GPS software as of now is playing a pivotal role in social security and safety. Police and law enforcers rely on GPS units and navigation as well as locator systems to not only catch criminals, but also to be able to communicate effectively with each other. The Global Positioning System consists of 24 satellites that orbit Earth and send signals to ground stations that can monitor and, for example, pinpoint an object’s exact location within less than a meter at any given time. GPS units have become an increasingly prevalent law enforcement tool with important functions in solving crimes and keeping citizens safe.

Dispatchers use a wireless GPS system to keep track of the whereabouts of police officers while on duty. Maintaining the position of police vehicles helps dispatchers know which officers are closest to scenes of emergencies.

Police officers can access GPS maps in their cruisers to give them exact locations of requests for services. The system lists potential threats, crime trends and call histories as well. Officers are grateful for wireless systems because the technology has aided in improving the overall safety of officers in the field.

It has been said that the computer mapping system proves more efficient than ever in comparison to the old system that existed in the 1980s. The old system was only upgraded on a periodic basis, but the new wireless GPS system is consistently updated. The maps prove useful for officers in finding safe and quick ways to redirect congested traffic scenes.

Using GPS software that has been built into electronic devices, police are often able to track down the location of those devices when they are stolen. This allows them to recover the stolen electronics and cars and arrest the perpetrators in some cases.

Currently, many smart phones and 3G devices have this ability already, but as technology improves, it is very possible that more laptops, tablets, computers, and eBook readers will have GPS location technology. It’s even possible that as GPS technology becomes more portable, it will ultimately become part of other valuables and assist in police tracking in case of theft.

In addition to ideal temperatures and crystal-clear water, beaches in India offer accommodations ranging from bamboo huts to luxurious 7-star hotels with personal butler service. Here is a list I’ve compiled of 10 of my favorite beaches in India.

Now this is just my opinion, so please share your thoughts. What beaches are your favorite and why?

Goa: The northern area is known for parties and festivals, while the southern exudes a more quiet, relaxed aura. Goa is a Mecca for para-sailing, windsurfing, water scooter and banana boat riding, and is always a good time when the sun goes down. Just watch out for those beach shacks… they can be too much fun!

Lakshadweep Islands: Catering to more luxurious accommodations, this area boasts the only coral atolls in India. On Bangaram no alcohol is permitted and the only restaurant is a palm-frond-thatched bamboo hut. Very special place.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Known for its remote, serene atmosphere, this is a Mecca for shell collectors, bird watchers and beach campers. History buffs will enjoy a memorial erected to honor lives lost during the World War II occupation by Japan.

Gokarna: Known for its hippie atmosphere, Gokarna is a spiritual haven. It boasts five beaches: Gokarna Main Beach, Kudle Beach, Om Beach, Half Moon Beach and Full Moon Beach; the last two are only accessible by boat or hike, and Om Beach got its name because it closely resembles the Om Symbol. One highlight is the Shivaratri Festival featuring a giant chariot parade. Very fascinating place and the jewel of Karnataka in my opinion.

Daman: Visitors can enjoy the rocky, black sands of Davka or horseback riding at Jampora. One must-see is the Zoroastrian temple. Guests are encourage to partake of butter-garlic tiger prawns and fish squid.

Pondicherry: On this remote beach and former French colonial territories, your only company may be sandpipers and giant seagulls. Accommodations range from beach tents to tree houses.

Kavalam: In addition to strolling along its black sand, Kavalam is a sanctuary for those seeking regenerative spa treatments.

Chennai: In addition to being the world’s second-largest beach, ten nests offer a haven for an almost-extinct population of turtles. It also contains a very lively beach bazaar and fish stands that litter the sand next to the crashing waves.

Mangalore: Despite swimming being ill advised, guests can enjoy stunning sunsets in a relaxed, get-away-from-the-world atmosphere.

Kochi: Along with long, care-free beach strolling, visitors are transported back-in-time to a fishing village circa 1371AD where fish are still caught in Chinese-style nets. You can also catch many famous backwater tours to experience local villages and amazing seafood fare.

What do you think? Agree or disagree? What are your favorite beaches in India??

