Global Positioning System (GPS)
Sistema de posicionamiento global (GPS)
- Date
- 1978-1995 · confidence high
- Place
- US Department of Defense; Vandenberg Air Force Base (first Navstar, 1978); Rockwell and Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California
- Credited to
- Bradford Parkinson, Roger Easton, Ivan Getting and Gladys West (geodesy); operational in 1995; undegraded civilian signal since 2000
- People
- 👤 Bradford Parkinson1935–👤 Gladys West1930–2026👤 Ivan A. Getting1912–2003👤 Roger L. Easton, Jr.1941–
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A constellation of satellites with atomic clocks whose signal allows any receiver to calculate its position to within a few metres. Released for civilian use, it became invisible infrastructure for the economy.
Equivalent systems: GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (EU, 2016) and BeiDou (China, 2020).
What it led to
- Navigation on mobile phones, Uber, delivery and global logistics
- Precision-guided weapons and network-centric warfare
- The time synchronisation of power grids, banks and the internet
- Geolocation as a source of surveillance and advertising
Built on
- Least squares method1805
- Transverse Mercator projection (Gauss-Krüger) and the UTM system1822 (Gauss); 1912 (Krüger); 1947 (UTM)
- Riemannian geometry and manifolds1854
- Caesium1860
- Special relativity1905
- General relativity1915
- Gravitational light deflection confirmed (1919 eclipse)1919
- Caesium atomic clock1955
- Sputnik 1, first artificial satellite1957
- Kalman filter1960
- Satellite navigation (Transit)1960
- Transit satellite navigation
Made possible
- Precision-guided munitions (Paveway, JDAM)1968-1991
- Car navigation system1981-1990
- Augmented reality1990-2016
- Precision agriculture (GPS yield monitors and autosteer)1994-2000
- Long-endurance military drone (Predator)1994
- Mars rover (Sojourner, Spirit, Curiosity, Perseverance)1997
- Argo programme of ocean floats2000 (primeros flotadores en 1999; red completa en 2007)
- Automatic Identification System (AIS)1992-2004
- OpenStreetMap2004
- Google Maps (from Where 2 Technologies)2004-2005
- Self-driving car (VaMoRs, DARPA Grand Challenge, Waymo)1986-2018
- App-based ride-hailing (Uber)2009-2010
- Consumer multirotor drone (DJI Phantom)2013
- JDAM guided bombs