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
The Satellites are your tax dollars hard at work.
The US Government funded the GPS Satellites.
Russia has the GLONASS network of Satellites.
And the EU has Galileo.
Often times Military use is what drives the system and Civilian use is an afterthought.
For years Civilian use of GPS was limited to less accurate positioning and only the US military had the more accurate signal access.
In 2000 under Clinton, the more accurate signal was opened for civilian use.
I watched this video a few weeks ago:
Scott Manley does a great job discussing GPS and how it works and some of the history.
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