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January 29, 2004 9:11 PM   Subscribe

In case you've been wondering about Europe's nascent GPS system, the Economist has an update.
posted by kliuless (2 comments total)
 
Interesting indeed ; more satellites could be useful as a device that can receive both US and EU system could (in theory) become more accurate thanks to more satellites over the horizon in a moment in time.

The diversification of signals suggest that there will be a price to pay for accuracy ; I wonder what is the accuracy of the free-for-all sequences.
posted by elpapacito at 2:36 AM on January 30, 2004


Hmm, The U.S. is implicating a new military GPS signal and ensuring that the europeans don't fuck it up, and also ensuring that they have the ability to render the europeans GPS equivalent effective.

And in doing so they have complicated the system towards only being readable by GPS software that the governments alone would be able to develop, considering they control the protocol and the encryption of the network, ensuring that any consumer GPS system could also be controlled by the government, in effect allowing the government to shut off their citizens GPS, or maybe even deny gps use to specific users.

Wow.

The whole thing stinks of privatization as well.

A great global resource just got a little more "orderly."
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 2:58 AM on January 30, 2004


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