With its numerous applications, the use of personal tracking devices and their applications are predicted to grow with a CAGR of 40%, with both markets breaking $1 billion USD in 2017, according to ABI Research. Markets are expected to be particularly strong within the health and fitness sectors, as well as for the elderly or lone workers, growing to over $200 million USD in 2017, as well as the majority of total tracking market revenue.

The application market is already booming, with Life360 reaching 10 million downloads for its family locator application. The new focus could also be put to use with the tracking of luggage or even pets – helping to give consumers greater control and security over various aspects of their lives.

Personal tracking devices are opined to become an integral part of the overall health and security markets, the growth prompted by the use of smart phones and other personal electronics.

There are first signs of leading CE companies entering the market, such as Qualcomm, Apple (via PocketFinder), Garmin, Cobra, etc., and there will also be significant partnerships and acquisitions in this space as new entrants looks to add tracking to their portfolio, according to Senior analyst Patrick Connolly. We have also just partnered by Mapbar Tech. of Beijing and created the Mapbar Navi – India app, which provides extensive India maps and navigation routes for over 1000 cities and 2.2 million points of interest.

An in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies is provided by the ABI Research.

The primary aims of technology are to make our lives simpler and safer. Government officials in Brazil are making sure that technology fulfills its goals by creating GPS trackers that are being embedded in students’ uniforms. The main reason for these trackers is to enable parents to know exactly where their children are when they are supposed to be in school, just in case they skip school or something much more worse were to happen, like a kidnapping.

20,000 students in Vitoria de Conquista have been given these uniforms with GPS embedded chips. These chips are embedded in the sleeves of the uniforms. It sends a text message to the parents as soon as their child enters the school premises or if their child is more than twenty minutes late. It also helps keep track of missing children thanks to the GPS technology that it uses. This is similar in nature to GPS trackers installed in cars and laptops that can help pinpoint their location to within a few feet.

This not only helps in case of truant children, but also to increase safety. The government has spent $670,000 to design and manufacture these shirts and plan to make more so that all 43,000 students from public schools (between the ages of 4 and 14) can wear these shirts in 2013.

Depending on the success of these devices it is likely that other schools might adopt similar policies in order to protect their students from harm, and their children from truancy.

Space, the final frontier as they say. Space, terribly huge and ever expanding. No maps, no GPS, no navigation systems. As more and more ventures into space are launched, the need for a navigation system as accurate as the GPS system on Earth has become very great. And some clever scientists may have found a solution to allow a spacecraft to pinpoint its location with stunning accuracy: by using dead stars!

Dead stars are of quite a few varieties, like the white dwarf and pulsars. The stars in question here are called pulsars as they pulsate with steady x-ray pulses; which are so steady and accurate that they are as reliable as atomic clocks. By using a detector to compare the pulses received at a given position, a spacecraft could easily determine its location in space with pinpoint accuracy, possibly down to just 5 km.

The GPS system on Earth uses artificial satellites to pinpoint exact location sand this future-tech won’t be too different; it will just be using pulsars instead of satellites. This groundbreaking technology is still off a few years, perhaps 15 years, give or take a few as that is the estimated amount of time it would take the scientists to miniaturize the mirrors to be used as detectors for the X-ray pulses. Regardless, this innovation will be very valuable in the near future as our expansion into space is picking up every year. This new GPs technology is actually already in use, but far from perfect at the moment. NASA’s Voyager satellites gleaned from current tech could be off by as much as 100,000 km.

No matter where we are now, it looks like astronauts will have their own GPS device system in near future. Or rather I’ll say ‘UPS’ for universal positioning system. Earth seems so little now.

While GPS is not yet mandatory in India, it has proven itself to be valuable enough for law enforcement to consider making it so. Automobile theft is commonplace in India, both for bikes and cars. Tracking down thieves often proves to be something of an impossible task. With GPS tracking available in mobile devices, notepads and laptops, law enforcement officials have found it much easier to trace the stolen gadgets and hence catch the culprits. Seeing the usefulness of this technology, they are considering making GPS a compulsory requirement in all cars.

