Glossary

CE: Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system for hand held computers. It is designed to have the look and feel of Windows95.

GPS: Global Positioning System: the US Department of Defence maintains a network of 24 active satellites, plus several standby units, called Navstar. These broadcast their location and time signals that can be decoded by a suitable receiver and used to calculate the location of the receiver.

GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications. The more important of the two main standards for digital mobile phones. Digital mobiles are needed for reliable, if still rather slow, electronic communication via the cellular phone networks.

NMEA: National Maritime Electronic Association. The NMEA 0183 standard for interfacing marine electronic devices is a voluntary industry standard, first released in March of 1983. The NMEA 0183 standard defines electrical signal requirements, data transmission protocol, timing and specific sentence formats for a 4800 baud serial data bus.

OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer, that is people who buy in components in order to build systems for sale to end-users.

UTM: Universal Transverse Mercator. The UTM grid provides a way of locating any point on the earth's surface between 84 degrees North and 84 degrees South. The world is divided into zones 6 degrees of longitutude wide, starting at 180 degrees W, and coordinates are expressed in metres east of the zone origin and north of the equator. The OS grid is a Modified Transverse Mercator grid based on similar principles, but arranged so that it covers the whole of the UK.