How Do Global Positioning Systems Work?
The global positioning system (GPS) was developed by the US military as a way to coordinate troop and vehicle movements. GPS navigation was later opened to marine craft for navigation, and finally to a range of devices for cars, motorcycles and hikers. GPS locates your position within a few feet anywhere on Earth thanks to satellites in the sky. There are 24 active satellites orbiting the Earth, and if your vision was strong enough, you’d be able to see at least four of them from nearly any point on the planet. A GPS navigation system communicates with these satellites to triangulate your position. By sending radio signals to three satellites, the GPS can measure its distance from each one and tell you where you are. Auto GPS navigation systems take this information and overlay it on built-in maps to provide driving directions.
The global positioning system (GPS) was developed by the US military as a way to coordinate troop and vehicle movements. GPS navigation was later opened to marine craft for navigation, and finally to a range of devices for cars, motorcycles and hikers. GPS locates your position within a few feet anywhere on Earth thanks to satellites in the sky. There are 24 active satellites orbiting the Earth, and if your vision was strong enough, you’d be able to see at least four of them from nearly any point on the planet. A GPS navigation system communicates with these satellites to triangulate your position. By sending radio signals to three satellites, the GPS can measure its distance from each one and tell you where you are. Auto GPS navigation systems take this information and overlay it on built-in maps to provide driving directions. Higher-end car GPS navigation systems have additional receivers that can talk to more satellites, and they can provide better performance if there’s a lot of ta
