Location

Resources around location.

Introduction

Global Positioning System (GPS)

The "grand-ole daddy" for general location/positioning services - in car, on water, in smart phones, etc.

1973 GPS project was launched by US government
1995 Fully operational
1996 " In 1996, recognizing the importance of GPS to civilian users as well as military users, U.S. President Bill Clinton issued a policy directive[41] declaring GPS a dual-use system and establishing an Interagency GPS Executive Board to manage it as a national asset. "
2000 " On May 2, 2000 "Selective Availability" was discontinued as a result of the 1996 executive order, allowing users to receive a non-degraded signal globally. "
2005 "In 2005, the first modernized GPS satellite was launched and began transmitting a second civilian signal (L2C) for enhanced user performance.[44] "

 

Galileo

The EU initiative aiming for a non-military system with improved accuracy compared to alternatives:

"One of the aims of Galileo is to provide an indigenous alternative high-precision positioning system upon which European nations can rely, independently from the Russian GLONASS , China Bei Dou and USGPS systems, in case they were disabled by their operators.[3]" [wikipedia]

1999 Discussions starts
2003 Galileo program is officially decided.
2005 First test satellite launched.
2011 First operational satellite launched.
2016 (May) 14 of 30 planned satellites are in orbit.
2020 (plan) Fully operational; w 24 satellites in use and 6 active spares.

 

 

Tracking Location

  • For personal use - hand-held GPS navigators, as part of smart phones, et c.
  • For stand-alone use, specific applications; for example
    • automotive, cars, trucks
    • boats
    • dogs, cats, house pets
    • teenagers (cars...)

 

Selection Criteria

  • Primary application (examples above - personal use, stand-alone use for cars, boats, et c; essentially decides a number of considerations below)
  • Environmental protection - indoor use, outdoor, dust, water (none, splash, submersible)
  • Power
    • battery-powered, replaceable or rechargeable, w ext. charger
      • how well works in more permanent-type installation?
    • need power source, what voltage, power consumption
  • Installation - limits on where install, possibility for external antennas et c
  • Northbound, "WAN"-interface(s)
    • Screen-only, like many products for personal use, in car, and so on.
    • Bluetooth - to smart phone (common for OBD-II solutions for cars)
    • Cellular network, then which generation (e.g. 2G is being shutdown in some areas around the world)
    • SMS
    • Wi-Fi
    • other
  • Southside interface(s)
    • What else than GPS info can - if any - can device handle.
    • For instance
      • embedded trackers - watches etc that monitors exercising and personal health
      • automotive w/ OBD-II connector
  • Costs
    • One-time: purchase price, plus installation as applicable
    • Any periodic, e.g. monthly, fees for monitoring. providing location via app and/or web interface
    • Costs depending on how much using - data plan, number of SMSs, and similar
  • Availability, and Accuracy
    System Origin When (starting) Accuracy  
    GPS US 1978 3.5 m, 95%, free, unencrypted
    ?, military
     
    Galileo EU 2011-2019 1m, free, public
    1cm, at cost, encrypted
     
    GLONASS Russia 1982 4.5-7.4 meters  
    Resources