I have been very fortunate to be able to travel around the country and the world, especially during the last fifteen years before I e-tired from IBM. My travels were spent mostly sharing and learning a lot about the future of the Internet. One of my hobbies for many years was experimenting and learning about the Global Positioning System (GPS) when it was in its infancy.
When traveling by car or motorcycle I always had a GPS receiver of some kind with me. There was no GPS available on screens in the car and there were no smartphones back then. For quite a few years I would capture a latitude and longitude wherever I went and put them on a “GPS Log” page and then send emails to friends and family saying “click here to see where I am”. I have not updated this for a number of years (I keep it for historical purposes). Perhaps I am a bit more security conscious than I used to be. I do share through the blog where I have been, but I do not usually share where I am or where I am going next.
Making maps is one of oldest skills on Earth. We can all identify with maps because they help us get to where we are going. In the early days, many of us used handheld or dashboard mounted GPS devices as a way to display maps, although paper and plastic coated maps were still nice to spread out on the kitchen table to plan a trip. The Census Bureau operated the “Tiger Map Service” for nearly two decades, but when updating this page I found that “The Census Bureau determined it was time to retire the service.” I used to link latitude and longitude to online maps but now there are various commercial services to choose from. I like the Google Map service but some analysts believe Apple apps will pull ahead with better features. Google is doing a good job with maps, for Earth and for Mars.
