Mappying Frenzy for Websites sort of began several years ago, 2004/2005 when Google announced Google Maps (then beta) for folks to start taking Nasa photos of the earth's terrain with Google technology and blending it into an Application Programming Interface (called API). We jumped on the mapping band wagon and so did lots of other vendors. Today, you're just not with the "IN Crowd," unless you have some kind of GPS device hanging around your neck.

Today, GPS is being built into digital cameras. I just bought a new Nikon P-6000 and the manu showed me how to snap a photo and embed the latitude and longitude for the photo. In the early 1980's GPS technology was expensive and the only consumer flavor you could purchase back then was for your automobile, truck or SUV. Back then GPS was only packaged as LoJack. 

Someone sole your car? No problem. The local police department thanks to LoJack was able to find your car within minutes. 

Today... LoJack is publicly traded (NASDAQ: LOJN) The last time I checked, was trading at 3.65 a share. Their Nemesis is OnStar. The GPS tracking system and operator assisted program that connects you to a live human in case you get really lost and need more than two hands and a flashlight to find your way out of Boston or how to get out of Oakland and back to the Interstate at midnight. OnStar also gives police and the local Medivac/Ambulance people your GPS coordinates if you plow your car into a wall, or a tree. There's no argument this application of GPS has saved many lives. 

But just when things nothing more could possibly get invented for GPS use... here we go again.

Last week, FireFox announced a new browser and they now allow (supposedly) anonymous location GPS gathering information to be taken from your computer's location. The advertising copy reads" So this can help you make faster drive to directions getting to your favorite restaurant, bistro, hotel, house, bank... whatever. It's interesting to see they voluntarily added the word: Anonymous without me having to ask for it. Which means your information is being sold to every advertising agency and of course the government thanks to the Patriot Act doesn't need to ask you at all. Invasion of privacy and keeping tabs on you is something the government can do without ever having to ask for your permission. 

Like most real estate professionals, I have an iPhone. Many of you have Palm Pilots (the new one is the Palm pre) or a BlackBerry. All of these new Smart-phones have cool tools you can drop into them like GPS maps, and other geo-locator goodies. 

I sort of told a white lie to some friends of mine as I didn't want to go to their Mother In Law's house for a block party. I didn't think at the time, I'd get into any hot water by declining their offer. 

I apologized and told them I had work to do.

Besides, Agatha's Tuna melt crispies on sourdough baked bread wasn't my idea of a really tasty party food.

I hadn't been out to the Santa Fe mountains in many months and I was sort of relishing the idea of packing a sandwich and driving up to the ski basin and sitting at a picnic bench and scribbling some ideas for my next book. 

Anyway, I did go to the mountains, parked my SUV under the Pine trees, parked my butt on a picnic bench and enjoyed a very nice afternoon. 

The very next weekend, my friends mother in law bumped into me at the mall along with her son (my friend, Mark). Mark asked me how I liked my day in the mountains last weekend. I asked him how he knew.  he brandished his new iPhone 3GS and showed me a nifty application. It shows all his friends with telephone numbers and had a photo of me inside a balloon.  He shows me his iPhone and says see?

"I tracked you last weekend. I know you hate mom's Tuna melt pizza, so I sort of guessed you'd find a graceful way to bow out."

Ouch. I just got busted by GPS!

When you look back at the number of grants and loans the government did in from 1997 - 2003, I tracked down just over $72,200,000 in government grants and SBIR's (tech transfer) to private companies who promised commercialization of GPS products and services. 

Today, GPS is cool, fun and sexy. Fifteen years ago, it was boring and was a utility used only to track your car in case it was stolen.

Today, you can get LoJack for your PC or Mac laptop, your car. Your boat. Your motorcycle. Even your dog or cat can be given a tiny chip just under their skin. So if Rover or Morris ever gets lost or runs away, you can track your pet down to the square foot in any country. They have special kids sneakers that have chips inside them or you can hide them in your kids socks or tie a thingee to their shoe laces and you'll be able to track your kids.

Need to track your suspected cheating spouse? No problem. Just download this tiny application to their iPhone and leave it. So long as your wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend leaves their cell phone on... you can track their every stop from the comfort of your iPhone. 

Does anyone else but me wonder how the Hell we managed to ever survive the last 10,000 years without GPS?  Christopher Columbus or Dutch explorer Henry Hudson seemed to find America just fine without them.

- bart