Chapter 23: Defining GPS and Its Capabilities

Determining one’s location accurately has always been a fundamental challenge for navigation. Within the world of transport, which focuses on the efficient movement of people and goods through space and time, location determination and navigational guidance are essential. Recently, centuries-old methods of navigation that relied on paper maps, compasses, and stars have been replaced with new technologies based on a man-made satellite-based radionavigation system designed specifically to provide highly accurate, reliable, continuous 24 h, worldwide coverage for location determination. This system was developed by the US Department of Defense, and was originally introduced as the Navigation System with Time And Ranging Global Positioning System (NAVSTAR GPS), and is now referred to simply as GPS.