6 Ways GPS Technology Saves the Environment

As the 1970s progressed, the U.S. Department of Defense desperately needed a global navigation and positioning system, and this research culminated in the NAVSTAR satellite in 1978. Today, GPS is not the only choice either, as various countries have specific satellite navigation systems, including China’s advanced GPS alternative and Russia’s GLONASS. Once GPS became widely available, scientists around the world began to use it to conduct research that helps us preserve the environment, and private companies used it to reduce costs and, in turn, waste. So even though it was created for war, GPS is now saving the planet in a variety of unexpected ways.

It is more difficult to track and tag aquatic animals since the location only sounds when the GPS tracker is near the surface. This information is invaluable not only for tracking endangered ocean life, such as North Atlantic right whales, but also for potentially dangerous animals, such as great white sharks. Many animal species have benefited from GPS tracking technology, and as climate change takes hold, it will become even more crucial to understand what is happening in the world’s different ecosystems.

In 2023, a team of researchers demonstrated how GPS-tagged wolves and vultures could reveal violations of laws governing the disposal of animal carcasses. More recently, the BBC highlighted how researchers are using a satellite system to track animal movement in real time and detect “animal panic” triggered by events such as a gunshot. GPS monitoring raises privacy concerns for humans – Google knows where you are even when your GPS is turned off – but for animals and the environment as a whole, 24-hour real-time monitoring can help ensure that environmental laws are properly enforced.

By equipping aircraft with GPS and infrared (IR) scanners, fires can be mapped with high accuracy. Firefighters in the field then use a field laptop to receive live map information. When combined with other data, this technology provides an unprecedented level of information about a disaster as it unfolds. This allows firefighters to coordinate dynamically, with enough warning to evacuate people and send adequate firefighting resources to the areas that need them most.

Drones are also becoming a crucial part of wildfire management. Modern drone technology is only possible thanks to GPS. GPS could therefore be as crucial to fire management in the modern era as water and fire-retardant chemicals. If you want to know what it’s like to be on the ground for these firefighters, watch this incredible GoPro video of a battle against a massive wildfire.

In a 2020 study, scientists used GPS drifters alongside drones to track where oil goes after a spill and how long it stays there. This information enables prediction of oil spill evolution, facilitating planning and limiting the damage they can cause. Today, radar satellites and floating beacons accurately track spills, allowing disaster recovery efforts to be as effective as possible. The ideal situation would be to prevent oil spills in the first place, but in the meantime, every additional level of protection helps.

Much of this improvement in modern forecast accuracy is due to incredible supercomputers capable of modeling the weather with precision, but that data comes from GPS-enabled weather devices, not to mention satellite imagery. In 2020, scientists began measuring signals from GPS satellites as they pass through the Earth’s atmosphere to infer temperature and moisture content. This allows for more accurate weather forecasts.

The last time you used Google Maps to navigate somewhere, you may have noticed that it offered an option to “prefer fuel-efficient routes.” It may not be the quickest or shortest route to your destination, but it would use the least fuel and produce the least emissions. This is just one example of how GPS technology can directly reduce waste and emissions.

Even without a special eco-friendly route, GPS was already saving huge amounts of fuel all over the world, simply because vehicles spent less time getting lost or sitting in traffic – the small amounts of fuel you avoid burning by getting around these problems add up. In a 2019 report, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) noted that GPS technology had reduced fuel consumption and wear and tear on fleet vehicles. Not only is it good for the environment, but it also saves us money by reducing transportation costs.

It’s not just about vehicle emissions. In agriculture, crop-spraying drones can accurately spray only the appropriate areas of a field, thereby reducing the overall amount of pesticides. This means fewer chemicals are needed to maintain our food supply, and we make better use of natural resources.