Satellites emit signals: GPS satellites continuously send signals down to Earth. These signals contain information about the position of the satellite and the time the signal was sent.

GPS tracker receives signals: The GPS receiving device, such as a smartphone or vehicle tracking system, picks up signals from at least four GPS satellites.

Timekeeping of the signals:  The GPS receiver uses the information from the signals of the different satellites to calculate the time it takes for the signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver. Since the signals travel at the speed of light, the GPS receiver can calculate the distance to each of the satellites based on the time it took for the signal to arrive.

Determination of position: Once the GPS receiver has picked up signals from at least four satellites and calculated their distances, it can determine its own position by triangulate those distances. This is done by calculating where the circles representing the distance to each satellite intersect. The point where these circles intersect is the position of the GPS receiver.

Data transfer and usage: The calculated position can then be used by the device for various purposes, such as showing the user their exact location on a map, tracking movement over time, or giving instructions for navigating from one point to another.

GPS tracking is an accurate and reliable technology used in a wide range of applications, including navigation devices, vehicle and fleet management systems, monitoring and security solutions, and more.

At TrackMe, we have several different GPS trackers.