All About GPS

What It Is and How It Works – For those who are unfamiliar with the term, GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It’s a way of locating a receiver in three dimensional space anywhere on the Earth, and even in orbit about it, and it’s probably one of the most important inventions of the 20th century. GPS has so many different applications that many technologies and ways of working are continually being improved in order to make the most of it. Now why is GPS so important and useful? First, we have to understand how it works.

In order for GPS to work, a network of satellites was placed into orbit around planet Earth. The signals that are broadcast by the satellites carry data that is passed from the aerial, decoded and used by to the GPS software. The information garnered from these signals allows the GPS software to identify the satellite, its specific location, and even calculate the exact time it took for the signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver. Using different signals from different satellites, the GPS software is able to calculate the position of the receiver.

Mapping It Out – Knowing where the device is in space is one thing, but it is fairly useless information without something to compare it with. The mapping part of any GPS software is very important; it is how GPS works our possible routes, and allows the user to plan trips in advance. In fact, it is often the mapping data which elevates the price of the GPS solution. It must be accurate and updated reasonably frequently.

There are several kinds of maps, and each is intended for different users with different needs. Road users, for example, require that their mapping data contains accurate information about the road network in the region that they will be traveling in, but will not require detailed information about the lie of the land. On the other hand, hiking GPS users might wish to have a detailed map of the terrain, rivers, hills and so forth, and perhaps tracks and trails, but not roads. Marine users need very specific information relating to the sea bed, navigable channels, and other pieces of maritime data that enables them to navigate safely.

Fishermen also use marine GPS to locate themselves and track the movement of shoals of fish both in real time, and to predict where they will be the next day. The advent of GPS fixing has also meant that co-operative fishing has become much easier, where several boats relay their locations to each other while they locate the best fishing waters. There are also GPS devices called “fish finders”, which combines GPS and sonar functions to track and store detailed fishing and maritime information.

Get Started with GPS – Consumers can avail of several GPS devices that are specifically designed for a variety of uses and functions. Sophisticated in-car GPS systems, which feature voice guiding, powerful dynamic route calculation, and the possibility to update the map from a CD, are now available. Rugged handheld GPS devices, like those from Garmin and Magellan, have a map inside and are usually used for outdoor activities. They generally do not have any road information, and leave the users to find their own way from A to B.

A more recent solution has appeared on the market which uses the power of a PDA to run the actual GPS software. A GPS receiver can be easily attached to these devices, which makes them possibly the cheapest and easiest GPS receivers to use in the market today. Bluetooth technology has also started to make use of GPS, using a single PDA device wirelessly connected to several receivers.

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Chiun Masters is a researcher and writer working for www.audioavi.com, where you can get quality GPS and audio equipment. Visit us for all your audio equipment needs.

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