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?
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GPS is free, in short, because it provides the US government with more benefits than keeping it only accessible to military or pay users. Giving people access geospatial data is a boon to the economy, transport, navigation, etc. That said, I’d imagine this probably stems in part from the fact that USGS data is freely available in the US – GPS helps citizens unlock the power of those datasets. Additionally, GPS was first released to the public to ensure safe navigation following the shoot down of Korean Airlines 007. Releasing its use to the public was partially in response to cold war pressures — particularly difficulties associated with navigation at high latitudes near Soviet borders.
GPS is free because it is a U.S. government program that enhances the abilities of navigation, shipping, air travel, banking, construction, energy production/distribution, and virtually every service vital to global infrastructure. From its public debut until some time in the 90’s the government only allowed “selective availability” which diminished the accuracy of civilian receivers. The most recent and all future generations of GPS satellites have no function to enable selective availability without shutting down the satellite entirely(currently 17 operations gps satellites with no selective availability function). The military still has a more enhanced access, but mainly in the form of signal quality via a second antenna on the satellite (so for military receivers it can appear as 2 separate satellites in the exact same overhead position).
GPS is free, in short, because it provides the US government with more benefits than keeping it only accessible to military or pay users. Giving people access geospatial data is a boon to the economy, transport, navigation, etc. That said, I’d imagine this probably stems in part from the fact that USGS data is freely available in the US – GPS helps citizens unlock the power of those datasets. Additionally, GPS was first released to the public to ensure safe navigation following the shoot down of Korean Airlines 007. Releasing its use to the public was partially in response to cold war pressures — particularly difficulties associated with navigation at high latitudes near Soviet borders.
GPS is free because it is a U.S. government program that enhances the abilities of navigation, shipping, air travel, banking, construction, energy production/distribution, and virtually every service vital to global infrastructure. From its public debut until some time in the 90’s the government only allowed “selective availability” which diminished the accuracy of civilian receivers. The most recent and all future generations of GPS satellites have no function to enable selective availability without shutting down the satellite entirely(currently 17 operations gps satellites with no selective availability function). The military still has a more enhanced access, but mainly in the form of signal quality via a second antenna on the satellite (so for military receivers it can appear as 2 separate satellites in the exact same overhead position).
It’s not free. It’s an investment in infrastructure that we (US citizens) all collectively paid for with our taxes 40 years ago. We are still paying for maintenance of that system every year.
Guess what? It works great for the most part, just like interstates, food inspections, and air traffic control. For some reason, there are a great many people in the US who don’t ever want us to spend our money on such a valuable publicly available and useful resource that helps improve human lives immeasurably simply because the people they voted for couldn’t come up with such a good idea.
It is definitely not free. Everyone that pays taxes in the USA pays for the GPS system. It is often $1Billion+ per year to operate and maintain the system including launching new satellites when needed (1-4 per year).
You can see what the government is spending on the program each year at:
https://www.gps.gov/policy/funding/
It’s not free. It’s an investment in infrastructure that we (US citizens) all collectively paid for with our taxes 40 years ago. We are still paying for maintenance of that system every year.
Guess what? It works great for the most part, just like interstates, food inspections, and air traffic control. For some reason, there are a great many people in the US who don’t ever want us to spend our money on such a valuable publicly available and useful resource that helps improve human lives immeasurably simply because the people they voted for couldn’t come up with such a good idea.
It is definitely not free. Everyone that pays taxes in the USA pays for the GPS system. It is often $1Billion+ per year to operate and maintain the system including launching new satellites when needed (1-4 per year).
You can see what the government is spending on the program each year at:
https://www.gps.gov/policy/funding/
There are two separate questions.
1. It’s not “free”. You pay an annual subscription fee: taxes. It’s “free” insofar as things like roads are “free”. It’s “not free” insofar as critical infrastructure, like roads and utilities and the FAA and GPS are paid with taxes.
2. It’s profitable for companies to use GPS and created value-added stuff on top (e.g., Google Maps, etc), because those services are loss-leaders. Like how grocery stores will be willing to lose money on certain items if it brings you into the store to buy other stuff, which gets marked up. They know you won’t just go for a stick of butter and a tube of toothpaste, so when those are discounted, bread and milk and beef get marked up. In the same way that Google makes Google Maps and GMail for free, but then read all your emails to figure out which ads to serve you. They make money by selling (what they claim is “anonymized”) data about you, and having advertisers pay for it. It’s the same way you get the NFL Super bowl for free. It’s “free” in that you don’t pay. It’s “not free” in that you have to sit through ads, subsidized by advertisers. The advertising revenue pays for the broadcast and the game. It’s literally how the entire world of “free” services operates.
The Government uses tax revenue to do all sorts of things. Some things make us better (NIH research grants to improve medicine). Some things improve quality of life (road, GPS). Some things simply support progress (NASA, NSF funding for high-energy-physics). Some things make us safer (national defense, from which GPS comes, and things like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act). Some things make us more education (the entire public education system). That’s why we pay taxes.
#Everything that is free exists because someone wants to use that free thing as a way to show you stuff they want you to buy.
There are two separate questions.
1. It’s not “free”. You pay an annual subscription fee: taxes. It’s “free” insofar as things like roads are “free”. It’s “not free” insofar as critical infrastructure, like roads and utilities and the FAA and GPS are paid with taxes.
2. It’s profitable for companies to use GPS and created value-added stuff on top (e.g., Google Maps, etc), because those services are loss-leaders. Like how grocery stores will be willing to lose money on certain items if it brings you into the store to buy other stuff, which gets marked up. They know you won’t just go for a stick of butter and a tube of toothpaste, so when those are discounted, bread and milk and beef get marked up. In the same way that Google makes Google Maps and GMail for free, but then read all your emails to figure out which ads to serve you. They make money by selling (what they claim is “anonymized”) data about you, and having advertisers pay for it. It’s the same way you get the NFL Super bowl for free. It’s “free” in that you don’t pay. It’s “not free” in that you have to sit through ads, subsidized by advertisers. The advertising revenue pays for the broadcast and the game. It’s literally how the entire world of “free” services operates.
The Government uses tax revenue to do all sorts of things. Some things make us better (NIH research grants to improve medicine). Some things improve quality of life (road, GPS). Some things simply support progress (NASA, NSF funding for high-energy-physics). Some things make us safer (national defense, from which GPS comes, and things like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act). Some things make us more education (the entire public education system). That’s why we pay taxes.
#Everything that is free exists because someone wants to use that free thing as a way to show you stuff they want you to buy.
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