GPS History

The Global Positioning System is the result of decades and decades of trail and error in the field of global navigation. While we can only assume whether another, more advanced and accurate system will one day replace it, GPS is an extraordinary achievement. Just think of how far we've come since the days of Christopher Columbus, whose contemporaries imagined the earth as flat. Today, using GPS technology, you can stand anywhere on the planet within view of the sky above and receive a signal from one of twenty-four man-made satellites floating above the earth at all times. And that signal will automatically triangulate your position on the planet and send you the coordinates to tell you exactly where you are standing.

Perhaps the first, and most intuitive positioning system that eventually led to the implementation of GPS was "landmarking;" the use of familiar geographic features to determine one's location. While of course people to this day use landmarks, they only help in familiar areas. Before the launch of the Global Positioning System, mariners, scientists and explorers of all kinds developed a myriad of systems designed with the intention of positioning and navigating. While not without their respective values, GPS' predecessors always fell short in one way or another. More scientific means such as the "Celestial" system, for example, failed because it lacked precision and only worked in good weather. The LORAN and OMEGA systems lacked precision and were both rather easily interfered with. In the quest acutely precise navigational tools, the US Government commissioned GPS.

The US Department of Defense designed and implemented GPS towards the end of the Cold War in order to accurately target Russian missile silos from surfacing submarines. Using the extremely accurate and reliable GPS, a sub would launch their own missiles and cripple their targets. These launches had previously been difficult because the subs had no way of knowing their exact location when they surfaced. The initial price tag of GPS was 12 billion dollars which paid for the 24 satellites and five ground stations to monitor the health of those satellites. The five ground stations are strategically located in Hawaii, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, Kwajalein, and Colorado Springs.

While the US Government made GPS available to the public, the Department of Defense still has the ability to rescind the rights to the system using Selective Availability. This is unlikely to happen, but it remains a possibility. The DoD employs GPS during wartime, and has since the Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91. Modern warfare relies heavily on navigation for logistics. GPS technology made it possible for the US military to use "smart-bombs" as well as maneuver troop formations in unfamiliar land. GPS is also used to deliver much needed food and supplies to war torn regions such as Somalia and Afghanistan. In the last twenty years, GPS has become one of the most important tools for the US Government and such agencies as the FAA and Department of Transportation. As more and more consumers utilize GPS, it is likely to become as commonplace and necessary as the telephone.

GPS Tracking Systems

Welcome to GPS Systems and Devices Info Outlet, your one and only source for GPS Systems research and information. Here you'll find the most comprehensive and impartial information on GPS Tracking Systems of all kinds and for all types of users. Whether you are considering the use of a Marine GPS System, Car GPS System, Aviation GPS System or a Mapping GPS System, you will find answers to all of your questions here. We will also analyze top rated GPS Systems manufacturers such as Garmin GPS Units, Magellan GPS Units, Navman GPS Units and DeLorme GPS Units.