The aim of this book is not to provide an exhaustive course on all of the intricate details and operation of the versatile Global Positioning System. Rather, it is written to help the new users of one of the many hand-held gps receivers, which are becoming more and more common in daily life, go out and get back safely to their point of departure from a familiar place. In it we hope you will find the information and explanations that are usually missing from the operators’ manuals and glossy brochures of the market place.

GPS is one of the technical marvels of the “space age” that has put exceptional positioning accuracy into the hands of anyone who will take the short time needed to learn about its pros and cons. We will try to help you do just that. You will find simple explanations of the system which makes GPS so effective as a navigation and location aid. We will suggest methods of extracting the maximum navigational and safety information from your equipment. We hope that the increased confidence of safely navigating “in the bush” or “on the water” will surprise you, and perhaps help you bring home the one that didn’t get away.

Enjoy the experience!   

Topics:

• Hardware—system description

• Operating a hand-held GPS

• Navigating with a GPS—part one

• Navigating with a GPS—part two

• Some other features of a GPS

• Terminology in a navigation computer

• What’s WAAS?

• Mapping

• Buying a hand-held GPS