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How Do Auto Navigation Systems Work?

By Owen Jones


Contemporary auto navigation systems are truly excellent. Have you ever considered acquiring one? People who do not have or have never had a modern auto navigation system, or GPS (Global Positioning System) as it is also known as. will almost certainly not realize quite how much knowledge they provide. It is no longer just an item to stop you from getting lost while you are travelling from A to B.

Far from it. Modern GPS systems will tell you when you are passing monuments, sites of historical importance or beauty, churches, hotels, restaurants, pubs, garages, petrol pumps, airports and practically anything else that you would like it to inform you of. They have moved on from being only an on screen map to being a travel guide and much more..

If you are thinking of buying a GPS auto navigation system, it is worth learning a bit about how they operate, so that you can better understand what they do, what they are capable of doing and how they do it. This is useful knowledge for when it comes to choosing which system to choose, because not all GPS systems are the same and some offer more functions than others.

All car GPS navigation systems use satellites to help them work out their position. (This is not always the case with boats, because some water ways use land-based tracking stations.

The GPS is like a radio receiver, so it picks up signals from overhead satellites and interprets that data in order to determine where it is. In order to do this job properly, it needs the signals from three satellites.

This is known as triangulation and is very accurate, frequently to within a metre or a yard. However, in order to make sure of even more accuracy, the data from a fourth satellite is used as a check. There is very little margin for error when four satellites are being used for pin-pointing a position.

A GPS item will tell you which way to go and if you go off route, it will advise you the best manner for going back to the right road. However it will also do more than that. Before you begin out on your journey from A to B, you have to enter those two locations.

The GPS will then enquire of you whether you would like to go by the quickest route, the most scenic road or whether you would like to avoid motorways altogether.

This is a great function, but it can do over that as well. If you sort in the name of a restaurant along the fashion or a monument you would like to see, it will steer you from A to B via your place of interest.

One last item, be sure that the device that you purchase is upgradeable. Some are upgraded automatically, but you have to pay a monthly or annual fee. Others will sell you an upgrade which you have to install yourself. If you are comfortable with making your own upgrades, all well and good, but just be aware that systematically upgrading the software is vital.




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