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The Global Positioning System

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Environmental Geoinformatics

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering ((ENVSCIENCE))

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Abstract

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the oldest and most widely used GNSS system, and as such will be extensively discussed in the first part of this book. The development of GPS satellites dates from the 1960s [1, 2]. By 1973, the US military had embarked on a program that would culminate into the NAVSTAR GPS, which became fully operational in 1995. The overall aim was to develop a tool that could be used to locate points on the Earth without using terrestrial targets, some of which could have been based in domains hostile to the US. GPS satellites were therefore primarily designed for the use of the US military operating anywhere in the world, with the aim of providing passive real-time three-dimensional (3D) positioning, navigation, and velocity data. The civilian applications and time transfer, though the predominant use of GPS, is in fact, a secondary role.

The number of GPS units and sensors is growing fast, and if georeferencing was a specialist’s work a few years ago, it is a mainstream “one click matter” today. Software in smart-phones and alike makes it incredibly easy to create geo-referenced data. Location-based services are a fast growing business accordingly and all kinds of geo-related social networking “here I am” applications invade our daily lives.

—Erik Kjems

The world of geographically referenced information is facing a paradigm shift. Source: http://www.vector1media.com/.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/space/.

  2. 2.

    Col. Steven Whitney: http://gpsworld.com/2016-in-review-gps-navigates-the-future/.

  3. 3.

    Source: http://www.gps.gov/multimedia/images/GPS-control-segment-map.pdf.

  4. 4.

    http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/civilsignals/.

  5. 5.

    http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/civilsignals/.

  6. 6.

    http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/civilsignals/.

  7. 7.

    http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/civilsignals/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spatial Sciences, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia

    Joseph Awange

  2. Department of Geospatial and Space Technology, University of Nairobi , Nairobi, Kenya

    John Kiema

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  1. Joseph Awange
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Correspondence to Joseph Awange .

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Awange, J., Kiema, J. (2019). The Global Positioning System. In: Environmental Geoinformatics. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03017-9_5

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