A GPS receiver is a positional sensor. It receives data from the GPS satellites in the sky and compute your position (latitude and longitude) on earth. It can also compute your altitude, speed and other data.
This GPS module is using u-blox 7 chip. The antenna is built-in and it operates via USB interface. The cable length is approximately 2 meter. This GPS module is housed in a waterproof housing and has a strong magnet at the bottom for easy mounting on metal surface.
This GPS module is compatible with gpsd - a GPS service deamon which is also the de facto GPS API on Linux. gpsd listens to the stream of data from the GPS module and publish it in a much simpler format. This saves you a lot of trouble from having to interprete the raw data yourself.
This GPS module also works on Windows platform. It attaches to one of the serial COM port and you can use any software that supports USB GPS receiver.
Raspberry Pi tips: To use this GPS on your Pi, you have to install gpsd and it works with zero configuration. We plan to write a tutorial on this but in the mean time, you can find tons of information here.
This GPS module can also be used to set the time on your Pi. Very useful in the case where you are working in the field and has no network connection.
