‘Indoor GPS’ could stop you getting lost – or going hungry – ever again
London's Gatwick Airport has installed thousands of virtual beacons to help passengers navigate when GPS won't work inside.
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Articles on Navigation
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Scientists have worked out how dung beetles use the Milky Way to hold their course
New research shows the insects use the brightness of different stars to work out which direction to go.
How far they’ll go: Moana shows the power of Polynesian celestial navigation
Disney's Moana has a remarkably accurate depiction of how Polynesian peoples navigate by the stars, and draws attention to the richness of Indigenous astronomy.
Australia on the move: how GPS keeps up with a continent in constant motion
Australia is always on the move thanks to continental drift which means the mapped coordinates of any place can get out of line with any GPS locating system. So what's the plan to fix it?
What drones may come: The future of unmanned flight approaches
Get a taste of a drone-enabled future by looking at innovations and explorations from researchers, students and employees at one of the nation's largest university systems.
Obstacle avoidance: The challenge for drone package delivery
Without a human operator on board, how can a drone steer clear of collisions? Technology from autonomous cars can help.
Deep underground, smartphones can save miners’ lives
Mine communications are complex, slow and unreliable. The solution to keeping miners safe, and rescuing them when disaster strikes, might just be in their hands already.
How ants walk backwards carrying a heavy load and still find home
The navigation tactics of certain Australian ants could point the way to helping driverless cars find their way around.
Why the Deep Space Atomic Clock is key for future space exploration
Measuring time is a crucial part of navigation – particularly in space, where exacting precision is called for. The DSAC is poised to make a change that will aid future deep space missions.
Did the Vikings use crystal ‘sunstones’ to discover America?
A bold theory suggests the Vikings may have used a mysterious method of studying sunlight to navigate the oceans.
We need to make digital navigation tools more human – here’s how
How do you make a digital mapping system give directions like a stranger in the street?
Sharper GPS needs even more accurate atomic clocks
They are the most accurate clocks on the planet and a few more in space. So why are researchers trying to make atomic clocks even more accurate?
Predicting daily space weather will help keep your GPS on target
It’s well known that severe space weather events – which are quite rare – can have a negative impact on our use of Global Positioning System (GPS) enabled devices. But our research, published in Geophysical…
Sir David Gill – Scotland’s most notable astronomer?
There have been 10 astronomers royal for Scotland since the honour was created in 1834, only three of whom were Scots. I believe Aberdonian Sir David Gill (1843-1914), who never held the honour, trumps…
The longitude problem: how we figured out where we are
Right now if you want to know where you are, your smartphone map will tell you instantly. But these technologies only exist…
Avian navigation closer to being solved
The mystery migrations of birds of the world has long puzzled scientists, but understanding how it works may be one step…
Making a bee-line for energy savings
Bumblebees use complex problem-solving skills to minimise the energy they use when flying to collect food. For the bumblebee…
Fruit bats navigate with internal maps
Egyptian fruit bats use an internal, landmark-based map to navigate their local area, a new study has found. The discovery…
Top contributors
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Senior Research Fellow in Space Weather and Ionospheric Physics, RMIT University
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Professor, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, UNSW
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Senior ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, Monash University
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Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
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Professor of Historical Geography and Intellectual History, University of Bristol
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Honorary Senior Lecturer, University of Aberdeen
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Professor of Applied Biochemistry, University of Nottingham
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Research Associate, University of Western Australia
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Reader in Cognitive Linguistics, Bangor University
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Principal Investigator on the Deep Space Atomic Clock Technology Demonstration Mission, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA
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PhD student in Ecological Neuroscience, Macquarie University
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NASA
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Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science , Colorado State University
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Professor of Electrical Engineering, Ohio University
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Director of the University of California Center of Excellence on Unmanned Aircraft System Safety, University of California, Merced
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