GPS for Everyone: How the Global Positioning System Can Work for You (Paperback)

by L. Casey Larijani (Author)

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)

Product Description

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: American Interface Corporation (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965966755
• ISBN-13: 978-0965966757
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,592,029 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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 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

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

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.