Navigating the world: Why GPS is essential for safety on our streets
Most of us use our smartphone maps to guide us in our daily lives: while walking in a new city or unfamiliar place, while planning our running routes, or simply when trying to find a new restaurant. More than a billion people use Google Maps every month, from pedestrians, car drivers, ride-share and delivery drivers, and more. Beyond helping us get from point A to B, GPS plays a key role in ensuring we stay safe while navigating unfamiliar terrains, whether in city streets, rural highways, or remote wilderness. Here, we’ll explore the powerful impact of GPS on safety in various navigation scenarios, from urban exploration to outdoor hiking, and discuss the challenges that GPS systems still face in providing pinpoint accuracy.
GPS and personal safety: Everyday navigation
When GPS was first developed for military use, safety wasn’t its primary purpose. Yet as technology evolved, its benefits for civilian navigation became undeniable, quickly becoming a fixture in cars, smartphones, and outdoor devices. Today, GPS technology is invaluable for personal safety and security, helping us navigate new places with ease, avoid potentially undesirable areas, and share our location with others.
Navigating cities: A guide through the urban maze
Navigating an unfamiliar city can be daunting, especially if you’re in a busy place like London and Tokyo. If you’re driving, your car satnav system or smartphone map can offer clear directions, helping users avoid unsafe neighbourhoods or high-traffic areas. Apps like Waze provide real-time incident alerts and crowdsourced information about hazards, accidents and road closures.
Pedestrians use GPS on their smartphones for walks and runs, and to make sure they can optimise their routes. Strava allows users to share their location with chosen contacts for real-time monitoring, even if they aren’t Strava users.
GPS systems enable ride-sharing and food delivery apps to help drivers follow safe routes and keep customers informed of arrival times. These platforms, like Uber and DoorDash, rely on GPS accuracy to share driver locations and estimated arrival times, offering a sense of security to users waiting alone at night or in unfamiliar areas. Deliveroo drivers, for example, can set up an emergency SOS on their phones which alerts their emergency contacts and the company in case they face an incident on the road.
Outdoors and hikers: Safety in the wilderness
For outdoor enthusiasts, GPS is a lifeline. Whether exploring well-known trails or going off the beaten path, hikers and campers use GPS devices for navigation and, in emergencies, as a call for help. Walking and outdoor groups like the Ramblers or Walk Highlands provide advice on using GPS devices and GPS-powered smartphones in the outdoors.
Modern GPS units designed for the outdoors, such as the Garmin inReach and SPOT Gen4 Satellite Messenger, allow users to share their real-time location with friends, family, or even emergency services when needed. These tools are essential for keeping solo adventurers safe, allowing them to send SOS messages with their coordinates when out of cell range. Recently, Nepal announced that it would be made mandatory for all Everest climbers to carry a GPS tracking device.
GPS mapping apps like AllTrails and Gaia GPS have also become favourites among outdoor enthusiasts. They offer offline maps, elevation data, and detailed route information, helping hikers stay on course even when cell reception fails. The ability to mark waypoints and track one’s route reduces the likelihood of getting lost, especially in large, unfamiliar areas.
Feeling safe: Personal security in everyday navigation
One of GPS’s most significant contributions to modern navigation is the sense of security it provides. For solo travellers, parents monitoring their children’s locations, and people navigating new areas, GPS has become an indispensable security tool. Apps like Find My iPhone and Life360 allow families to monitor each other’s locations in real-time, adding a layer of safety for parents with young drivers or kids who are commuting alone.
Apps like WalkSafe help users (especially women) stay safe while walking the city streets at night, allowing users to share their location and send out alerts if they don’t reach the chosen destination.
Personal safety apps such as Noonlight integrate GPS with emergency alert features – recently, Noonlight collaborated with Tinder to enable users to press a button to get in touch with emergency services. GPS-based security solutions are especially popular in university towns or with individuals who frequently commute alone at night, empowering people to feel safer and more connected as they go about their day.
GPS can also serve a significant purpose in times of emergency such as alerting tourists during the Greece summer fires in 2023.
Read more about how GPS is used in emergencies.
GPS accuracy challenges: Real-world issues and solutions
While GPS has undoubtedly enhanced safety in navigation, it faces accuracy challenges that can affect user experience and, at times, safety. These issues are especially prevalent in urban and remote environments where signals can be weak or disrupted.
Multipath interference in urban areas
As pedestrians in a city surrounded by high-rise buildings, many of us have found ourselves following the blue arrow on our phones, only to find that we’ve been walking in the wrong direction. In cities, GPS signals often struggle with signal obstruction or reflection by buildings, bridges, and other structures that block satellite signals – a phenomenon known as multipath. This causes the blue dot on your map to misbehave.
Signal attenuation under foliage
Foliage and tree cover can also weaken GPS signals, which makes it harder for outdoor enthusiasts and hikers to navigate safely.
The result is less accurate positioning, which can cause minor issues like delayed directions or, in extreme cases, confuse navigation systems and lead you off-track. In a recent incident in the Scottish Highlands, a walker lost his way in the wild when his GPS device directed him wrongly. This illustrates that GPS may not always work in the way you expect: being mindful of these limitations can help minimise unexpected detours and encourage safer, more reliable navigation.
Improved GNSS accuracy for better safety
Solutions such as multi-GNSS receivers, which access multiple satellite constellations like GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo, are helping urban GPS systems become more resilient to signal disruption. Additionally, smartphone manufacturers are increasingly using dual-frequency GPS, which accesses two separate signals to improve accuracy, as in the case of Apple’s iPhone 14.
FocalPoint’s positioning technology helps improve accuracy at the GPS chipset level, mitigating the problem of multipath interference. The result is GPS that is more reliable and accurate. It also detects and mitigates spoofed signals, which makes the GPS receiver more resilient to security threats.
GPS technology as a navigation safety net
As GPS technology advances, our navigation experience will only improve. Upcoming innovations are focusing on improving accuracy in challenging environments, expanding satellite networks, and integrating advanced features like real-time weather forecasting and augmented reality navigation. For example, Apple’s iPhone 14 now includes satellite-enabled SOS, allowing hikers to call for help even when they’re beyond cell coverage.
The UK Governments policy framework to bolster greater positioning, navigation and timing resilience will help support critical services including finance, emergency and transportation so they can safely run services without interruption.
For everyday road users navigating urban cities and outdoor adventurers like hikers and climbers, GPS technology has redefined what it means to explore with confidence. Whether it’s uncovering hidden trails, finding the quickest city route, sharing real-time locations with loved ones, or accessing emergency assistance when needed, GPS has transformed how we move and stay safe, both in nature and in bustling urban environments. Looking ahead, the continued advancement of GPS technology promises even more possibilities for safely enjoying the beauty of the natural world and rich experiences of our cities.
The path forward: Innovations in GPS technology
Today’s GNSS receivers must be accurate, reliable, and secure in all environments, including urban centres and dense suburban areas. To address these challenges, GNSS technology can be enhanced using modern signal processing and machine learning techniques.
FocalPoint’s GNSS positioning software is an upgrade to existing receivers and works at the chipset level. With the ability to mitigate the impact of multipath in urban areas and detect and mitigate spoofing threats, it significantly improves the accuracy, reliability and security of GPS.