In this activity you'll find an animation depicting how the GPS system works.

Being a 2D construction only 3 satellites, S1, S2 and S3, are needed to determine the coordinates of any point.

Throughout the animation you'll see:

• The distances to the three satellites, d1, d2 and d3;
• The circle centered in S1 with radius d1;
• The circle centered in S2 with radius d2;
• The circle centered in S3 with radius d3;
• Point P, in the intersection of the three circles and its coordinates.

Then the animation restarts, with P in a new position. Everytime the animation is ran the coordinates of P are determined randomly.

Download the GPS animation in:

• English
• Portuguese