Next-generation GPS satellite launched into orbit

Interesting, but it's probably a matter of time before somebody figures out new jamming technology that does affect it. It's like Apple saying their new 5s iPhone needs a fingerprint match to open it, and then a week later somebody's cracked it.

Also unclear unless I missed it, whether this satellite--all GPS satellites??--work with all consumer GPS units vs. needing a new GPS unit or government-use only etc.

I always look forward to see where new technology takes us! hard to believe where we have gone in just the last 30yrs or 40 or 50yrs.

I guess that's why we foot the bill. Always have our finger on the on/off/degrade button. Of course it's only a matter of time before other countries put their own up, but for now they're happy with free gps with no maintenance costs.

They don't launch GPS satellites your unit can't hear. But from the beginning the satellites have had functions not available to you (the nuclear detonation localization function for example) and when they add a function to a new series satellite it is not likely your receiver can take advantage of it.

I particularly like this quote from the article.

"I don't think anybody knows what all the applications of GPS are," launch commentator Mark McCullick, with the Air Force's GPS directorate, said during a webcast.
"New ways to use GPS emerge every day," he said.

Conspiracy theorists should begin crafting larger foil hats.

Can we be certain that the new technology works in our favor? Trust is becoming harder to believe in.

re: What else does it do?

I have always assumed my Nuvi can track me by name at the push of a button by Uncle Sam at any time. Just seems logical to me with a Gov't provided satellite service to a unit that's registered to me through Garmin. I believe the same holds true for my both my smart and non-smart phones. They can triangulate and get your location from the service provider, but it's a lot easier (and "up-to-the-minute") to just get it from the GPS equipped phone. Leave them home or turn them off? License plate readers, cameras everywhere, on-board computers in your car, built in factory GPS, satellite radio that can be updated, activated or deactivated over the air.

It's a done deal: The Genie is out of the bottle.

Except that Nuvi's are receivers only--they don't transmit a signal back to the satellite. At least that's what they tell me.

Now if you have a toll transponder in your car, that's a different matter. Or of course a cell phone. That's why some people who don't want to be tracked don't carry cellphones, particularly with a registered account*, or toll transponders.

*Though even unregistered cellphones can bite you in the butt if they know who you call. That's part of how they got drug kingpin El Chapo in Mexico last week.

... but the quality/value of the receivers/appliances in our hands. In the mean time everyone is making money ... tracking everyone else.

I didn't think about the "receiver-only" nature of the GPS. I always figured they were having a two-way conversation. It doesn't really matter though because (DOH!)I forgot about my EZ Pass. With all this stuff, can you imagine what the "Judge Judy" show or "Divorce Court" is going to be like in a few years? uh-oh!

Defendant: "As I recall, I never left the house that weekend Judge."
Judge Judy: "Nah"

Just to keep the honest people honest.

I'm looking forward to the future generations of GPS receivers and their new functionality.

The new birds keep all the old frequencies, and add new ones for both civ and mil use.

With new equipment capable of using these new signals, the accuracy of our (civ) GPS units will improve. Making use of the new signals will also improve other aspects of performance, such as performance in poor signal conditions (which includes jamming).

It's going to be while before we see consumer receivers taking advantage of these new signals -- for one thing, more of the block 2F birds need to be in orbit and active. Then there's the small matter of new receivers, and new software to combine the old signals with the new signals to get those improvements. My highly scientific wild guess? A year and a half or more.

And to emphasize another point in this thread -- the orbiting GPS birds do NOT know where you are! In fact, for GPS to work, just the opposite is true -- our GPS units have to know (be able to calculate) the exact position of each GPS bird!

To rat you out, your GPS box needs more. One way to rat you out is to record your position over time (from which you can deduce velocity, etc). My son didn't know about that until the first time I flipped to that display on his GPS and looked at his peak speeds... Another way to rat you out is to include a transmitter that sends your position (over time) to some receiving station. As others have mentioned, systems such as Onstar, cell phones, and dedicated GPS trackers can do this.

But other than having the ability to record past positions over time, our standard consumer GPS units are not ratting us out.

(And if you're thinking, "not yet they're not," do some estimates of the bandwidth required to handle say, 1% of the vehicles on the road -- it's far more than anybody's cellular network can support. And I'm more skeptical and jaundiced on these issues than most.)

Cheers--

All you have to do is import your track log into BaseCamp or MapSource. Along with the position information, it shows your speed at each point that was recorded. It's all right there already.

Are you SURE that Garmin Express isn't uploading your tracklogs somewhere while you're connected and downloading updates?

Actually, I'm surprised that they don't use this information already. Seems like that would be a good way for them to get notifications of new roads and closures. Sort of like what Waze is doing in real time.

If you check the "send anonymous usage data to Garmin" box in GE or a similar box on the Garmin web pages, every time you connect they will have it.... It's never stated what the trip/track logs are used for.

Re:
>>My son didn't know about that until the first time I flipped to that display on his GPS and looked at his peak speeds...<<

Don't punish him yet: My Nuvi recorded a 153 MPH top speed one time. Not likely on a '93 Volvo 240 Wagon with almost 300,000 miles on the clock. Maybe if I was being towed by a Ferrari down hill at Pikes Peak, otherwise don't think so.

Saw the night launch in FL. Clear nit and awesome sight.

My top speed is 620. Good tailwind on a commercial jet aircraft. Judges would throw away the key if it was my car!

I bet NSA is grinning.

I believe one use of the data sent from your GPS is to alert Garmin to speed limit changes that you have entered on your unit.