakes and snowstorms. For instance, GPS-equipped balloons are monitoring holes in the ozone layer over the polar regions, and air quality is being monitored using GPS receivers. In the oceans, buoys track major oil spills and transmit data using GPS. This allows for quick response to environmental tragedies or to develop strategies waylaying what could eventually become one. In one of our largest US cities, New York, GPS is helping citizens cope with a variety of environmental events. Combined with GIS to create the Environmental Research Institute - based emergency management online system (EMOLS) and using the Web, location specific information is disseminated during snowstorms, transit strikes and other emergencies. Citizens can enter an address online and get a map showing the location and whether it's safe. In the days following 9/11 citizens were able to use EMOLS to find out where they could walk or drive as well as the status of power, water, and phone service. Precision building Using GPS to precisely survey and map saves time and money. GPS technology makes it possible for a single surveyor to accomplish in a day what used to take weeks with an entire team. They can do their work with greater cost efficiency and a higher level of accuracy than ever before. An example of how GPS technology was a vital element in one of recent history's most challenging construction projects was for the building of a tunnel under the English Channel. British and French crews started digging from opposite ends: one from Dover, England, one from Calais, France. They relied on GPS receivers outside the tunnel to check their positions along the way to make sure they met exactly in the middle. Otherwise, the tunnel might have been crooked! Saving lives GPS is also helping to save lives. Many police, fire, and emergency medical service units are using GPS receivers to determine the police car, fire truck, or ambulance nearest to an emergency, enabling the quickest possible response in life-or-death situations. For example, GPS helped fire fighters respond with speed and efficiency during the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley fire to plot the extent of the blaze and to evaluate damage. In a less urgent yet equally important situation, the city of Modesto, California improved their efficiency and job performance by using GPS and mountain bikes to create a precise map of its network of water resources and utilities. Tracking crime New York City is using a combination of GIS and GPS technology to map criminal activity and police deployment by date, time and location. The CompStat system allows the city to aggregate and then map spatially and temporally 311 and 911 call data across service sectors. Known as "geocoding" this makes it possible to analyze how a variety of city services are performing. It could potentially reveal previously unnoticed patterns in quality of life complaints that tend to precede violent crimes and in the future might actually be instrumental in stopping crime before it happens. RFID and GPS are being combined to help track convicted offenders out on probation. Over 120 criminal justice agencies in 27 states now use the system developed by Pro Tech Monitoring. The offender is provided with an ankle bracelet that is a radio frequency transmitter. The base station box is a GPS receiver. Central monitoring is via AT&T satellite tracking. The box can locate someone at anytime and in any place. Every 10 minutes the GPS device transmits the wearer's geographic location by means of a wireless call to a central computer. If there is any tampering with the anklet or if the offender is in any violation of preset rules, the system sends an immediate alert to the supervising agency. Tracking terrorism The value of knowing where something is located can be important during a time of crisis. New Jersey Institute of Technology's (NJIT) Global Positioning Center was instrumental in guiding rescue workers at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11. The workers used hand held-devices that received signals showing coordinates of destroyed building locations. These were based upon the aerial photographs and 3D digital maps that had been generated of the rescue site. NJIT's antenna retrieves digital data from orbiting satellites. This GPS system is quick and accurate. It can pinpoint objects with a accuracy of up to one inch. In the current Gulf initiative, soldiers have made use of GPS devices to plot and locate terrorists' bases. US army vehicles are also equipped with GPS receivers for navigating through the rough, roadless terrains. Far surpassing maps, GPS data helps our army from getting lost in enemy territory. Tracking you Like a scene out of the science fiction show Star Trek, the Next Generation, the GPS Personal Locator for children allows you to locate your child anywhere anytime. This is what Wherify's website says about their device: "Peace of Mind for Parents. Cool for Kids. Children have a natural urge to explore. Parents have a natural desire to know their children are safe. That's why Wherify created the world's first Personal Locator to help you determine your child's location in