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

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Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Tea@programming.dev⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/blog/2025/03/05/boosting-gps-and-911-usa

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Comments

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  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    GPS privatization in 3…

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  • thatradomguy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Why not just stop being reliant on cars… you know… put down more rail… use… trains…

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  • echodot@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    They’re already are multiple alternatives to GPS. GPS is the American navigation system, but there’s also GNSS which is mostly used in Europe and Scandinavia. There are other systems for other parts of the world, even the North and South pole now.

    Everyone just uses GPS universally though.

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    • Patch@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      there’s also GNSS which is mostly used in Europe and Scandinavia

      GNSS is the generic term that covers all satellite navigation systems (GPS included).

      Galileo is the EU/ESA system you’re thinking of.

      GLONASS (Russian) and BeiDou (Chinese) are the other two major constellations with global coverage. The only other full system I know of is NavIC, which is Indian and has only regional coverage.

      Most devices actually connect to all of them. I’ve just checked my phone, and it’s connected to all of GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou. People just say “GPS” because it’s catchier than “GNSS”.

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      • AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
        [deleted]
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      • captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        I kinda like the British word “satnav”.

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  • Apoplexy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Reject modernity, return to sextant.

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    • Pondis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Dont need a sextant if you dont leave your house

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  • nthavoc@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    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.

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    • GroundedGator@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Subscription based navigation? Want to use your car’s navigation system, there’s a fee for that? Want to fly a drone, that’ll be 9.99/month. Hopefully there will be a carve out for emergency systems.

      This will also allow Tesla to up their traffic game. If everyone is using the Starlink GPS for navigation they’ll have all the data.

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    • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Ding ding ding. This is just a talking point so they’ll be able to pivot into “we should give Musk a trillion dollar contract to run GPS on his Starlink satellites”

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  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Isn’t GPS a US project?

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    • negativeone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

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

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  • 800XL@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

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

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  • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Whatever happened to radio ranging?

    That shit was super coolio.

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  • vaprz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    [deleted]
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    • Leeks@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      You are so close to VOR!

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      • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

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

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      • splinter@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        He’s describing LORAN.

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  • mesamunefire@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Wonder if they want to track all phones with a different system.

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    • dubyakay@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

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

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  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Lmao what a fucking dipshit

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    • sndmn@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Sounds like this guy couldn’t find his own ass with two hands, a compass and a GPS receiver.

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      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        He sounds like the type of person who would drive into a lake if the GPS told him to

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  • fox2263@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    In walks GLONASS I presume

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    • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Every GPS-capable device made in the last decade utilizes GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo.

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      • fox2263@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Yes

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  • Xanza@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    We’re too dependent on a technology that we spent tens of billions of dollars researching and perfecting over decades of research!

    Possibly the dumbest statement I’ve heard this week.

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    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Nah the idea is sound. As someone else said, GPS is incredibly fragile. Also very terrestrial…it doesn’t work once you leave the atmosphere.

      This will probably be another SpaceX grift, but there are alternative technologies that are more resilient to attack. From military/defense perspective (the original reason for GPS), that’s pretty important.

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      • GamingChairModel@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        it doesn’t work once you leave the atmosphere.

        Fun fact: just this past week an experiment on a lunar lander confirmed that GPS signals can be detected from the surface of the moon. I don’t know if those signals can give any kind of location precision, but it is an interesting finding.

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      • Xanza@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        GPS is incredibly fragile.

        No, not really. The GPS signal isn’t designed to penetrate concrete, no. But that doesn’t make it fragile.

        Also very terrestrial…it doesn’t work once you leave the atmosphere.

        Considering it was never meant to…that’s really not that goddamn weird. It’s a global positioning satellite system. So clearly for it to work you have to be on the fuckin’ globe…

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    • Zonetrooper@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It’s not as dumb as you make it out. The issue isn’t that GPS is really, really good at what it does; it’s that it’s also incredibly vulnerable to disruption and spoofing. And due to the particulars of how GPS works, we can’t entirely fix that. We can do some things to ameliorate it, but a lot of those aren’t suitable for smaller things that use GPS today.

      The other thing is that GPS largely replaced a tremendous number of other navigation aides and techniques, including other radio-navigation systems like LORAN-C.

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      • T156@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        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.

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  • tal@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Google and Apple and others already do that ad hoc, using signal strength from Bluetooth and WiFi beacons. Can contribute to that by just setting up a wireless access point or several near where you want more signal. Doesn’t even need to be Internet-connected.

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  • K1nsey6@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    In comes starlink to the rescue. But in typical Musk fashion it won’t doesn’t do what’s advertised and cost a shit ton more

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    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Remember that time he claimed Teslas windows were shatterproof and indestructable. Then he throws a baseball and the window instantly shatters?

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    • Xanza@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It’s literally him convincing someone to sell their house that they own outright to rent from them because it’s somehow much better (for him of course). It’s so fucking stupid.

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  • kikutwo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Lemme guess, Starlink will magically be suggested.

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    • atrielienz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Yeah. It’s grift. They want a privatized solution.

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    • JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Or GLONASS

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      • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Pretty much every GPS-capable device made in the last decade uses all systems available: GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia), and Galileo (EU).

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      • mox@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        For those who are unfamiliar with it:

        GLONASS (ГЛОНАСС, IPA: [ɡɫɐˈnas]; Russian: Глобальная навигационная спутниковая система, romanized: Global’naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, lit. ‘Global Navigation Satellite System’) is a Russian satellite navigation system operating as part of a radionavigation-satellite service.

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  • actionjbone@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    So… maps?

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    • entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
      [deleted]
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      • lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Phones already do that with cell towers. It’s called A-GPS (augmented GPS). Cell towers are used in addition to GPS signals.

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      • sndmn@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        They should use that in GPS! /s

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      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Triangulation of GPS signals is what allows the System to determine your Position Global(ly)

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      • spongebue@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

        Triangulation of what, exactly? GPS already triangulates your position based on what it receives from multiple satellites, yeah?

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