If you are walking around with a smartphone that’s guiding you with its GPS, would it be possible to “augment” your experience with real-time data?

One of the powerful tools that many mobile devices have is GPS. GPS is an acronym for Global Positioning System, a network of satellites (24 of them), computers, and receivers that can work together to calculate your exact position on earth (latitude, longitude, and altitude). This is achieved by triangulation, or comparing the time it takes for a signal to reach three different satellites. The Department of Defense built this revolutionary technology at a cost of $12 billion and it was originally intended primarily for military use. However, GPS in nonmilitary applications first appeared as turn-by-turn navigational aids in automobiles in 1990. Apple® made GPS a central feature of the 3.0 version of its iPhone®. This meant that you could hold the phone in your hand and look at exactly where you were walking on either a drawn map or from a satellite view. GPS is now showing up on tablet computers. Who knows, in the future, being “lost” might become an old-fashioned idea! If you are walking around with a smartphone that’s guiding you with its GPS, would it be possible to “augment” your experience with real-time data? Yes indeed.