Originally Posted by FlexibleResponse
Actually TiiberiusKirk makes a good point. GPS knows accelerations which integrated provide speed and the again provide distance in all axis. GPS routinely provides wind and true speed and direction and distance and thereby navigation information.
GPS does not track accelerations. It is a tool for calculating positions. Differentiating position with respect to time gives velocity to relatively poor resolution. Differentiating velocity with respect to time gives acceleration "sort of". The intertial units provide the acceleration. Neither directly gives velocity. Both GPS and the intertial units are combined with other data sources in Kalman filters to give reasonably good estimates of position, velocity, and acceleration.
None of them know squat about the surrounding air mass.
{^_^}