![]() Many networks chose Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) technology, nearinstantaneous location measurements using a GPS receiver inside the handset, assisted by data passed to it over the cellular system (Fig3). The trigger for this phase was the US government’s requirement that cell-phone networks should automatically identify the locations of users who call the emergency 911 number. And now we are entering a third phase of this revolution, where the utility that is Global Satellite Navigation becomes universal and largely invisible. But then came, farmers,motorists, truckers, people seeking not so much the high peaks of the great outdoors as the delivery bay at McDonalds! Soon, these nonnavigators outnumbered the navigators.Global navigation systems stopped being primarily about navigation they became simply public utilities. ![]() Navigators, the early adopters of satellite navigation, were rapidly followed by surveyors, geodesists, desert travellers – people with at least loose connections to navigation. The second phase of this revolution was driven by GPS. Amateur sailors and aviators got technology more powerful than professional equipment, and very much cheaper: Decca Navigator and Loran-C sets for yachts, for example (Fig 1 & 2). The first phase of the revolution brought lower cost, smaller, higher performance navigation equipment. Then, quietly, a revolution started in the world of navigation. They bestrode the bridges of ships and the fl ight decks of the large commercial aircraft and took star shots. They had years of training.They used complex, expensive, equipment. ![]() They wore uniforms with emblems on their shoulders. ![]() As recently as a generation ago, navigation was almost solely the specialised art of a small number of highly-skilled people. Today’s professional navigators may well be the last. It is a myth that Galileo will give Europe independence of the US in satellite navigation ![]()
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