How do Satellite Navigation Systems Work?

Feb. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- Satellite navigation systems have become part of our everyday lives with many vehicles having sat navs fitted as standard by the manufacturers now.  Thirty years ago the only talking car was famously known as KITT, a heavily modified Pontiac Trans Am controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence.  KITT starred in the TV series Knight Rider alongside David Hasselhoff!   Today even the most modest car will gleefully talk you through directions to your chosen destination.

Sat navs have very much replaced the awkward and notoriously hard to fold paper maps or the bulky atlas that use to clutter glove boxes.  Driving to somewhere you are unfamiliar with is now so much easier and safer, but how do these clever pieces of modern day equipment actually work.

Using satellite triangulation, sat nav systems get their signals from three satellites and where the lines from all the satellites meet is where the user is located.  Then by using clever programs it is able to work out a route to take you where you want to go, keeping track of you all the time by using a network of Global Positioning Satellites, which orbit the earth. The GPS locks into the sat nav receiver in your vehicle locating its position on the surface of the earth, by calculating longitude, latitude and altitude the position is laid over a standard road map which accurately reveals the drivers position to within ten metres.

Software within the sat nav systems can find the easiest, quickest or pick out special points of interest along the route by combining average road speeds and other data.  It also lets you know how long the journey will take and expected arrival time.  

Whilst this may make driving less stressful, sat navs are not perfect and there have been several stories highlighted in the press about drivers being taken up dead ends or one way systems the wrong way!  Common sense is needed along with reading local road signs and not just following the sat nav instructions blindly.

So next time you enter a postcode (http://www.simply-postcode-lookup.com/geographic_data.htm) into your satellite navigation system to your required destination, spare a thought for the satellites we take for granted enabling us to drive seamlessly and without stress, well most of the time!!  You have now reached your destination…

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