GPS navigators: the iPods of Christmas 2007

Today's New York Times Circuits section is chock-a-block with articles about the current hot gadget for the holiday season: Personal GPS naviagation systems. With entry level and sale prices on these devices occasionally dipping below $100, these satellite navigation systems have become the hot gift idea for commuters, road warriors, hikers, and joggers.

I'm a big fan of these devices and believe they will do amazingly well over the holiday season, eclipsing nearly every other category of device other than MP3 music players like the Apple iPod (and by the way, some GPS systems do that too). But for people thinking that these are great replacements for a built-in navigation system in your car, you might still want to consider the built-in systems. Many built-in GPS systems have more inputs to the navigation system than just GPS; some will actually use information from steering and speedometer readings to maintain navigation in areas where satellites aren't visible (for example, in skyscraper canyons in New York or in the Ted Williams tunnel here in Boston) and to improve the accuracy of the navigation, perhaps avoiding embarrassing flubs such as these. Further, many built-in systems have access to traffic data too, which can make a big difference in commuting.

But these are all nits. GPS navigations systems are one of those technologies that once you find a product you like, you'll ask yourself how you ever lived without it. I always recommend them as the ideal Christmas present for men, because, to paraphrase the cliché from the old movie "Love Story,"

"GPS means never having to stop and ask for directions."

And for guys, you can't put a price tag on that.

One final useless trivia fact: GPS navigation systems are the only consumer technology I know of that includes corrections for both general and special relativistic effects.

Full disclosure: the author is long Garmin, a GPS navigation manufacturer, at the time of writing.

Technorati Tags: Global Positioning System, GPS, New York Times, Relativity