Although we might not realize it, GPS systems are all around us. GPS stands for Global Positioning System, which, as its name suggests, is a system that reveals the exact location of an object, provided that object has a GPS transmitter attached to it somehow. GPS works by performing GPS calculations using information provided by specially designated satellites. Transmitters in earlier GPS systems had to have a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. To a certain degree that is true in consumer navigational systems such as Tom-Tom or Garmin, as well as the GPS capabilities of most modern cell phones, but in commercial and tactical systems that is not necessarily the case. As research continues on improving GPS technology, more powerful GPS transmitters no longer need a direct view of the sky, which makes them very useful in covertly tracking a moving object.

To give a classic Hollywood example of a quasi-GPS system in use is in Star Wars Episode Two, when Obi-Wan Kenobi throws a “tracker” as it is called in the film onto Jango Fett’s ship in a last-ditch attempt to capture him. He is later able to follow him because of a corresponding system in his ship which he used to pinpoint the tracker’s location in space. Of course this is a complete dramatization using special film effects and futuristic starships, but the basic principle of GPS holds true: using a transmitter of some sort that sends information about its location to a computer that can translate it into usable data.

A Tactical GPS System goes above and beyond the GPS systems most people see and interact with in their day to day lives. Although, once more, the basic idea of a GPS system still holds true, but more expensive GPS systems come with a few very helpful extra features that are crucial for successful vehicle tracking or people tracking.

A Tactical GPS System, such as the one found at from SpyZone.com, has many features that some cheaper GPS Systems lack. The highlight of all these is that it uses real-time GPS tracking that can be viewed with a high-resolution map from Google Earth™ so you can get a perfect view of your target.

So how does it work?

The Tactical GPS Tracking System sends out bursts of information using cellular SMS, better known as text messages. These messages contain detailed information about the location of the tracking target, which can be viewed from a computer or a cell phone. The GPS Transmitter itself is small and unobtrusive, measuring just six and a half inches long.

The Tactical GPS Tracking System is good for:



Monitoring of VIP transport

Covert vehicle tracking

Keeping track of your loved ones



 

 

For more information about the Tactical GPS Tracking System, you can visit http://www.spyzone.com/ccp0-prodshow/tacticalgpstrackingsystems.html, and for more information about other SpyZone products go to SpyZone.com.

 



Thanks to Gary Rogers for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Cell Phone Gps Tracking

Of the many various GPS manufactures, Garmin has become the most popular. Not only do they make a high-quality product, but they offer a wide variety of GPS units for average consumers, mariners and pilots. However, quality can come at a price, as some Garmin GPS units can range in price up to thousands of dollars. This is why it is important to try to find a source for discount Garmin GPS products if at all possible.

The first way one can try to find as source of discount Garmin GPS products is from the Garmin website itself, Garmin.com. The company website does not sell discount Garmin GPS directly; rather they provide a list of stores that do sell their equipment. They also provide access to refurbished GPS units that sell at greatly reduced prices. Refurbished units from authorized sellers come with a short warranty. Most refurbished Garmin GPS products are very reliable. Another option to finding a discount Garmin GPS unit is to check out the special offers on their website. Discount coupons are frequently available to many Garmin GPS products. To find Garmin retail stores, one has to make two selections: what country they are in and what type of GPS system they are looking for. The resulting hits will show information about the store including: address, telephone number, email address and a link if it is online. The potential buyer will have to search through the list to see which store offers the best discount Garmin GPS.

The second way one can locate a source of low priced Garmin GPS is from auction sites such as Ebay or Ubid. These sites work through a bidding system. Sellers post their items which contain a starting bid. The buyer places their bid and if they bid the highest after a number of days they have purchased the item. Auction sites also allow sellers to utilize the “buy it now” feature. Of course, “buy it now” tends to be more expensive in comparison to bidding, but it gives the seller an option to buy the item immediately. When the buyer is ready to pay, they can use their credit card or bank account through a payment system known as Paypal. Often using online auctions will provide the best prices for discount Garmin GPS products.

Another way you can buy a Garmin GPS at a reduce price is through shopping comparison sites, such as Froogle.com, Bizrate and Pricegrabber. Why would one even consider other methods of buying discount Garmin GPS if these options are available? It is because though these sites are very helpful, they do not always provide the match one might be looking for. Sometimes the results may not even be related to what one was looking for. Other times what they would consider a discount Garmin GPS would not necessarily be what the person searching would consider a ‘discount Garmin GPS’, since the prices could actually be those of regular retail Garmin GPS. This is a major downside when using shopping comparison sites, which is why one should be aware of the different sources of discount Garmin GPS units.

