Geolocation is an ancient art form.  Before the advent of maps, ancient travelers would triangulate their position based on the stars.  This proved to be an inexact science due to relatively low precision, dependency on clear skies, and the changing nighttime skyscape based on location and season.

Technology first entered the equation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the 1920s, when land-based radio signals calculated the direction and distance of in-range ships.  The concept of using satellites for GPS came courtesy of the Russians after the launch of Sputnik in 1957.  Two physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, noticed that they could pinpoint the location of the Russian satellite by recording radio frequency signals and correcting for the Dopplar effect, in which radio frequency is higher when an object is approaching and lower as the object moves away.

The United States Navy capitalized on this idea in 1960 by developing Transit, a series of five satellites used to triangulate the position of war vessels.  The technology was held privately for seven years before being made public, at which time it was used mainly by large shipping conglomerates.  The technology still works today, though its intermittent signal and slow readings prevent it from being used in high-speed travel.

The commercialization of Transit coincided with the Navy's 1967 introduction of Timation, the Navy's upgraded GPS system.  The name is a reference to the upgraded atomic clocks on board the satellites, a technology still utilized by GPS.  In 1973, the Air Force built on the existing technology and initiated program 621B, which launched 24 satellites for global tracking, the number employed today.  In addition, 621B upgraded the digital signals used by the satellites and orbited at higher altitudes for additional coverage.  This is considered the first "modern" GPS.

Tragedy spurred on new developments in GPS.  In 1983, Korea Air Flight 007, on its way to Seoul from New York, via Anchorage, was shot down over the Sea of Japan by the Soviet Union after inadvertently crossing into Soviet air space.  In order to avoid such tragedies in the future, Ronald Reagan ordered that GPS technology be made available to the public.  From 1983 to 2000, GPS was "selectively available" to the public, meaning that the US military intentionally warped satellite signals to limit the capabilities of private parties or other countries.  President Clinton ended this practice at the end of his administration allowing the public to enjoy GPS accuracy within ten meters.

RFID
The evolution of radio frequency identification (RFID) is far more methodical than its satellite-based cousin.  RFID utilizes some of the same radio technology as GPS, though without the use of orbiting satellites.  The concept was altered and tweaked over a period of many years by scientists at Los Alamos National Labs along with private companies such as Raytheon, which introduced Raytag, the first commercial RFID, in 1973.  Some of the earliest uses involved tracking large containers aboard rail cars and tracking eating habits and movements of cows.  Though recent advancements increased the information capacity of RFID and made the tags smaller, the basic technology has not changed much over the past few decades.