Now that billions of computers and mobile phones (which are handheld computers) are all connected by the Internet, the large growth is expected from the “Internet of Things.” What is a “thing?” It could be a temperature sensor, garage door opener, motion detector, flood water level, smoke alarm, antenna rotator, coffee maker, lights, home thermostat, …, just about anything you might want to monitor or control.
For example, a vending machine could report its inventory levels so the delivery schedule could be optimized. Farms can monitor soil moisture levels in different locations to optimize irrigation. The possibilities are endless.
We have a global APRS network with countless Digital Repeaters (Digipeaters) and Internet Gateway (IGate) stations joined by APRS-IS servers. We have an incredible communication resource that is mostly going to waste. ("My house is where it was 2 minutes ago. ... My house is still where it was 2 minutes ago. ...)
Maybe it is time to start using it for some more useful applications.
There have been other occasional mentions of merging Ham Radio with the Internet of Things but only ad hoc incompatible narrowly focused applications. Here is a proposal for a standardized more flexible method so different systems can communicate with each other.