There are several methods for finding discount Garmin GPS products: through the Garmin website itself, auction sites or shopping comparison sites. Through these resources one can save hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars on their next Garmin GPS unit. Purchasing a Garmin GPS at any price is a good investment. However, there should be no excuse why anyone should have to settle for a lesser quality GPS brand when you have access to discount Garmin GPS products.



Thanks to Jim Kesel for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Live Gps Tracking System

Honey, are we lost? Just maybe, with the right GPS system, you will never have to ask for directions again or hear the dreaded question. Your male ego might just stay intact and save your marriage at the same time.

Does this scenario seem familiar to you? Have you entered the twilight zone? It is time to drive to a new destination and all too many times you find out your map is outdated, the roads are torn up by construction, or you find your self seeing some new parts of the country that is no way related to where you are suppose to be going. Again, I ask, does this scenario seem familiar to you when you have had to drive to a new destination? Take heart, new knowledge is here to help us destination challenge individuals. Having the right Garmin GPS Navigation System, getting from point A to point B (and beyond) no longer has to be an exercise in frustration. No more “going where no one has gone before”.

What does GPS stands for? Global Positioning System is a worldwide radio-navigation system of 24 satellites and their earth stations on earth. Airplanes, astronauts, hikers are using this great GPS devices. The satellites are used as orientation points for locations on earth. By measuring the distance from three satellites, GPS devices can triangulate a location anywhere on earth. That is pretty cool if you think about it.

Where did GPS come from? GPS is funded by and controlled by the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD). Can you believe that? While there are many thousands of civil users of GPS world-wide, the system was intended for and is operated by the U. S. military. GPS provides specifically coded satellite signals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time. Four GPS satellite signals are used to compute positions in three dimensions and the time offset in the receiver clock. This is really a very neat product that provides an exceptional reliable service.

GPS is speedily becoming an integral component of the up-and-coming Global Information Infrastructure, with applications ranging from mapping and surveying to international air traffic management and global change study. The growing demand from military, civil, commercial, and scientific users has generated a U.S. commercial GPS equipment and service industry that leads the world. Augmentations to enhance basic GPS services could further enlarge these civil and commercial markets.

GPS is managed by the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive Committee, supported by the PNT Executive Secretariat. The PNT manages GPS and U.S. Government augmentations to GPS, reliable with national policy, to sustain and augment U.S. economic competitiveness and productivity while shielding national security and foreign policy interests.

The essential GPS is defined as the assemblage of satellites, the navigation payloads which generate the GPS signals, ground stations, data links, and associated command and control facilities which are operated and maintained by the Department of Defense; the Standard Positioning Service (SPS) as the civil and commercial service provided by the basic GPS; and augmentations as those systems founded on the GPS that provide real-time accuracy better than the SPS. GPS permits land, sea, and airborne users to determine their three dimensional point, speed, and point in time, 24 hours a day in all weather, everywhere in the world.

Mom and Dads are putting in GPS vehicle tracking systems in their children cars so they can make sure they are staying away from places they shouldn’t be visiting. Trucking companies are installing GPS fleet tracking systems to resolve where there trucks are at all times. Naturally some privacy issues can occur with this capability to keep an eye on movement but the payback definitely over shadow the concerns. Hiking out in the wilderness is much easier and now safer with the GPS handheld units.

Where can you find GPS systems? A good place to start is the internet. Not only is the internet a good source to start where but also you can learn more about GPS and how it works. All the major retail stores carry the major brands such as Magellan, Garmin GPS Navigational System, TomTom, DeLorme, and Lowrance. There are handheld GPS units, dash mounted automotive GPS units, fish finders GPS, and even GPS for PDA’s and cell phones.

The United States Government has acknowledged that GPS plays a key role around the world as part of the global information infrastructure and takes sincerely their accountability to provide the best possible service to civil and commercial users worldwide. This is as true in times of conflict as it is in times of peace.

The U.S. Government also upholds the capability to prevent hostile use of GPS and its augmentations while preserving a military advantage in a theater of operations without disrupting or degrading civilian uses outside the theater of operations. The believe they can ensure that GPS continues to be available as an invaluable global utility at all times, while at the same time, protecting U.S. and coalition security requirements. Who said the U.S. Government didn’t care?



Thanks to Jerry Johnson for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Best Gps Navigation System

The GPS system is global navigation system introduced by the US military. The system provide navigation and positioning information anywhere on the face of the Earth. The GPS system also provides a highly accurate and precise time and frequency signal ideal for computer timing applications. The GPS system is a orbiting constellation of 24 satellites, each broadcasting time and position information around the globe.

