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Global Positioning System (GPS)

By TechTarget Contributor

What is Global Positioning System (GPS)?

The GPS (Global Positioning System) is a "constellation" of 31 well-spaced satellites that orbit the Earth and make it possible for people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location. The location accuracy is anywhere from 100 to 10 meters for most equipment and within one meter with special military-approved equipment. GPS equipment is widely used in science and has now become sufficiently low-cost so that almost anyone can own a GPS receiver.

The GPS is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense but is available worldwide.

How does GPS work?

Briefly, here's how it works:

The GPS is being used in science to provide data that has never been available before in the quantity and degree of accuracy that the GPS makes possible. Scientists are using the GPS to measure the movement of the arctic ice sheets, the Earth's tectonic plates and volcanic activity.

Mobile GPS technology has enabled today's smartphones with convenient and highly efficient means for end users to receive navigating instructions via a global positioning system process called "trilateration." A phone's built-in GPS receiver also communicates with an array of satellites that provides navigation instructions for those in an automobile or on foot. More technologically advanced phones can identify individual streets and attractions on maps and provide narrated tracking capability.

26 Oct 2021

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