Maryland leads nation in GPS use rate
Maryland ranks No. 1 among the states in frequency of global positioning satellite use, the GPS information firm TeleNav reports.
The company ranked cities in states in several categories, from the serious to the frivolous, and found Maryland atop the heap in putting the navigational technology to work. TeleNav said Maryland drivers used GPS at twice the national rate. The company did not venture answers on why Maryland would top the list, but the state's relative affluence and robust high-tech and defense industries could be factors.
No. 2 on the list is the District of Columbia, followed by Massachusetts, North Carolina and California. Rhode Island, Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and Tennessee round out the top 10.
Maryland ranked ninth in terms of the likelihood of drivers to use GPS to get around a backup. The leader in that category was -- no surprise -- Los Angeles, where there are so many backups to get around. Los Angeles also led in total GPS-guided trips, a category in which Baltimore ranked 15th.
Other findings included the nuggets that Wal-Mart is the No. 1 business sought in GPS searches and pizza the most likely food to be sought by satellite.
Comments
And how exactly do they know this? GPS units do not transmit anything, they only receive beacon signals from the satellites. Nothing is sent back to anywhere. So what is the source of their data?
Among other things, I find it hard to believe that DC (population 600,000) has more GPS usage than California (population 37 million).
Is there perhaps a link available, to some background information on this claim?
COMMENT: The measure is rate, not volume.
Posted by: some other george | March 10, 2010 9:55 AM
'some other george' makes some points and raises some questions. We have GPS and find it, for want of a better word, annoying. 'They' use GPS to find Wal-marts? How can you miss them? They're practically on every corner. As for GPS use in major cities, watch it. GPS takes you the fastest, direct route, not necessarily the safest route.
Posted by: ruth | March 10, 2010 7:48 PM