Nokia in deal with América Móvil for handset navigation

Nokia announced today a partnership with América Móvil to bring Nokia Maps Navigation to América Móvil consumers in Latin America. The two industry leaders will collaborate to bring cutting edge location-based services to América Móvil consumers who purchase Nokia GPS-enabled phones. America Móvil currently has over 186 million wireless subscribers. In the last quarter of 2008 Nokia shipped 13.3 million units to Latin America.

The basic Nokia Maps service is made available free of charge in all Nokia GPS-enabled devices. Users wanting the premium voice-guided navigation service will be able to purchase it from the operator. América Móvil is one of the first mobile service providers in the world to make this capability available to its customers. The service will start in Mexico in March, and coming soon to other markets where América Móvil operates, said a Nokia press release.

Source - http://www.gpsbusinessnews.com/

GPS - Global Positioning System

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) developed by the United States Department of Defense. It is the only fully functional GNSS in the world. It uses a constellation of between 24 and 32 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, which allow GPS receivers to determine their current location, the time, and their velocity. Its official name is NAVSTAR GPS. Although NAVSTAR is not an acronym,[1] a few backronyms have been created for it.[2] The GPS satellite constellation is managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. GPS is often used by civilians as a navigation system.

After Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace,[3] President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making GPS freely available for civilian use as a common good.[4] Since then, GPS has become a widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and a useful tool for map-making, land surveying, commerce, scientific uses, and hobbies such as geocaching. Also, the precise time reference is used in many applications including the scientific study of earthquakes. GPS is also a required key synchronization resource of cellular networks, such as the Qualcomm CDMA air interface used by many wireless carriers in a multitude of countries.[citation needed]

The first satellite navigation system, Transit, used by the United States Navy, was first successfully tested in 1960. Using a constellation of five satellites, it could provide a navigational fix approximately once per hour. In 1967, the U.S. Navy developed the Timation satellite which proved the ability to place accurate clocks in space, a technology that GPS relies upon. In the 1970s, the ground-based Omega Navigation System, based on signal phase comparison, became the first worldwide radio navigation system.

The design of GPS is based partly on similar ground-based radio navigation systems, such as LORAN and the Decca Navigator developed in the early 1940s, and used during World War II. Additional inspiration for the GPS came when the Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik in 1957. A team of U.S. scientists led by Dr. Richard B. Kershner were monitoring Sputnik's radio transmissions. They discovered that, because of the Doppler effect, the frequency of the signal being transmitted by Sputnik was higher as the satellite approached, and lower as it continued away from them. They realized that since they knew their exact location on the globe, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit by measuring the Doppler distortion.

Courtsey - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

GPS TRACKING DEVICES

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Courtsey - http://www.bountyhunt.com/gps_tracking_devices.htm

The International GNSS Service (IGS)

The International GNSS Service (IGS), formerly the International GPS Service, is a voluntary federation of more than 200 worldwide agencies that pool resources and permanent GPS & GLONASS station data to generate precise GPS & GLONASS products. The IGS is committed to providing the highest quality data and products as the standard for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in support of Earth science research, multidisciplinary applications, and education. Currently the IGS includes two GNSS, GPS and the Russian GLONASS, and intends to incorporate future GNSS. You can think of the IGS as the highest-precision international civilian GPS community.

Courtsey - http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/

Continuous Networks

Continuous Networks: Caltech operates four separate continuous GPS networks, which combined consist of 70 permanent GPS sites. An additional 35 sites are planned to expand these networks in the near future.

* Basin and Range Geodetic Network (BARGEN): BARGEN consists of 53 GPS sites situated across the Basin and Range province of the western United States, including sites in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. The network is designed in part to better understand processes involved in large-magnitude continental extension, and in part to understand strain rates surrounding the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The 18 original BARGEN sites were installed in 1996, with network expansions in 1998-1999 and 2001-2002. An 18 site expansion is planned for fall and winter of 2003-2004. Learn more at the BARGEN website.
* Jalisco: Currently, a single permanent GPS site runs within the Jalisco campaign network, described above. Four additional permanent sites will be constructed in the near future.

Courtsey - http://web.gps.caltech.edu/facilities/gps_facilities.html

GPS Geodesy

Caltech is a member of UNAVCO, the NSF-sponsored university consortium that owns and operates numerous receivers utilizing the NAVSTAR Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) for geodetic positioning. These receivers, which have a precision on the millimeter level are used for studies of tectonic deformation in California and elsewhere, both through the use of campaign-style GPS surveys of existing benchmarks, and the establishment of continuously operating GPS stations.

* Campaign Networks:
o Death Valley: The Death Valley campaign GPS network consists of 15 benchmarks designed to determine slip rates on major strike-slip faults in the Death Valley region, and to estimate the potential hazard these faults pose for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. This network was occupied annually from 1991 until 1996, and has been periodically occupied since the construction of the BARGEN continuous GPS network in the region (discussed below).
o Jalisco, Mexico: This 11 benchmark GPS network is a collaboration among la Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Caltech, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of California at Berkeley. The network was established in 1995, in Jalisco and Colima, Mexico, in order to monitor deformation of the North America plate over the subducting Rivera plate. In October 1995, a magnitude 8 earthquake occurred in the subduction zone beneath the GPS network. The network was reoccupied annually from the earthquake until 2000, and periodically since that time. Additional benchmarks and a continuous GPS station have been added since 2000, with more continuous sites planned. More information on this network can be found here.

Courtsey - http://web.gps.caltech.edu/facilities/gps_facilities.html