Out in Front: Readers, marketing partners co-engineer GPS World redesign

Alan Cameron

GPS to the power of PNT. Or, as I like to think of it, GPSPNT.

We are rapidly entering — or we have already entered — the era in which we say “GPS” but we really mean so much more.

• We mean GNSS: GPS + GLONASS + Galileo + BeiDou.
• We mean all of the above plus satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), now encompassing WAAS, EGNOS, SDCM, QZSS, IRNSS, and I don’t think we’re done yet.
• We mean all the above plus several private-sector corrections services, including but not limited to OmniStar, StarFire, Veripos, Fugro, Terrastar, Atlas, and surely more to come.
• We mean all of the above plus back-ups in the event of jamming or other interference: eLoran is a prime candidate, and there are others.
• We mean all of the above plus many technologies that can be integrated — are being integrated — with GPS/GNSS to achieve a seamless position, navigation and timing (PNT) solution: inertial and other MEMS, cell ID, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DSRC, FM and UHF, and many more. Think of a band of the RF spectrum (or even non-RF technology as the mentioned inertial/MEMS); it’s probably on that list or soon will be.
• We mean all of the above plus many forms of software that go into making up a geographic information systems (GIS) backbone, a map-matching system, a building information model (BIM) or other application and extension of the GPS data.

They all work together. They all need each other. But they all begin with GPS. Sometime tomorrow, they will all begin with GNSS. Today, GPS is the game in town.

Saying “we mean,” I denote “we” in the loose or editorial sense: this magazine. We treat all of the technologies as ways to get to the solution: the ubiquitous, seamless PNT solution. We’ve been wondering recently if the umbrella has grown too wide for “GPS” to continue to be its label.

No matter how professionally and technically correct both you and we aim to be by employing the terms GNSS, PNT and integrated positioning technologies as appropriate, the world at large probably will continue to call all of the above “GPS.” And the label remains the easiest shorthand for all of the above. That is one of the reasons we have decided to continue calling this great magazine GPS World.

But we really mean so much more, and the pages that follow this one, and will follow in months to come, bring you so much more — fulfilling the promise of the “kicker” in our new name: GNSS, Position, Navigation, and Timing.