Global Positioning System: Principles and Applications

Abstract

In recent times, global positioning system (GPS) has totally replaced the traditional surveying and mapping tasks such as triangulation, traverse, controls, etc., GPS is being extensively used in the areas of surveying, engineering, monitoring positions, and navigation. GPS provides the position, velocity, and timing information that enable many applications in human daily life. GPS-based surveying systems allow surveys to increase accuracy in mapping over conventional surveying techniques. GPS system consists of three segments, i.e., the space segment, comprising the satellites and the transmitted signals; control segment, the ground facilities carrying out the task of satellite tracking, orbit computations, telemetry, and supervision necessary for the daily control of the space segment; and user segment, the entire spectrum of application equipment and computational techniques that are available to the users. GPS play a significant role in data collection and surveying, mapping, and monitoring of land resource surveys on periodical basis.