![]() ![]() ![]() Positioning can help with simple wayfinding tasks, such as locating a nearby restaurant. With the capabilities of global positioning and smartphones, gone are the days of consulting a paper map or printing out directions before a road trip. Perhaps the most well-known use of position is wayfinding-to navigate to a destination and prevent getting lost. 2020: Global coverage expected for China’s BeiDou constellation and the European Union’s Galileo constellation.2011: Global coverage achieved by the Russian GLONASS system.2005: First European Union Galileo satellite launched.2000: First Chinese BeiDou satellite launched.2000: Full civilian accuracy allowed in US.1982: First Russian GLONASS satellite launched.1973: US Department of Defense launches GPS project.1960s: US Air Force and Navy begin research.Global positioning has become democratized and nearly ubiquitous. Since 1990, the cost of receivers has dropped dramatically-from bulky early versions that could cost thousands of US dollars and were the size of a large backpack, down to the one in your pocket: the smartphone-sized receiver that only costs manufacturers a couple of dollars to include. The term evolved from GPS to GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) as more countries launched their own satellite constellations to provide precise position. A person with a receiver gathers these signals and when at least four satellites are within view, the receiver combines information from all signals to triangulate the receiver’s location, including latitude, longitude, and altitude. Each satellite transmits a unique time-coded radio signal. The first GPS carried the name Navstar, associated with “Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging,” which describes how these satellites pinpoint position. Today, we take for granted our ability to pinpoint our position even in the most remote locations. Now, positioning technology has become interwoven in society, changing the way we navigate from place to place and transforming how many industries operate. Looking back, the realization that the program could have civilian applications seems overdue and underestimated. The 1983 tragedy rallied support and secured long-term funding for the US military’s Global Positioning System (GPS), which was then under development with an uncertain future. All 269 passengers and crew, including US congressman Larry McDonald (D-Georgia), were killed when the plane was shot down and crashed in the Sea of Japan.Ī number of technical failures and decisions contributed to the disaster, but one emerging technology might have prevented it: global positioning. Amid Cold War tensions, the Boeing 747 lost track of its position and mistakenly strayed into Soviet airspace with deadly consequences. On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines flight 007 (KAL 007) was on its way from Anchorage, Alaska to Seoul, South Korea. This post is one of a series of Reveals that profile the power of geographic information system (GIS) technology to record and visualize things hidden from human senses or at a scale we find hard to comprehend by other means. ![]()
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