GPS is one of those technologies, that constantly amazes me with the new applications that people come up with for using them.  It's true, that GPS units come in all shapes, sizes, colors and appications, and that the smallest GPS can be incredibly useful.  As useful and cool as even their big brothers and cousins. 

I sat on an airplane a couple of years back who was in the GPS positioning business.  At least that's what I think is what it was called, as it was and continues to be a relatively new industry.  What they did, was come up with GPS solutions for tracking all sorts of things using GPS technology.  From valuable shipping containers, to CEO's and their families in the event of disappearance or kidnapping.  You can just imagine, that the size of many of these GPS receivers and transmitters was very small.  These were quite often stealth, or spy units, and quite often need to be hidden on people and things so as not to be detected by the enemy so to speak.

As with with many applications that start out in the business sector, they often prove themselves successful enough to trickle their way into personal use. Being able to quietly track the whereabouts and position of people and things, is not longer trick only available to James Bond, but anyone of use that has a desire to do so.  While the ethical ramifications of taking the smallest GPS you can find and hiding it in the bottom of your significant others belongings for whatever reasons are yours to decipher, it's amazing to me, that the technology is even available to the average person these days.

The WorldTracker SMS device is one such amazing device that communicates over conventional GMS cell networks, and are capable of running for up to four days on a single battery.  Imagine, being able to place one of these tiny devices on any precious cargo your shipping, and have minute by minute reporting as to exactly where your item is at any given point in time.  If you think tracking your parcels with FedEx, or UPS over the internet is cool, you'll be blown away by this stuff.  It's not just meant for secret agents and spies anymore but anyone.  You can get the WorldTracker for around $600 these days, and perhaps even less if you do some shopping around.

For a unit that's only a couple of square inches in size, you'd be surprised what it can do.  It's of course very weather resistant, and can do all kinds of neat tricks, like tie into Google maps, or send you alarms, if your package exceeds a certain geographical area.  A feature known as Geo-fencing. 

Actually, since technology never stands still, it's not surprising the the WorldTracker is a bit bigger than some of the newer GPS receivers hitting the market.  I saw an image of the worlds smallest GPS circuit board receiver, that was actually smaller the the head of a match.  Yep, quite a bit smaller.  With that reduced size, the GPS should draw even less power, and be good for longer periods of time.

While, we haven't gotten to the size of nano technology when it comes to GPS units, I'm sure it's only a matter of time.  It's truly amazing how more and more the stuff of science fiction becomes reality.  I was just watching that 70's seminal classic Logans Run on television the other day, and realized that tracking "runners" is really just another use of GPS technology.  While part of me is terrified of that thought of us all being embedded with tiny GPS units at birth.  That day is not so far off.