This article describes how the GPS system can be used to provide an accurate time and frequency reference for NTP servers and computer network time synchronisation.

GPS timing information is continuously broadcast by each GPS satellite. GPS time is not affected by leap seconds. Therefore, GPS time is currently about 14 seconds ahead of UTC time. However, offset information is available to readily convert GPS time to UTC time, which is used in NTP server and computer time server systems.

Each GPS satellite transmits information as very low-power radio frequency transmission. Two frequencies are used, one for civilian use coded L1, and one for military use coded L2. The civilian L1 frequency is the most widely used and is transmitted at 1575 MHz. The broadcast GPS signal can easily penetrate less dense material such as plastic, but cannot penetrate higher density materials such as brick.

An antenna is utilised to boost the GPS signal and pass the signal along a coax cable. Ideally, a GPS antenna needs to have as good a view of the sky as possible to receive from as many satellites as possible. Ideally, it should be located outdoors on a rooftop with a good 360-degree un-obscured view of the sky.

GPS antenna systems transmit signals down a coax cable and are sensitive to coax quality and cable length. The coax type and antenna gain determines the cable length that can be utilised by a GPS antenna. Higher quality coax cable generally have much lower attenuation figures and hence provide much longer cable runs between the receiver and antenna. Typically, a low-quality coax can run to 20-30m, while a high quality coax can be used in excess of 100m cable runs. To increase these distances still further, a GPS amplifier can be used to amplify and boost the received GPS signal.

GPS timing systems also utilise a GPS receiver in order to decode the received GPS transmission and convert it to a computer readable format. The GPS receiver processes the transmitted GPS positioning information and provides a readable serial transmission as output. GPS NTP servers and computer time servers may also utilise a precise pulse per second output generated by the GPS receiver to provide ultra-precise timing. The pulse per second timing pulse on most receivers is accurate to within a few milliseconds of UTC.

To summarise, the GPS system is ideal for synchronising NTP server and computer time servers. Accuracies of a few hundred nanoseconds can be reasonably achieved with low-cost GPS receiving equipment.



Thanks to David Evans for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Garmin Nuvi Gps Navigation System

There are many coordinate systems available in mathematics. These aim at locating without ambiguity a given in regard to the origins of the coordinate system. Many coordinate systems are used in mathematics and physics. For instance, the Cartesian coordinate system and the polar coordinate system are used in science. The General Positioning System (GPS) makes use of coordinate systems based on the latitude and longitude tenets. The longitude of an object in the space is its angular distance (east or west) from a reference meridian, the Greenwich one for instance while the latitude is the angular distance (north or south) from the equator. In order to track an object in the space, we usually need its latitude as well as its longitude. For instance, as soon as a GPS device sends signals to a satellite positioned in the space, the satellite will work your exact coordinates before sending another signal to the receiver of your GPS device. Using this process, the GPS system can determine your exact position, heading and speed.

At the beginning, many GPS systems used to ask to the user to manually input his map coordinate. However, for people not knowing anything about mathematics or even about the suitable coordinate system to be used, they were quickly annoyed. In order to address this setback, GPS system vendors have founded a new way to automatically compute a map coordinate. This way, your GPS device will be assigned the right and suitable map coordinate for your given destination in order to work out your accurate location, speed and heading. However, users may still manually type the map coordinates if they fancy, but they should bear in mind that the device was designed to perform that difficult task. This accounts for its usefulness especially for traveling purposes. Being aware of all this information beforehand is a huge boon for your trip.

Exceptional mathematicians are still allowed to enter their customized GPS map coordinates. However, as the device can perfectly compute its best map coordinates, there is really no need to waste your time doing so. Nowadays, many GPS systems are able to work out map coordinates with a good precision. They can also provide you with useful information for your trip especially if you are heading to a place where you have never been. They can also download breaking news from a bunch of websites.

Due to the fact that GPS systems only work with longitude and latitude, you may need to know what these tenets stand for. You should also bear in mind that the map coordinates are worked out automatically by the device for you shortly when you switch your device on; therefore there is no need to reinvent the wheel! You will find that GPS systems are good travel companions.

Briefly speaking, coordinate systems are used to locate the position of an object in the space. The GPS technology makes use of longitude and latitude mathematical tenets to locate object in the space. Nowadays, many GPS devices offer the outstanding possibility to automatically compute the right GPS map coordinates for your specific destination. Therefore, there is no need to have excellent mathematical skills before enjoying your device. This is amazing, isn’t it?



Thanks to John B. Mayall for contributing this article to our GPS blog:

Compare Garmin Gps