The Advancements of Mobile GPS Technology

[Hosanna]

Even though today's GPS technology doesn't require a great deal o
space, the software that allows the device to function does. Onc
software, is created, it gets improved upon and will get smaller. All o
the functions that come with the GPS device aren't needed by ever
consumer.

A GPS unit really only requires a radio emitter and a clock to work. Th
emitter sends the time reading of the clock to a overhead satellite
Then the satellite calculates the amount of time that it took for th
radio signal to reach it, and then the satellite calculates the distanc
from this information. Three or four satellites will compare thei
locations with the amount of time that it took the signal to reach them
This is how they are able to determine your location


--
Hosanna

[John Henderson]

Even though today's GPS technology doesn't require a great deal of
space, the software that allows the device to function does. Once
software, is created, it gets improved upon and will get smaller. All of
the functions that come with the GPS device aren't needed by every
consumer.

Experience says the opposite - software tends to bloat over time,
often retaining old code segments that are no longer used.

A GPS unit really only requires a radio emitter and a clock to work. The
emitter sends the time reading of the clock to a overhead satellite.
Then the satellite calculates the amount of time that it took for the
radio signal to reach it, and then the satellite calculates the distance
from this information. Three or four satellites will compare their
locations with the amount of time that it took the signal to reach them.
This is how they are able to determine your location.

That's just wrong. A GPS receiver is just that - it doesn't
transmit. And the master clock accuracy required to discern
metre-magnitude distances at the speed of light is beyond cheap
consumer electronics.

The satellites do all the relevant transmissions of their clock
data. The GPS receiver analyses this to derive its position.

See eg: http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/theory.htm

John