Image – World Space Week/Space Command

One of our LinkedIn connections sent us this interesting poster.

We are guessing that the title saying “Global Positioning Systems” vice “Global Navigation Satellite Systems” is an effort to make it more understandable for the “person on the street.” It also has “GPS” in parentheses afterward hinting that “GPS” is now a generic term for satnav instead of the name of the US brand of GNSS. Kind of like “Band Aid” has come to mean any small bandage instead of a specific Johnson & Johnson bandage product.

Nice poster.  We are guessing that underpinning networks, financial and electrical systems, etcetera were not included on it because, well, how much can you put on one poster?

We are also curious about the purpose of the poster.

Education for school kids? – We are guessing that, except for agriculture, most folks already understand GPS and satnav at this level.

is it public relations to ensure GPS III and other Space Command programs are funded?  That doesn’t seem like a real possibility. GPS is pretty much a sacred cow when it comes to funding. Who doesn’t already love GPS?

Maybe some program office just had money left at the end of the year and wanted to do this.

Regardless, if you would like a copy of the poster, a version is available on our site. Click the image.