minutes. Wherify's GPS Locator helps keep loved ones safe by combining Wherify's patented technology with the U.S. Department of Defense's multi-billion dollar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites plus the largest 100% digital, nationwide PCS wireless network. So relax. Now you can have peace of mind 24 hours a day while your child is the high tech envy of the neighborhood!" Smart cards that utilize RFID technology have been around for over a decade. Mostly used for secure building access, they are now part of contactless fare-based collection systems such as the highway toll system EZ-Pass. The Smart Card Alliance sees new potential uses for these cards. If transit operators would let riders use their cards to pay for things like parking fees, restaurant meals and groceries a multipurpose transit smart card could boost revenue and enhance customer services. Speed Pass for the purchase of gasoline is one such application, though it does not use a transit card for that purpose. However, this could become one more way for tracking a person's everyday moves. A clever application of RFID technology is enhanced attendee show badges. The nTAG company developed badges which they say will enhance the face to face networking process by helping attendees locate like-minded individuals at a show or conference. During the online registration process attendees' interests and areas of expertise are noted. When wearers meet, the badges exchange data through infrared technology and the badge lights up if there is any shared interest between the two attendees! The RFID connection to a computer server stores the exchange of contact information and then presents each user with a personalized Web page after the conference. The downside of all of this tracking ability is that humans are becoming "human cursors." Many companies (especially long haul trucking) use these abilities to track not just where an employee is but how long it took him to get there, if he used the sanctioned route, and in some cases, even how fast he was driving! Is Big Brother is watching you? Using these devices for tracking and surveillance is becoming a good cop bad/cop issue. For every positive use, such as being able to locate your child or find survivors buried in an earthquake, there is a negative one. Just think of the warped possibilities of what could happen if your credit card contained an RFID chip. You stroll down the street, pass a sex shop. Pause for one moment to snicker at its contents. You do not stop in but continue on your way. However, unknown to you, the store's Customer Identification System detected the RFID identification signal in your credit card. It recorded your identity, and the date and time. A few weeks later you are surprised to find, in the mail, a solicitation and a mention of your visit. Fantasy? Hardly. Barry Steinhard, a lawyer and the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Program, thinks not. He writes in Taming the Surveillance Monster (CIO Special issue Fall/winter 2003) that the technologies enabling the above scenario to happen already exist. It's not just the technology but also the emphasis on homeland security that is feeding the surveillance monster and pushing the use of these technologies past their current boundaries. The article writes that "…from a technological point of view, the Big Brother regime portrayed by George Orwell has now become entirely feasible." What we must realize is that any technology can have both good and bad applications. We can't stop the development of technology. However, with vigilance we can monitor how it is being used to negatively impact our lives. Then it is our responsibility, as citizens, to lodge a complaint through proper channels and make sure that either our voices as consumers are heard, or laws are enacted that contain "Big Brother."
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Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) explained: An RFID system consists of two components - tags and readers. Tags (also known as transponders) incorporate a tiny chip and antenna. Active tags, which contain a tiny battery, can transmit hundreds of feet but are very expensive. Passive tags are smaller, have no battery, are cheaper, but can be read from only a few feet distance. Readers communicate with the tags to retrieve the data on them. Some can write back to the tags. The current drawback to using an RFID system is not only the cost but the fact that there is no coding standards in place such as the ones that exist for our current bar code system. Also, RFID communications between tag and reader can be blocked by certain substances (i.e. metal), and non-RFID radio waves can cause interference. It also can be extremely costly to either purchase a new computer system to processes the RFID data, or modify a business' current one. To read more about how businesses coping with RFID check out: Tag It - RFID, a New Way to Track Inventory
For the fun side of RFID check out: We Know Where You Live
For the fun side of GPS check out: Ready, Set, Go, Find It.
Previous Articles: Locating that Needle in a Haystack Part 1
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