Integrating GIS and the Global Positioning System (Paperback)

Description:

A constellation of twenty-four satellites, 11,000 miles up, circling the globe every twelve hours . . . monitoring stations on remote atolls . . . and radio receivers, some small enough to be held in the palm of your hand: that's the Global Positioning System, an explosively growing technology that's changing the way we know where we are, where we're going, and where we've been. Coupled with a GIS (geographic information system), with its virtually limitless layers of data and graphics and histories, it's nothing short of revolutionary.

GPS technology is helping researchers keep elephants from the brink of extinction, mapping mazes of oil and gas pipeline, locating the sources of a highly infectious disease, and keeping armchair sailors on the edge of their seats as they chart the progress of a race across the Atlantic. The ways GPS is being used range along an astonishingly broad spectrum of activities, personal and public, commercial and educational, business and pleasure.

Integrating GIS and the Global Positioning System is a comprehensive introduction to the powerful synergy between GIS and GPS technologies. The book covers the basics of GPS--what the components are, how they work in theory and in practice, how accuracy can be improved almost to pinpoint level--and presents several case studies that illustrate some of the ways the power of GPS is being harnessed to GIS, ensuring, among other benefits, increased accuracy in measurement and completeness of coverage.

 

Table of Contents:

An introduction to the Global Positioning System

Using satellites and the pseudorandom code to find yourself.

Differential GPS

Sharpening accuracy almost to a pinpoint.

Three stages of a GPS project: Planning, implementation, evaluation

Planning, implementing, and evaluating a project using GPS.

Fifty thousand miles of pipe

Mapping assets: Creating and maintaining a comprehensive spatial and digital data inventory.

The reservoir, the vector, and the outbreak

Tracking disease: Helping biologists locate sources and carriers of one of the world's most powerful viruses.

"Call 911!"

Emergency response: Getting the newest and most remote addresses on the 911 emergency response map.

Cold lakes and Hot Springs

Permitting: Streamlining and speeding up the application process.

Saving the elephants

ArcView Tracking Analyst: Bringing elephants back from the brink of extinction.

Saving the farmer

Precision agriculture: Coming up with new answers to old questions.

Car 54, where are you?

Automatic vehicle location: Helping cops get there quicker when you need them.

Disaster

Public safety: Planning for and preventing wildfires, floods, toxic spills, and other disasters.

Across the ocean single-handed--while millions watch

Navigation and entertainment: Putting a sailboat race from France to the Caribbean on the World Wide Web.