What is GPS (Global Positioning System)?

The purpose of this article and hopefully other GPS (Global Positioning System) articles that I write, is to provide the user with relevant information about this technology and then if interested, allow the reader the opportunity to purchase GPS tracking systems whether for personal use or business use from a related site called SecureWithGPS.

So what is GPS you are wondering or perhaps you already know and are just looking for a refresher course? Basically, with the use of a radio receiver, i.e. a device which receives signals from the GPS satellites that orbit the Earth, you can locate yourself or the position of a vehicle for that matter anywhere on the Earth. Assuming of course, that the area you are trying to locate is covered by the GPS satellites. So in other words GPS tracking and receiving simply consists of buying a receiver, popping in some batteries, turning it on and if you have done everything right, the co-ordinates of where you are should appear on your GPS device.

One should note that there is more than one GPS system but for this article, I am referring to the Global Positioning System which is operated by the United States government and similar technology that is based on such a system. To provide a quick history, radio signals have been used for navigation dating back to the 1920s. The first step to GPS came way back in 1957 when the Russians launched Sputnik, which was the first satellite to orbit Earth. Eventually American scientists figured out that if they knew the precise orbital position of the satellite, they could accurately locate their position on Earth. The first GPS satellite was then launched in 1974 and by 1994, the full constellation of 24 satellites were in place. Hence these satellites make up the GPS system as we know it today.

Finally, one might be wondering why this technology is so widely in use or what is the big deal about it? Well, to mention a few reasons, which will hopefully be expanded on in other GPS articles, is that almost anything which has a GPS transmitter on it, it can be tracked and located fairly accurately around the world. You can attach a GPS receiver to your personal car, a car driven by your child, a fleet of vehicles that you may own and wish to monitor or even to locate your pet if it were to wander away and get lost. But with reference to the personal and business aspect however the website SecureWithGPS provides a great overview of what the current technology can be used for.