The following is a list of some on-line commercial sources of image files that are suitable for use as map images. 

www.unearthedoutdoors.net 

UnearthedOutdoors resells image tiles measuring 2° on a side (49,284km² at the equator).  True Marble™ is available for purchase for latitudes between N84° and S60°. The tiles are georeferenced in WGS84 Lat/Lon projection for use in all modern GIS programs. The GeoTIFF format maintains compatibility with popular image processing programs such as Adobe Photoshop™. Mercator projection and tiled JPEG format are also available. Other formats and projections are available on request.
http://www.unearthedoutdoors.net/global_data/true_marble/purchase

WMS Global Mosaic GeoTIFF Download

This page contains links for a complete set of the raw image data contained in the WMS Global Mosaic, base resolution only. The files are grayscale geotiffs, with the proper geolocation tag information for integration in GIS. These gzip compressed geotiff files are very large, between 350 and 500 Megabytes each, and will decompress to 800MB tiffs, 28800×28800 pixels, covering 4×4 arc-degrees fo the panchromatic band and 8×8 arc-degrees for the other bands.
http://collections.sdsc.edu/dac2/telascience/telascience_data/onearth/

When a Raveon GPS Transponder received an over-the-air position message from a tracked car, boat, truck, or person, it sends a message out of its serial port.  The message it outputs contains the ID of the vehicle that it received the position report from, along with the vehicle’s latitude and longitude.

A typical message would look like this:

$PRAVE,0003,0001,3308.8880,-11713.1500,155010,2,9,179,29,11.6,0,-86,19,-40,,*5B

The above message is in Raveon’s proprietary PRAVE message format. It was from vehicle 0003 whose position is at 33 8.888 north, 117 13.1500 west.  Details of the PRAVE message are in the M7 transponder user manual, and on this Tech Blog at http://ravtrack.com/GPStracking/2009/the-prave-message-format/

Raveon’s M7 series of GPS transponders have various built-in drivers enablinging them to output vehicle positions in a variety of different formats.  Some formats are in the industry standard NMEA 0183 and other message types are in proprietary formats.  The type of message that the M7 transponder sends out it serial port may be configured by the user, using the GPS x command.

Below is a list of message formats that the M7 Transponder supports.

In Dallas, Texas, police recently encountered an auto theft ring by tracking the GPS transponder on a stolen lawnmower:

Officers found at least 12 of the 25 vehicles have been reported stolen. Authorities are calling it a major auto theft operation.

Authorities spent most of the afternoon and evening hauling away stolen vehicles that were to be stripped and sold for parts. Authorities also seized two guard dogs that were on short chains.

In the future, we can expect that all assets of significant value will include a GPS tracking device. Not only could it help you track down your stolen property, but it might also help you remember which neighbor borrowed your tools.

One area where GPS technology will see greater improvements is in how it is used within large buildings and other interior spaces. Currently, it is difficult to receive GPS signals through walls and structures, but this reach can be improved with GPS repeaters and other ground-based systems. One can imagine how useful this might be in locating company personnel within a corporate office building, hospital, etc. In addition to fleet tracking your vehicle fleet you could also have a handle on all your staff in real time. Here is an article about how current GPS technology is being extended.

The system is being currently tested in Finland. In fact, it is not the first indoor system but the others have mostly been for specialist uses, such as helping firefighters find colleagues in smoke-filled buildings. This system, developed by Nokia, will work with existing handsets and infrastructure, according to the scientists.

One thing it does need, however, is access to maps of the inside of buildings. This may not be feasible for private homes, but many public sites such as big sports centres and universities already make maps available.

Perhaps as building information modeling becomes standard, public spaces will be able to submit mapping data to GPS mapping data providers or through a distributed system of mapping data?

I was reading this article earlier today about how a stolen ambulance was recovered using the vehicle’s GPS transponder. Obviously, this is just one more benefit to tracking your vehicle fleet with GPS-based solutions. It may even be possible that insurance companies will factor the presence of GPS tracking systems into your company’s insurance policy, which could result in discounts to damage coverage since vehicles should be easier to recover if lost or stolen. Likewise, if a vehicle is lost or stolen it can be recovered in less time and with less impact to your fleet capacity. Eventually we will see more and more equipment tracked in real time with GPS.