For any of us who have been lost while driving, the road map has been our guiding light, identifying roadways and landmarks to help us find our way. But gone are the days of tri-folded paper maps that require the use of illumination and attention taken from the road. The modern Global Positioning System or GPS has transformed the process by which we find our way. But, contrary to popular belief, GPS navigation is not a new invention designed for strictly consumer use.
The Global Positioning System marked its beginnings in the 1970s but seeds of its existence were sown prior to that. We first saw the possibilities of satellite navigation with the launching of Sputnik in 1957. Russian scientists who were monitoring the progress of Sputnik found that they could track its movement based on radio waves; this set the foundation for GPS. The U.S. Navy used an elementary form of GPS in the 1960s when they used six satellites to help their submarines pinpoint their location. But GPS as we know it was designed and implemented by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1978 when they launched the first operational satellite.
Today, 24 satellites circle the earth and provide an...