FCC chair says we’re too dependent on GPS and wants to explore ‘alternatives’.

[dubyakay@lemmy.ca]

Don't need GPS to track phones. You triangulate the receivers.

[rizzrustbolt@lemmy.world]

Whatever happened to radio ranging?

That shit was super coolio.

[t156@lemmy.world]

It's also just a generally bad idea to be too dependent on a single system. If GPS reception fails for one reason or another, it would be good idea to have a backup.

[t156@lemmy.world]

Its like the video showing firefighters struggling a lot to break the window of the Tesla pickup. That's not a prasieworthy thing. You want the windows to break easily enough you can get out in an emergency, or someone can break in to get you out.

[rottingleaf@lemmy.world]

That would be wise.

[rottingleaf@lemmy.world]

One can use both and anything else frankly, isn't it enough to triangulate the signal between 3 satellites (or 2 with an interval and knowing their trajectories relative to each other) and match the spot on the geoid's (stored model, position precalculated by time) surface?

[rottingleaf@lemmy.world]

It’s also just a generally bad idea to be too dependent on a single system.

You're saying this in the world where SMS is considered good for 2FA, and PSTN identifier is considered as good as your citizen's ID, and people's lives depend on systems incorporating NodeJS and Kubernetes. Yeah, by the way, Docker everywhere, and all the POSIX standardization and source-compatibility to allow different systems adhering to standards ... have lost to Linux just becoming another main target.

But yes! It's a bad idea. Also it's typical now for these systems to start lying in warzones where their owners don't want one of the sides to have satellite navigation. They then give shift maps or whatever to the side they want to win.

[800xl@lemmy.world]

How do we call these assholes and tell them to get their heads out of Muskovitch's ass?

[lengau@midwest.social]

There's no reason why some sort of augmentation system couldn't improve the navigation situation with the big dig. Stick some low power beacons that provide GPS-like signal in the tunnel based on their predetermined location and we'll have GPS accounting for special relativity, general relativity and continental drift.

[gwilikers@lemmy.ml]

Is that the difference between when something like Google Maps has your general location and when it has your specific location?

[0x0@programming.dev]

Starlink is LEO, GPS is not.

[monkdervierte@lemmy.ml]

Isn't GPS a US project?

[monkdervierte@lemmy.ml]

Oh, so that's what that saucer is for.

[telorand@reddthat.com]

And I'm sure that's a distinction politicians really care about. /s

Your answer is rational. US politicians are not, since they have an agenda to hand off their money and power to Trump and Elon.

[saltysalamander@fedia.io]

three sats determine your accurate position. the fourth is for clock correction only.

[saik0shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com]

Lat/Long is only valid if elevation is valid. You can't reference a lat/long that is miles into space... or beneath the crust of the earth.

[saik0shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com]

No.

Satellites project a sphere, you need 4 in order to get to a singular point. I've outlined each step. Fourth isn't for clock correction only. And even outlined why sometimes 3 is okay, but that requires additional logic that many gps devices sometimes can't compute, and even outlined that the vast majority of devices will use way more than 4.

https://gisgeography.com/trilateration-triangulation-gps/
https://www.gps.gov/multimedia/tutorials/trilateration/

[Guest]

We can’t rely on the Global(ist) Positioning System!

[nthavoc@lemmy.today]

You know what's a great backup? The ability to read a map or use a compass. This is set up to get Starlink or another billionaire to own GPS.

[ulrich@feddit.org]

It's like you're making my point for me.