As noted in the preceding section, precise distances from the satellites to the receivers
are determined from timing and signal information, enabling receiver positions
to be computed. In satellite surveying, the satellites become the reference
or control stations, and the ranges (distances) to these satellites are used to compute
the positions of the receiver. Conceptually, this is equivalent to resection in
traditional ground surveying work, as described in Section 11.7, where distances
and/or angles are observed from an unknown ground station to control points of
known position.