With vehicle locators now being an option, police officers are suggesting that people use them in order to keep their cars safe. GPS systems enable your vehicle to be located remotely, thereby letting you find out where you car is no matter where you are. Also, now that thieves are becoming aware of the presence of such a device, it is serving as a strong deterrent.

As they become more technologically advanced, GPS devices too are becoming more affordable. Some companies have weekly discounts on state-of-the-art devices, making GPS accessible to people of all economic backgrounds. And while we know that GPS holds myriad advantages to everyone, law enforcement officials are finding them increasingly beneficial to help make their jobs a lot easier.

After a year and four days, the Masterblaster has finally achieved his 100th century off 138 balls at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, Bangladesh. A leviathan wave of joy rushes through the nation at this achievement of our most beloved sportsman.

Though India lost the match to Bangladesh by 5 wickets, it wasn’t enough to dull the moment and celebrations.

At the age of 38, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, born on 24 April 1973, became the first person in the history of cricket to achieve 100 international centuries and perhaps the only one we will see; we have a firm belief that no one else will be able to repeat this remarkable milestone.

He stood at the non-striker’s end looking at his bat for a moment before thanking the heavens. He then raised his helmet towards the crowd, planted a kiss on the Indian cricket logo and was hugged by teammate Suresh Raina.

Taking a year and four days after his 99th century against South Africa at Nagpur in the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar said that the achievement had yet to sink in. “It was a tough phase for me. Especially tough when you know that I started off this season batting reasonably well,” a tired-looking Tendulkar told the NEO Cricket channel.

“I batted well in Australia. I felt at times I was luckless. Doesn’t matter how many hundreds you score, you still have to put your head down, grind it out and do the job for the team. It hasn’t sunk in but I have definitely lost about 50 kilos.”

He raised his arms to the sky in a muted celebration before being congratulated by the Bangladesh fielders.Tendulkar has now hit 49 ODI centuries and 51 in Tests and went on to make 114 before being dismissed.

We at SatNav take this opportunity to celebrate this momentous occasion alongside the iconic Sachin Tendulkar for his hard fought 100th century. Sachin, we salute you.

Maps have been around for a very long time. No matter where you’re from, everyone always needs to know where they’re going, be it in life or on the street. At first people began mapping their local areas, and soon with bits and pieces coming together, the entire world had been mapped.

The concept of mapping came about over 8000 years ago. Maps were first made out of brushes and parchments, making them varied in quality and limited in distribution. With the dawn of the printing press, paper maps became quite common. However, paper has a limited lifespan. It must be carried around carefully and is easily torn or damaged by dirt or water.

It was around the mid 20th century when technology began to change the look and feel of a map. Maps began to find their way on to computer screens and mobile devices. It was Ivan Getting and the U.S. Department of Defense that changed mapping forever when they invented the Global Positioning System – GPS. Using satellites orbiting the Earth, GPS systems allow us to pinpoint the exact location of any device attached with a GPS receiver accurate to a few centimeters. This allows maps to become interactive beings on handheld devices such as mobile phone and tablets, along with desktops and laptops.

With the advent of GPS, paper maps have died an abrupt death. GPS allows you to track your exact position and guide you to the place you need to be with ease and precision.

4G technology basically defines the next generation of mobile devices. The use of G – standing for ‘generation’ – in mobile technology covers the major advances of the past 20-30 years. First came 1G technology which was widely used in cell phones; 2G came next in the early 1990s which made text messaging possible and introduced us to a revolutionized digital scenario; 3G technology improved the efficiency of how data is carried which made it possible for us to carry information services, such as websites, in their original formats; and now we have 4G mobile technology, which is not yet an agreed upon industrial standard so the conversation is currently focused on its goals and not its requirements.

Elaborating more on its goals, 4G should use enhanced security measures and the data transfer speed should be high to meet requirements and increase efficiency for users. It should also reduce blips in transmission when a device moves between areas covered by different networks. 4G mobile networks must also use a network based on the IP address system, same as is used for the Internet. Unlike the previous generation of mobile technologies 4G will be intensively used for Internet access on computers as well as carrying cell phone communications. People who reside in areas having high 4G coverage can use it for broadband connection directly. It can also be used for accessing the Internet on the move without having to be in a wireless hotspot.

