GPS Coordinates Help Pinpoint a Position on Earth

GPS coordinates can be used to pinpoint the location of many landmarks, including a vehicle when necessary. You may wonder how these GPS coordinates are used to locate your vehicle. The simplest method of representing a point on a map is to use two lines that intersect, with one going vertically and the other in the horizontal direction. The point of convergence of these two points will be your location.

Coordinates can Locate Many Different Things

GPS coordinates can refer to many different things, such as campsites, lakes, rivers or even a place where one is standing at a certain point in time. The basic way in which GPS coordinates work is that a location on earth is determined by the use of two or three coordinates that are present in a coordinate system that is aligned with the spinning axis of our earth. GPS coordinates are really two numbers that correspond to one another, in which one set of numbers pertains to the vertical line and the other to the horizontal lines. Together, these numerical directions are known as “global positioning system coordinate lines”. The location that you are seeking is where these two lines intersect. There are a few different GPS coordinates systems that read map locations on the earth in different ways.

GPS coordinates are much like a clock, with each degree being representative of one hour, each degree sub-divided into sixty minutes, and each minute into sixty seconds. A minute on this illustration can be used to represent one mile in width at the equator, while a second is a fraction of a mile that is greater than 100 feet. In the case of vehicle tracking GPS systems, another method of representing GPS coordinates is used and this format is the decimal one. You can convert one format into another, which is often the case as people use GPS technology for different purposes. In any case, the GPS coordinates are calculated in accordance with the World Geodetic System WGS84 coordinate system.

This system requires that the receiver knows the precise time, because the satellites that are used for this system have very accurate atomic clocks. The receiver will need to use an internal crystal oscillator-based clock which is updated on a continuous basis from the satellites orbiting above the earth. The location is calculated by the GPS receiver, which must have the current time and position of the satellite, as it takes into account the delay in receiving the signal. The accuracy of the position that you are searching for with the help of GPS coordinates depends to a large extent on the position of the satellite as well as how much delay there is in the signal being received.

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