

How GPS devices pinpoint the location of moving objects - chwolfe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110202431_pf.html

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RiderOfGiraffes
One thing really annoys me about these explanations. GPS units don't know the
time accurately enough to do what they say. Instead, they compute the
difference in the received timestamps, which gives the difference in the
distances to the satellites. That puts you on a hyperbolic paraboloid. Enough
of them and you can pin down your location.

Some GPS units work by iterating to a solution, effectively computing the
time, but it's not as easy as simply knowing the time and computing the
distances.

The real explanation is more complex, and way cooler. I wish people wouldn't
simplify in a way that makes it almost trivial and loses the good bits.

