A blasting system using the global positioning system (GPS) for timing the detonations for a shaped blast. The blasting system includes a master station including a master GPS receiver for determining a GPS-based time and a master transceiver in communication with several charge control stations. Each charge control station includes a charge control transceiver for communicating with the master transceiver, a charge control GPS receiver for tracking the GPS-based time, and a detonator for detonating an explosive charge. In operation, the master transceiver uses the GPS-based time determined at the master station for computing detonation times and transmits these times to the charge control stations. The charge control stations then detonate the respective explosive charges when the GPS-based times determined at the charge control stations match the detonation times. Location information determined by the charge control GPS receivers may be used by the master station for detecting errors in the placements of the explosive charges and for refining the detonation times.