More about GPS
What is GPS?
GPS is the global positioning system. It is a network of orbiting satellites that send precise details of their position in space back to earth. The signals are received by GPS devices, such as SatNavs and are used to calculate the exact position, the speed a vehicle is moving, and the precise time of day at that location.
GPS is well-known for its military uses and was first developed by the US to aid in its global intelligence efforts at the height of the Cold War.
Ever since the early 1980s, however, the GPS has been freely available to anyone with a GPS receiver to use. Airlines, shipping companies, road hauliers, and drivers everywhere use the GPS system to track vehicles, follow the best route to get them from A to B in the shortest possible time.
The very first GPS system was developed in the 1960s to allow ships in the US Navy to navigate the oceans more accurately. The first system had five satellites and allowed ships to check their location once every hour. Today, portable SatNav devices can give drivers their precise location to within a few metres, which is accurate enough to navigate roadways. Military applications have much higher precision so that a location can be pinpointed within a few centimetres.
The US NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) is the only fully operational Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) currently providing positioning data with global coverage. The European Union is currently developing its own GPS known as the Galileo positioning system, which will be operational by 2013. China has a local system it may expand globally, while Russia is currently restoring its GLONASS system.
