GPS for Everyone: How the Global Positioning System Can Work for You [Paperback]

L. Casey Larijani (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998

In a few years’ time, GPS receiving devices will be as ubiquitous as cell phones are today. This plain English guide contains a full glossary with over 500 terms; a full bibliographic reference; and appendices on the history of navigation, time and technology, triangulation, and vendors. Beginning with the basics such as GPS satellites and signals, this book also discusses the popular uses of GPS such as devices for transportation. Also included are the technical uses for GPS such as defense, cartography, and surveying as well as costs and worldwide commercial opportunities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"GPS for Everyone is a compelling, exciting and informative read for professional resource and infrastructure mappers, monitors and managers, as well as for lay readers. After her insightful and helpful book on Virtual Reality, Larijani again engages us with an accurate, clear, timely guide to a high-tech topic. She takes us on a delightful historical and practical journey, using everyday words and amusing sketches, and covers the practical applications in spades. She answers the questions (1) What is GPS? (2) How does it work? (3) What can it do? (4) What can't it yet do? And (5) What's being done to turn (4) into (3)? Once opened, it's a hard book to close until finished!" -- Barney P. Popkin, Geosciences Team Leader, TetraTech EM, Inc. & Co-Chair, San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Hazardous Materials Advisory Committee.

"GPS -- beautifully explained and thoroughly understandable. A welcome presentation of a far- reaching but down-to-earth technology!" -- Leonard Kleinrock, UCLA Professor of Computer Science; a "father" of the Internet, established Node 1 on Arpanet in 1969; member, National Academy of Engineering; National Research Council Computer Science and Telecommunications Board; IEEE Fellow; Guggenheim Fellow; author, Queueing Systems; recipient, L.M. Ericsson Prize, 12th Marconi Award, ORSA Lanchester Prize, CCNY Townsend Harris Medal

"Ms. Larijani has successfully combined in one very readable book: a basic description of how the GPS works, its broad applications and rich appendices, including bibliographies, a glossary and acronyms." -- Dr. Ivan A. Getting, Founding President, The Aerospace Corporation, and leading force behind development of the Global Positioning System; recipient, President's Medal of Merit (1948), IEEE Founders Award (1989) and Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service (1997)

From the Publisher

Chapters 1-3: The Basics

What the Global Positioning System is; how it works; people and organizations involved. Receivers used to pick up GPS signals and the differences among them. Handy checklist for choosing a device. Differential GPS (DGPS), a nonmilitary means to get around degraded signals; how DGPS works.

Chapters 4-7: Popular Use of GPS

How GPS is being used by real people for real things -- on land, in the air and on water. Equipment needed for particular tasks. How to get the most out of what you buy.

Chapters 8-13: Technical & Scientific Applications

GPS precision in defense, mapping, surveying, exploration, geology, geodesy, geography, protecting the environment, predicting earthquakes and synchronizing power and telecommunication lines.

Chapters 14-15: GPS Markets & Costs

Issues of costs, politics & standards. GPS-related activities around the world. Commercial opportunities for entrepreneurs. Socio-political implications of use of GPS.

Appendix A: Navigation, Time & Technology

GPS as the latest advance in the evolutionary history of navigation. Instruments and techniques used in the past.

Appendix B: Triangulation

For readers interested in measurements and calculations, how triangulation works -- a simple example.

Appendix C: Vendors & Sources

A representative list of equipment manufacturers, suppliers and sources of information -- a snapshot of players in the field. Photos of typical devices.

Bibliography

An extensive resource bibliography to give you a scope of current research and a foundation for further reading.

Glossary

Jargon-free definitions for over 450 terms. More than 250 GPS-related acronyms.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: American Interface Corporation (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965966755
• ISBN-13: 978-0965966757
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,608,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! One great book about one great system. Essential., May 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: GPS for Everyone: How the Global Positioning System Can Work for You (Paperback)

This book makes it all simple. And sexy. Well, sexy as technology goes. Almost everyone by now has seen or heard about GPS receivers and moving maps that pinpoint your location to within several feet. Anywhere on the globe. Something so spooky sounds impossible to understand, but Larijani covers it clearly and completely. ... The author even covers new and emerging job opportunities using the slick new capabilities. ... Larijani starts with the basics (such as how to navigate), tells how it works, who's involved, how to choose the right gear, what to do if signals degrade. She examines current uses in defense, mapping, environmental projects, earthquake prediction, utilities. And, since "our system" is usable world-wide, the overseas implications. One great book about one great system. Essential.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars finally, something thorough and simple--a rare combination!, November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: GPS for Everyone: How the Global Positioning System Can Work for You (Paperback)

Anyone interested in this topic surely knows that most books on GPS are either oversimplified and incomplete or are far too technical for an on-the-bus read. Ms. Larijani has avoided those unappealing tendencies in her thorough, readable text. Everything seems to be covered, and for those areas that do need explaining, a complete glossary is there to help. A considerate effort by the author to bring this technology "down-to-earth," tangible to any who want to know. Strongly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are interested in GPS, this is the book for you!, September 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: GPS for Everyone: How the Global Positioning System Can Work for You (Paperback)

What I liked most about this book was that it was so readable. As a non-technical person who was interested in learning more about how GPS works, I found this to be the perfect book. The author does a great job of writing for the layman. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in GPS.