"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.

Deep in the Grand Canyon lies a place of unmatched beauty; a place where blue-green water cascades over fern-clad cliffs into travertine pools, where great blue heron skim canyon streams, and where giant cottonwoods and graceful willows thrive in ...

Need directions? Are you good at getting lost? Then GPS is just the technology you’ve dreamed of, and GPS For Dummies is what you need to help you make the most of it. If you have a GPS unit or plan to buy one, GPS For Dummies, 2nd Edition helps you compare GPS technologies, units, and uses. You’ll find out how to create and use digital maps and learn about waypoints, tracks, coordinate systems, and other key point to using GPS technology. Get more from your GPS device by learning to use Web-hosted mapping services and even how to turn your cell phone or PDA into a GPS receiver. You’ll also discover: Up-to-date information on the capabilities of popular handheld and automotive Global Positioning Systems How to read a map and how to get more from the free maps available online The capabilities and limitations of GPS technology, and how satellites and radio systems make GPS work How to interface your GPS receiver with your computer and what digital mapping software can offer Why a cell phone with GPS capability isn’t the same as a GPS unit What can affect your GPS reading and how accurate it will be How to use Street Atlas USA, TopoFusion, Google Earth, and other tools Fun things to do with GPS, such as exploring topographical maps, aerial imagery, and the sport of geocaching Most GPS receivers do much more than their owners realize. With GPS For Dummies, 2nd Edition in hand, you’ll venture forth with confidence!

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.