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
*Technically* GPS isn’t free, it’s paid for by US taxpayers as part of the military infrastructure.
It became “free for the world” after an incident in which a passage airplane was shot down by Russia claiming it a spy mission violating airspace. As a result the US granted use of the GPS technology system to anyone who wants to use it for free.
There are other *non-GPS* GPS systems out there, GPS is just the most common and popular.
Plus it’s a great advantage to the US militarily to have everyone reliant on your navigation system in times of conflict.
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