"One of the most mesmerizing and exhilarating, yet alarming modern technology books…an extraordinary tale." —Gillian Tett, Financial Times Pinpoint tells the fascinating story of a hidden system that touches nearly every aspect of modern life. Tracking the development of GPS from its origins as a bomb guidance system to its present ubiquity, Greg Milner examines the technology’s double-edged effect on the way we live, work, and travel. Savvy and original, this sweeping scientific history offers startling insight into how humans understand their place in the world.
Richly illustrated and information-packed tools for anyone whose play or work takes them to remote areas. Basic Illustrated Using GPS, 3rd is a guide to practical field use of the Global Positioning System, written in simple language, with each new term explained as it's used. This book is a wealth of useful backcountry navigation advice for beginners and experts alike. It also includes information on using GPS with the latest mapping software. Disocver how to: Pick the best GPS receiver for your specific needs Read and pregrid topographic maps Identify waypoints with various coordinate systems Use GPS to navigate on land and water Create your own maps with GPS software
Covers the latest developments in PNT technologies, including integrated satellite navigation, sensor systems, and civil applications Featuring sixty-four chapters that are divided into six parts, this two-volume work provides comprehensive coverage of the state-of-the-art in satellite-based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies and civilian applications. It also examines alternative navigation technologies based on other signals-of-opportunity and sensors and offers a comprehensive treatment on integrated PNT systems for consumer and commercial applications. Volume 1 of Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century: Integrated Satellite Navigation, Sensor Systems, and Civil Applications contains three parts and focuses on the satellite navigation systems, technologies, and engineering and scientific applications. It starts with a historical perspective of GPS development and other related PNT development. Current global and regional navigation satellite systems (GNSS and RNSS), their inter-operability, signal quality monitoring, satellite orbit and time synchronization, and ground- and satellite-based augmentation systems are examined. Recent progresses in satellite navigation receiver technologies and challenges for operations in multipath-rich urban environment, in handling spoofing and interference, and in ensuring PNT integrity are addressed. A section on satellite navigation for engineering and scientific applications finishes off the volume. Volume 2 of Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century: Integrated Satellite Navigation, Sensor Systems, and Civil Applications consists of three parts and addresses PNT using alternative signals and sensors and integrated PNT technologies for consumer and commercial applications. It looks at PNT using various radio signals-of-opportunity, atomic clock, optical, laser, magnetic field, celestial, MEMS and inertial sensors, as well as the concept of navigation from Low-Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites. GNSS-INS integration, neuroscience of navigation, and animal navigation are also covered. The volume finishes off with a collection of work on contemporary PNT applications such as survey and mobile mapping, precision agriculture, wearable systems, automated driving, train control, commercial unmanned aircraft systems, aviation, and navigation in the unique Arctic environment. In addition, this text: Serves as a complete reference and handbook for professionals and students interested in the broad range of PNT subjects Includes chapters that focus on the latest developments in GNSS and other navigation sensors, techniques, and applications Illustrates interconnecting relationships between various types of technologies in order to assure more protected, tough, and accurate PNT Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century: Integrated Satellite Navigation, Sensor Systems, and Civil Applications will appeal to all industry professionals, researchers, and academics involved with the science, engineering, and applications of position, navigation, and timing technologies. pnt21book.com
“Just astonishing . . . Our natural navigational capacities are no match for those of the supernavigators in this eye-opening book.”—Frans de Waal, The New York Times Book Review Publisher's note: Supernavigators was published in the UK under the title Incredible Journeys. Animals plainly know where they’re going, but how they know has remained a stubborn mystery—until now. Supernavigators is a globe-trotting voyage of discovery alongside astounding animals of every stripe: dung beetles that steer by the Milky Way, box jellyfish that can see above the water (with a few of their twenty-four eyes), sea turtles that sense Earth’s magnetic field, and many more. David Barrie consults animal behaviorists and Nobel Prize–winning scientists to catch us up on the cutting edge of animal intelligence—revealing these wonders in a whole new light.
This book guides animal ecologists, biologists and wildlife and data managers through a step-by-step procedure to build their own advanced software platforms to manage and process wildlife tracking data. This unique, problem-solving-oriented guide focuses on how to extract the most from GPS animal tracking data, while preventing error propagation and optimizing analysis performance. Based on the open source PostgreSQL/PostGIS spatial database, the software platform will allow researchers and managers to integrate and harmonize GPS tracking data together with animal characteristics, environmental data sets, including remote sensing image time series, and other bio-logged data, such as acceleration data. Moreover, the book shows how the powerful R statistical environment can be integrated into the software platform, either connecting the database with R, or embedding the same tools in the database through the PostgreSQL extension Pl/R. The client/server architecture allows users to remotely connect a number of software applications that can be used as a database front end, including GIS software and WebGIS. Each chapter offers a real-world data management and processing problem that is discussed in its biological context; solutions are proposed and exemplified through ad hoc SQL code, progressively exploring the potential of spatial database functions applied to the respective wildlife tracking case. Finally, wildlife tracking management issues are discussed in the increasingly widespread framework of collaborative science and data sharing. GPS animal telemetry data from a real study, freely available online, are used to demonstrate the proposed examples. This book is also suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, if accompanied by the basics of databases.
