Global Positioning System (GPS) Shoes

March 1, 2007

A simple GPS receiver, a memory stick and a couple of clickable buttons all embedded in the heel of a shoe. You can be running, walking, flying, jumping, but as long as you are wearing this new high-tech shoe, its GPS location is being recorded on a regular basis.

Yes GPS has extended to footwear now and one of the coolest gadgets to be released at the beginning of 2007 is a new GPS tracking system in shoes. This trendy footwear enables the wearer to broadcast their location in case of an emergency.

These smart shoes can be equipped with other systems to determine heart rate, body temperature and so forth. According to Isaac Daniels, an engineer who designed this high-tech sneaker, the GPS chip is located on the bottom of the shoe and is designed to reveal the location of the wearer with the press of a button.

Features

ON button: This button is pressed in case of an emergency.

OFF button: This is to turn off the GPS chip activation.

Mini USB: This is to enable battery charging and for data transfer from footwear to computer or other monitoring device.

Module Cavity: This contains the modem and GSM and GMA antennas for sending and receiving and for wireless communication.

Other features include the GPS and GMA antennae

How much does it cost?

The price of the GPS embedded shoe ranges between $325 and $350 and they will hit the shelves in March of 2007.

How does it Work?

The GPS is activated by a press of a button on the shoe, and then a wireless alert is sent to a 24 hour monitoring service, revealing the location. Hopefully this new technology will not be used for non-essential matters such as finding out if your husband or wife is really on a business trip.

If something terrible has happened to the shoe wearer and they are not in a position to press the button, the GPS can be activated remotely and notify the authorities.

In addition, GTX Corporation, a California based company is designing a separate brand of GPS footwear using the Cingular networks to broadcast location data. This particular brand enables Duo GeoFencing, which allows caretakers to determine safe or unsafe zones by sending them cell phone alerts if the wearer is found in a predetermined unsafe zone.

If you have an elderly person or kids living at home and you are concerned about their whereabouts and safety from time to time, investing in this state-of-the-art footwear technology might not be such a bad idea after all.