GPS (Global Positioning System)

Global Positioning System was developed by the United States' Department of Defense. It uses between 24 and 32 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals. This enables GPS receivers to determine their current location, time and velocity. The GPS satellites are maintained by the United States Air Force. GPS is often used by civilians as a navigation system. On the ground, any GPS receiver contains a computer that "triangulates" its own position by getting bearings from at least three satellites. The result is provided in the form of a geographic position - longitude and latitude - to, for most receivers, within an accuracy of 10 to 100 meters. Software applications can then use those coordinates to provide driving or walking instructions. Getting a lock on by the GPS receivers on the ground usually takes some time especially where the receiver is in a moving vehicle or in dense urban areas. The initial time needed for a GPS lock is usually dependent on how the GPS receiver starts. There are three types of start - hot, warm and cold. The hot start is when the GPS device remembers its last calculated position and the satellites in view, the almanac used (information about all the satellites in the constellation), the UTC Time and makes an attempt to lock onto the same satellites and calculate a new position based upon the previous information. This is the quickest GPS lock but it only works if you are generally in the same location as you were when the GPS was last turned off. The warm start is when the GPS device remembers its last calculated position, almanac used, and UTC Time, but not which satellites were in view. It then performs a reset and attempts to obtain the satellite signals and calculates a new position. The receiver has a general idea of which satellites to look for because it knows its last position and the almanac data helps identify which satellites are visible in the sky. This takes longer than a hot start but not as long as a cold start. And finally the cold start is when the GPS device dumps all the information, attempts to locate satellites and then calculates a GPS lock. This takes the longest because there is no known information. The GPS receiver has to attempt to lock onto a satellite signal from any available satellites, basically like polling, which takes a lot longer than knowing which satellites to look for. This GPS lock takes the longest. In an attempt to improve lock times, cellphone manufacturers and operators have introduced the Assisted GPS technology, which downloads the current ephemeris for a few days ahead via the wireless networks and helps triangulate the general users position with the cell towers thus allowing the GPS receiver to get a faster lock at the expense of several (kilo)bytes.

Free GPS Software

GPS3d GPS3D is a collection of utilities to manipulate a handled GPs device from your PC, and visualize the result in 3D. Even without a GPs device, you can still use GPS3d to play interactively with a 3D texture mapped model of earth. GPStrans GPStrans communicates with a Garmin Global Positioning System receiver and allows a user with a Garmin GPS receiver to upload and download waypoints, routes, almanac (satellite orbit elements), and track routes. GPSMan GPs Manager (GPSMan) is a graphical manager of GPs data that makes possible the preparation, inspection and edition of GPs data in a friendly environment. GPSMan supports communication and real-time logging with both Garmin and Lowrance receivers and accepts realtime logging information in NMEA 0183 from any GPs receiver. GPSBabel GPSBabel converts waypoints, tracks, and routes from one format to another, whether that format is a common mapping format like Delorme, Streets and Trips, or even a serial upload or download to a GPS unit such as those from Garmin and Magellan. TMRS Tiger Mapping and Routing Server (TMRS) is being written in order to facilitate the creation of open source GPS navigation software. Its goal is to simplify street level routing and map drawing functions essential for developing user-friendly interfaces. The data used in this software is available freely from U.S. Census and is called 'Tiger'. JOpt.SDK JOpt.SDK is a tour optimization JAVA library that uses specialized genetic algorithms to calculate an optimized allocation of orders and stops to mobile resources. The algorithm not only provides tours at minimum costs but also considers an arbitrary set of constraints for each tour. TopoFusion TopoFusion is a fully featured GPS mapping software package. It maps both USGS (United States Geological Survey) topographical and aerial photo maps for the entire country. GPS Interface Interface for NMEA GPS devices based on the WGS84 ellipsoid, with source code. Download ExpertGPS This is a fully-functional copy of the ExpertGPS software to assist you in evaluating ExpertGPS.

General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication systems global system for mobile communications (GSM). The service is available to users in over 200 countries worldwide. GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode packet switched cellular technologies. It is now maintained by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).[1][2].

It is a best-effort service, as opposed to circuit switching, where a certain quality of service (QoS) is guaranteed during the connection. In 2G systems, GPRS provides data rates of 56-114 kbit/second. [3] 2G cellular technology combined with GPRS is sometimes described as 2.5G, that is, a technology between the second (2G) and third (3G) generations of mobile telephony[4]. It provides moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access (TDMA) channels in, for example, the GSM system. GPRS is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer releases. GPRS usage charging is based on volume of data, either as part of a bundle or on a pay as you use basis. An example of a bundle is up to 5Gb per month for a fixed fee. Usage above the bundle cap is either charged for per megabyte or disallowed. The pay as you use charging is typically per megabyte of traffic. This contrasts with circuit switching data, which is typically billed per minute of connection time, regardless of whether or not the user transfers data during that period.

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