GPS (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)

A concise history of GPS, from its military origins to its commercial applications and ubiquity in everyday life. GPS offers insights into how a once-obscure space technology became an invisible piece of our infrastructure, as essential to modern life as electric power or clean water.

Key Points:

• The origins of GPS and its predecessor technologies, including early aircraft navigation systems and satellites
• The invention of GPS as a space technology in the post-Apollo, pre-Space Shuttle era and its first military and commercial uses
• The convergence of microprocessors, the Internet, and cellular telephony in enabling GPS development and application
• The importance of satellite positioning systems in a shifting geopolitical landscape, leading to efforts by other countries such as the European Union, Russia, India, China, and Japan to build or develop their own systems

Discover how GPS relays precise time and positioning information from orbiting satellites to receivers on the ground, at sea, and in the air. This essential volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series provides a comprehensive overview of GPS’s journey from its inception to its indispensable role in today’s world.