Advances in GPS Technology for Measuring Travel

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, GPS has begun to be used as a method for measuring personal travel. Early devices were for in-vehicle use only and derived their power from the accessory socket of the car. In the early 2000s, the first wearable devices appeared, using battery power from rechargeable batteries. The early wearable devices were heavy and ungainly, and success in having people use the devices was limited. In 2005, ITLS and NeveITS pioneered the use of a much smaller device with its own internal battery, similar in weight and dimensions to a mobile telephone. Subsequent to the initial deployment of this device, there have been further advances in the sensitivity of the antenna/receiver and we have developed with NeveITS a number of improvements to software. This paper describes some of the tests conducted on these GPS devices and demonstrates the capability of these devices to provide detailed and accurate data on travel movements. The latest technologies for GPS devices indicate its potential to replace many conventional methods of data collection that are flawed because of known errors and inaccuracies.