Hamedan Province (استان همدان) covers an area of 19,546 km² and lies in an elevated…
Although originally designed for military and intelligence applications at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, in the 1980s GPS was released for use in civilian applications. Today, millions of users rely on satellite navigation for finding their way from A to B and a whole lot more besides.
The most obvious application for GPS is satellite navigation in vehicles, aircraft and ships. It allows anyone with a GPS receiver to pinpoint their speed and position on land, air or sea, with incredible accuracy. Drivers can use in-vehicle portable navigation devices to follow a route, find detours around traffic problems and with additional software receive traffic alerts and warnings on safety camera locations.
GPS is also available for other uses: hikers and ramblers can use GPS receivers to ensure they are following their chosen route and to mark rendezvous points along the way. While gamers can take part in geocaching, a kind of treasure hunt for the digital age, which uses precise GPS signals to help the players track down a hidden stash.
The emergency services, for instance, can use GPS not only to find their way to an incident quicker than ever before but also to pinpoint the location of accidents and allow follow-up staff to find the scene quickly. This is particularly useful for search and rescue teams at sea and in extreme weather conditions on land where time can be a matter of life or death.
Scientists and engineers also have applications for GPS receivers, in scientific experiments, and in monitoring geological activity such as earth tremors, earthquakes and volcanic rumblings. They can use strategically positioned GPS devices to assist them in tracking climate change and other phenomena. Fundamentally, GPS can now be used to produce very accurate maps.