At once far flung and intimate, a fascinating look at how finding our way make us human. "A marvel of storytelling." —Kirkus (Starred Review) In this compelling narrative, O'Connor seeks out neuroscientists, anthropologists and master navigators to understand how navigation ultimately gave us our humanity. Biologists have been trying to solve the mystery of how organisms have the ability to migrate and orient with such precision—especially since our own adventurous ancestors spread across the world without maps or instruments. O'Connor goes to the Arctic, the Australian bush and the South Pacific to talk to masters of their environment who seek to preserve their traditions at a time when anyone can use a GPS to navigate. O’Connor explores the neurological basis of spatial orientation within the hippocampus. Without it, people inhabit a dream state, becoming amnesiacs incapable of finding their way, recalling the past, or imagining the future. Studies have shown that the more we exercise our cognitive mapping skills, the greater the grey matter and health of our hippocampus. O'Connor talks to scientists studying how atrophy in the hippocampus is associated with afflictions such as impaired memory, dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, depression and PTSD. Wayfinding is a captivating book that charts how our species' profound capacity for exploration, memory and storytelling results in topophilia, the love of place. "O'Connor talked to just the right people in just the right places, and her narrative is a marvel of storytelling on its own merits, erudite but lightly worn. There are many reasons why people should make efforts to improve their geographical literacy, and O'Connor hits on many in this excellent book—devouring it makes for a good start." —Kirkus Reviews
For the millions of GPS owners who love their GPS units but don't know all they can do with them, this fun guide shows that a GPS can do a lot more than just calculate a location. Dozens of illustrated examples show how a GPS can be attached to a multitude of devices, including dogsleds, race cars, hot-air balloons, windsurfers, pet animals, ski racers, hockey players, and sailboats. Each example includes maps and photographs to inspire hobbyists, airline passengers, athletes, animal lovers, drivers, teachers, and students to track and map their activities. How to incorporate GPS mapping technology in the classroom in order to reinforce science, math, and geography curricula, provide the groundwork for project-based learning, and show students that their schoolwork is important and relevant is discussed.
Training methods for tracking and wilderness observation woven into extraordinary real-life stories of intuitive animal-reading skills • Explains technical tracking methods and observational skills such as shadowing and envisioning through the innermost thoughts of an accomplished native tracker • Reveals how to track by expanding your awareness and consciousness to become one with the animal you are tracking • Shares stories of tracking Wolves, Bears, Deer, Cougars, and many other animals Stepping beyond the shape of a footprint and into the unseen story of the track, veteran wilderness guide Tamarack Song takes you inside the eyes and mind of an intuitive tracker, with intimate stories where Frogs show the way out of the woods, scat reveals life histories, and Bears demonstrate how to find missing people. Drawing from his years of surviving in the wild, apprenticing to native elders, and living with a family of wolves, Tamarack reveals how to achieve a level of perception like that of aboriginal trackers by becoming one with the animal you are tracking, whether Fox, Deer, Coyote, or Cougar. Sharing his innermost thoughts while following track and sign, the book’s adventures merge technical tracking methods with skills such as shadowing and envisioning, while demonstrating animal-reading skills considered outside the human realm. The author explains how to expand your awareness--to learn from nature by becoming nature--and tap in to the intuitive tracking consciousness each of us has inherited from our Paleolithic ancestors. Through his stories from the trail, Tamarack shows the art of tracking not simply as a skill for hunters and naturalists but as a metaphor for conscious living. By exploring the intricacies of the natural world, we explore not only our connections to the world around us but also our internal landscapes. We learn to better express ourselves and listen, meet our needs, and help others. Intuitive tracking provides a path to finding ourselves, becoming one with all life, and restoring humanity’s place in the Great Hoop of Life.
Many of us rely on our car’s or phone’s GPS but ignore the life-directional system we were each born with. This innate compass — what Zen Cryar DeBrücke calls our internal guidance system (IGS) — wants us to be happy, successful, and stress-free. How do we tune in to this tool? DeBrücke learned from trial and error and through the dramatic crucible of being the CEO of an internet firm during the dot-com bust. Her IGS helped her ride these daunting waves — and in the process she learned to leave painful memories behind, abandon destructive relationship patterns, and set boundaries. Learning to recognize and speak her truth led to the “beautiful sensation of being comfortable in [her] own skin.” Here DeBrücke shares her innovative program with readers so they too can have the life-changing experiences that result when we follow the guidance within.
If you're looking for an up-to-date, easy-to-understand treatment of the GPS (Global Positioning System), this one-of-a-kind resource offers you the knowledge you need for your work, without bogging you down with advanced mathematics. It addresses all aspects of the GPS, emphasizes GPS applications, examines the GPS signal structure, and covers the key types of measurement being utilized in the field today.
