GPS has made a major impact on our world. How is it a free service that anyone with a phone can access? How is it profitable for companies to offer services like navigation without subscription fees or ads?
In: Technology
GPS was started by the US military to better track troops and equipment. I cant remember who but some senator said “if the public paid for the program, they should benefit.” So the military changed the encryption and unencrypted a large chunk of the signal. And made it public access. And the entire world benefits.
2 cool facts. Most GPS units only use 3-4 signals to triangulate your position, but there are dozens of-it-yourself GPS kits that will read all available signals, up to 7-8, and give you sub 1 foot resolution. 2nd, during the early gulf war thete were not enough military GPS units, so the government turned off all encryption and the military used off the shelf units. The side effect was that the world got the best GPS resolution ever.
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