The Automobile GPS Guide

GPS Satellites Network

Of all the noteworthy technologies that have been created recently, few have had more of a planet-wide large scale impact than the Global Positioning System. In everyday life, auto GPS’s use global positioning technology to improve functionality and accuracy. The world of automobile navigation has been transformed by GPS technology, and we can never go back.

The GPS network and associated devices permeate our lives in many ways and this trend will only continue. It is have a basic understanding of the technology and how you can apply this amazing navigation technology to enhance your life. There are many applications and uses for GPS technology and the first step is to understand the background of how the GPS network began on this planet.

The network of satellites that form the GPS system were launched into space in the early 70’s and are comprised of twenty five plus satellites that were placed carefully in 12 hour orbits around Planet Earth. There are also five ground stations around the world that coordinate and relay critical information.

These navigation satellites have been relaying navigation signals to the receivers on Earth, and are used by GPS receivers to determine accurate locations in 3-D space (longitude and latitude as well as altitude). Your portable GPS receiver captures this data and uses complex mathematics to locate your exact position in 3-D space. This is how, at a high level that automobile GPS’s use satellite navigation to enhance your experience.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 3:01 pm and is filed under All GPS Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.