Re: GPS receivers are wonderful, but ...

braden asks "You keep referring to it as "GPSR". What does the R stand for? Am I missing something?"

"GPS" = Global Positioning System, which is short for the full name "Navstar Global Positioning System". To say that you have "a GPS" or "use my GPS" is saying you yourself personally own a global positioning system, including satellites and a ground control segment with its attendant computers and transmitters that control the satellites and specify the messages they send.

"GPSR" = a receiver capable of receiving and decoding the signals transmitted by the satellites that form the Space Segment of the Navstar Global Positioning System, or "GPS receiver" for short. The "R" means the receiver that you can hold in your hand or is built into the dash of your car.

There are other global navigation satellite-based systems, generically known as GNSS, One is GLONASS, the system put up by the former Soviet Union, currently operating in a crippled state by Russia. Another, under construction by the EU, is Galileo. China is working on one and has a couple test satellites in orbit, with India having one test satellite in orbit. Japan is developing a system as well, though still in the early planning stages.

"GPSR" is the accepted acronym for the receivers used by the User Segment of the GPS. Calling it a "GPS" is sloppy slang.