Applications

Commercial applications include calibrating the positioning systems used by offshore oil companies; control of heavy machinery in construction and agriculture; emergency response and fleet tracking systems. The availability of smaller and low-cost transceivers has created a growing application in the consumer market for recreational purposes, including hiking, mountaineering, hunting, fishing, boating, diving, vehicle navigation and even in playing golf. Fishermen use the GPS to return to fertile fishing holes. Golfers use it to pinpoint the location of their golf carts in relation to their tees.

Positioning – determining a location. The GPS positioning system offers an accurate location data anywhere on earth in any weather situation. Sample applications include finding stranded motorists, geodetic surveying and other scientific works.

Navigation – the science of getting cars, ships, aircraft or spacecraft from place-to-place. Whether on water, air or land, GPS not only helps to determine ones location, but most importantly how to get to a particular location. 

It has made marine navigation more precise for simple fishing boats, to container ships, to elegant cruise ships and recreational boats. For example, in New Zealand, a commercial fishing company uses GPS to return to their best fishing holes instead of wandering off to the wrong waters.

GPS makes flying safer and more efficient. It offers the same precise navigation in the air and accurate landing systems. Exact point-to-point navigation, allows fuel savings and extends the aircraft’s range by providing the most direct route to the plane’s destination. Perhaps the use of GPS is most appreciated in real emergency situations, such as landing a plane in the middle of the mountains or saving time from its use in flying aircrafts for medical or evacuation requirements.

For those who do not sail, nor fly, GPS is also available on land. Today hikers, bikers, skiers and drivers use GPS to find their way on land. Handheld or built-in GPS receivers are available for various navigation applications ranging from simply finding the location of a certain street or climbing a high mountain under snow, rain or bright sunny weather.

Tracking – monitoring the movement of things. The use of GPS in tracking has applications in the fields of agriculture, mass transit, delivery service, public safety, vessel and vehicle tracking. Its use will paint a clearer picture of a situation to allow immediate reaction and solution to a problem. The GPS will influence the efficiency of service schedules, promote immediate response to need situations, generate time savings, improve profitability and safety.

Mapping – the science of locating things and creating models or maps of everything in the world. GPS has provided great impact in the field of surverying. It is now possible for a surveyor to accomplish in a day work that was formerly done in a week by an entire team. Not only that. It is now possible to map everything on this earth from mountains, rivers, forest and various landforms, to road, routes, streets, to endangered animal, precious metals and other resources. For example, fire fighters are not only able to respond to forest fires with faster speed and efficiency, but also able to plot the extent of the blaze and to evaluate damage.

Timing – Accurate world time. GPS is also used to disseminate accurate time, time intervals and frequency. The GPS Satellite has highly accurate atomic clocks. For the system to work, the GPS receivers on the ground must synchronize themselves with these clocks. Synchronization of time affects many facets of commerce. Astronomers, power companies, computer networks, communication systems, banks, radio and tv stations benefit from precise timing and scheduling. For example, in some banking applications it is important that transactions are recorded simultaneously at all offices around the world.