Chapter Wrapup

This chapter provided an introduction to how the Global Positioning System operates as well as how GPS is able to find where a receiver is located on the ground. An increasingly popular GPS application is the kind of in-car navigation system manufactured by companies like Garmin, Magellan, or TomTom (many of these also operate on smartphones). These types of systems plot not only your location on a map using GPS, but can also show surrounding roads and nearby locations (such as restaurants or gas stations), locate an address, and show you the shortest route from your current location to any destination. The only one of these features that’s actually using GPS is the one that finds your current location—the rest are all functions that are covered in Chapter 8. Until then, starting in the next chapter, we’ll begin to focus on the actual computerized mapping and analysis that underlies those types of in-car systems, all of which are concepts of GISs.

This chapter’s lab will start putting some of these GPS concepts to work, even if you don’t have a GPS receiver. Before that, check out the Apps, Blogs, and Social Media box for information on available mobile device apps, blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts related to GPS.

Important note: The references for this chapter are part of the online companion for this book and can be found at http://www.whfreeman.com/shellito2e.