
Trying to figure out where you are and where
you're going is probably one of man's oldest pastimes.
Navigation and positioning are crucial to so many activities and yet the process has
always been quite cumbersome.
Over the years all kinds of technologies have tried to simplify the task but every one
has had some disadvantage.
Finally, the U.S. Department of Defense decided that the
military had to have a super precise form of worldwide positioning. And fortunately they
had the kind of money ($12 billion!) it took to build something really good.
The result is the Global Positioning System, a system that's changed navigation
forever.
On to the Next Section