In India the reliance industries will start offering 4G services probably in the summer of this year. Sources within the RIL, headed by Mukesh Ambani, revealed to The Economic Times that it plans to provide 4G connectivity to 700 cities by June of this year, which will definitely be a big step toward its developing India.RIL will be touting speeds of up to 50–100 Mbps on its network. Taking this into account, low costs and high speed are the main avenues through which it will rise in the market, with its speed being 7 times that of 3G.It is also planning to launch low-cost data cards and Android-powered tablets to counter the price-sensitive market of India.

The only obstructions in the way of RIL are government regulations that restrict the use of RIL’s wireless access spectrum for transmitting voice data. So a change in government regulations and policy may allow them to offer voice services on their 4G network in the future, which will undoubtedly be a huge improvement for the coming era of advanced development and will create new ways for the country to reach to the peak of modernization and compete with the world’s most developed countries like the United States, China and so forth.

Further, 4G applications are set to evolve in a multiplatform environment. 4G apps will be available across various wireless technologies like LTE, Wi-Fi, etc., and also in devices like cell phones, laptops, e-readers, digital cameras, printers and so on. 4G applications are very likely to be extended and improved versions of the existing 3G services, but it is still unclear what the capacity of 4G will hold for the mobile world.

Thus, for the time being, it is assumed that the next generation of wireless applications and services, such as e-readers, mobile IPTV, mobile marketing and geo-targeted advertising, location-based mobile applications embedded in social networking are likely to become the key applications in the upcoming 4G apps space. Reports by various newspapers and television news programs state that the 4G industry is likely to see many more exciting and revolutionary new devices being created. In addition, mobile app stores are set to become a key distribution channel for upcoming 4G applications.

While the rapid technological advancement holds vast potential for this new frontier, there are several issues that need to be addressed so that 4G can truly live up to and exceed its potential. These issues include but are not limited to the need for sustainable and lucrative 4G business models, important privacy and security issues, creating industry standards of excellence and meeting them in all facets of the technology, dealing with handset limitations, improving poor use experience reported by users for many different phones and importantly the lack of awareness of mobile data services among people.

The 4G revolution still awaits India. Drastic changes and improvements from 3G technology need to be a priority and, before they’re addressed, there are many gray areas for 4G. But if done intelligently and thoroughly, 4G holds enormous potential for India and can really create a boom in the IT industry, key to the Indian economy. Hence the evolution from 3G to 4G will be stimulated by services offering enhanced quality, requires increased bandwidth, needs elevated sophistication of large-scale information provisions and must have improved customization capabilities to support myriad user demands.

The push and pull relationship between parents and their children has become even more challenging. Now, with the help of GPS enabled tracker devices, parents have the ability to know where their offspring are at all times. These devices can be found in phones, vehicles, and a plethora of single purpose devices. From a computer, smartphone or other device parents can check up on their kids whenever they want, allowing them to monitor where they are and where they have been.

From a parent’s perspective, this usually seems like a great idea. For young children it allows for peace of mind knowing they are safe. Tracking devices can also be purchased that find kids within a certain radius. That way a mother who lost her child in a supermarket can quickly know where they are. To parents, the device seems like one of the greatest creations ever. Rearing children can be stressful enough without having to worry about where their kid is at all times. Even older children can be monitored through phones and car GPS.

For small children, the use of trackers isn’t too big of a deal. Once kids arrive at an age where they desire more independence though, it is easy for disagreements with parents to arise. Let’s face it, kids love adventure. Being out of their parents prying eyes allows them to explore new situations and meet new people. While a parent may not be physically present, many children believe that being tracked is still an invasion of privacy.

As with most other parent vs. child debates, this one is unlikely to be settled anytime soon. Who can blame parents for wanting to better know their kids whereabouts? At the same time, who doesn’t remember being a rebellious kid yearning for every ounce of freedom possible?

What is your take? Where do you draw the line between protection and privacy??