Updating Maps using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) - Main Users / Purpose

files/images_static/user.jpg Urban & regional planners, surveyors, GIS specialists.
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The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a technical tool that can be used for updating and/or defining map feature-coordinates using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). GPS can be used to locate map features that cannot be easily digitized from aerial photographs or satellite images (e.g. water wells, pipelines, administrative boundaries, etc.). GPS can also be used in order to develop new map layers and to rectify satellite image. This is done by collecting coordinates from distinct landmarks that directly refer to a certain pixel in the aerial photograph / satellite image (e.g. road crossings, building edges, towers, junctions, rock formations). With increasing accuracy of the GPS it is increasingly being used by physical and regional planners, particularly when creating or updating map features in order to produce maps scaled in a range from 1:10,000 to 1:100,000.