For many centuries, the sun and the stars were used for navigation. On land, surveyors and explorers used familiar reference points to base their measurement or find ways. These methods worked well within certain limitations like the non-visibility of the Sun and stars when it is cloudy.

Presently, GPS is being used by surveyors to increase their efficiency, productivity and to produce more accurate results.

Diverse application areas of GPS are real estate surveys, regulatory enforcement actions, horizontal and vertical control densification, structural deformation studies, airborne photogrammetry, dynamic positioning and navigation for hydrographic survey vessels and dredges, hydraulic study/survey location, disaster management, river/floodplain cross-section location, core drilling location, environmental studies etc. Considering recreational use of GPS, it is being increasingly popular in skiing, yatching, canoeing etc. GPS has contributed a lot in the area of professional positioning in surveying, geodesy, and navigation.

(Source: Satheesh Gopi, 2005. Global Positioning System - Principles and Applications, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, pp 1, 10, 275)

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