The Gps Satellite Network - Now Part Of Our Everyday Lives

In a very short space of time, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become integrated into the lives of the billions of people on earth. Originally designed and implemented by the United State's Defense Department, it is still managed by the US Air force today.

If you have every used a GPS device, you may have wondered how it actually works. The Global Position Service (GPS) consists of 24 satellites (38 by march 2008) that orbit the Earth 12,000 miles above. They constantly move, orbiting the globe in less than 24 hours.


The satellites have small attached rockets that fire off every now and then to keep them on the correct orbital path around the Earth. This is a must as they are moving 7,000 mph through space. For the general public, there are three categories of GPS units that they can purchase: GPS Navigation, Tracking and Location devices.

A GPS Navigation device enables you to find out where you are located on the planet and help you navigate to wherever you want to go. There are a variety of GPS units available in the Navigation category, including devices for your car, commercial vehicles and hand-held units.

Those GPS devices included in the Tracking range are designed to be used to track and record where a vehicle has traveled to. They are used to replace pen and paper logs for commercial vehicles and to track personal vs commercial use by employees in company's who have a fleet of vehicles. The very best GPS tracking devices only start to record the vehicles movements when its starts to move, ensuring that the hard drive has a longer recording life.

A GPS unit used for Location only provides the location of the vehicle or user in real time, and has very little or simply no ability to track or navigate. They are usually used for emergency situations or when a asset is lost or stolen and needs to be located.

A GPS Location devices works by "pinging" the satellite by cell phone. That is, phoning home with its current global position using satellite cellular technology. This pinging means that there is a recurrent costs for GPS Location, unlike GPS Tracking.

As you can see, there are many commercial uses for GPS and many people have benefited from its use. These day the use of a GPS is happening everywhere - from the road to golf courses to cell phones and even the internet. The usefulness and power of the GPS has yet to be fully used in our everyday lives and the future is very exciting indeed for the GPS network.

By: Derrick Bogaster

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Derrick Bogaster owns the Motorcycle GPS Store where motorbike riders can find great prices on GPS units specifically designed for motorbikes. GPS units include Garmin Zumo, TomTom Rider and StreetPilot.

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