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GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

sciencealert.com

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Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#31

Post by sen »

MarkusQ wrote: post #30

TFA article claims: "Indeed, the solar storm of May 2024 is estimated to have cost the US agricultural industry $500 million due to disruptions in precision navigation." This seems hard to believe. The link provided hand waves through how it maybe could happen, and ends with an Economist just SWAGing that it could have been maybe a dollar an acre or so. "He estimates that affected farms lost about $1 per acre. Nation…

That’s how all “estimated damages” work. It’s all just made up by some random person who guesstimated a number then multiplied it by the maximum possible people effected, realistic or not.

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#32

Post by dataflow »

chaps wrote: post #12

This is exactly the sort of thing that leads to people getting reincarcerated after their electronic monitoring devices mistakenly report them leaving their homes. Some reporting I did on the topic a few years back: https://chicagoreader.com/news/many-on-house-arrest-in-cook-...

> This

As in, GPS being off by 33 feet?

> leads to people getting reincarcerated

I'm reading your article and it seems to be about police coming to check and realizing that the reporting of being miles away was in error, not people getting reincarcerted because of GPS incorrectly reporting they moved ~30 feet too far? One of these is much more insane than the other.

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#33

Post by gerdesj »

Elidrake24 wrote: post #10
Insimwytim wrote: post #7

TL;DR: 1. Not today. November 2025. They don't make it clear. 1.1. One would expect that to be put in the title, when the article is written almost a year after that. 1.2. No, the article doesn't state that in the first paragraph. Posting in it full seem to be the only way to fend off lazy comments: In November 2025, Earth was buffeted by several massive eruptions of solar material that slammed into the magnetosphere…

> Not today. November 2025. They don't make it clear. My brother in christ it's the first 3 words of the article.

Their first line is TL;DR!

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#34

Post by Waterluvian »

sen wrote: post #31
MarkusQ wrote: post #30

TFA article claims: "Indeed, the solar storm of May 2024 is estimated to have cost the US agricultural industry $500 million due to disruptions in precision navigation." This seems hard to believe. The link provided hand waves through how it maybe could happen, and ends with an Economist just SWAGing that it could have been maybe a dollar an acre or so. "He estimates that affected farms lost about $1 per acre. Nation…

That’s how all “estimated damages” work. It’s all just made up by some random person who guesstimated a number then multiplied it by the maximum possible people effected, realistic or not.

There’s probably a reasonable methodology but it has a lot of multiplications and some base parameters that make the whole thing wildly sensitive.

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#36

Post by John7878781 »

nwbear90 wrote: post #35

An interesting warning as Austin is blanketed by Cybercabs. I think a town full of golden driverless cars 33 feet from where they think they should be is terrifying.

I would be shocked if Cybercabs solely rely on GPS for positioning. I imagine they look at their surrondings, etc.

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#37

Post by chaps »

dataflow wrote: post #32
chaps wrote: post #12

This is exactly the sort of thing that leads to people getting reincarcerated after their electronic monitoring devices mistakenly report them leaving their homes. Some reporting I did on the topic a few years back: https://chicagoreader.com/news/many-on-house-arrest-in-cook-...

> This As in, GPS being off by 33 feet? > leads to people getting reincarcerated I'm reading your article and it seems to be about police coming to check and realizing that the reporting of being miles away was in error, not people getting reincarcerted because of GPS incorrectly reporting they moved ~30 feet too far? One of these is much more insane than the other.

Not sure where your confusion is coming from. Have you never used GPS in a place with bad signal? Where it gets confused and you miss your turn? It's the same failure mode. Just the repercussions are getting arrested instead of getting off on the wrong exit.

Also wrote this one, hopefully it helps your confusion: https://chicagoreader.com/news/false-alarms/

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#38

Post by dataflow »

chaps wrote: post #37
dataflow wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This As in, GPS being off by 33 feet? > leads to people getting reincarcerated I'm reading your article and it seems to be about police coming to check and realizing that the reporting of being miles away was in error, not people getting reincarcerted because of GPS incorrectly reporting they moved ~30 feet too far? One of these is much more insane than the other.

Not sure where your confusion is coming from. Have you never used GPS in a place with bad signal? Where it gets confused and you miss your turn? It's the same failure mode. Just the repercussions are getting arrested instead of getting off on the wrong exit. Also wrote this one, hopefully it helps your confusion: https://chicagoreader.com/news/false-alarms/

You're claiming that erroneously reported movements by ~33 ft lead to incarceration, yet the article you're linking to reports that erroneously reported movements by ~1mi+ lead to police coming to double-check what's going on. Am I incorrect and do you therefore have examples of ~30ft errors actually leading to their incarceration, or are you struggling to see the disconnect between what you're claiming vs. what is actually happening?

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#39

Post by [deleted] »

dataflow wrote: post #38
chaps wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure where your confusion is coming from. Have you never used GPS in a place with bad signal? Where it gets confused and you miss your turn? It's the same failure mode. Just the repercussions are getting arrested instead of getting off on the wrong exit. Also wrote this one, hopefully it helps your confusion: https://chicagoreader.com/news/false-alarms/

You're claiming that erroneously reported movements by ~33 ft lead to incarceration, yet the article you're linking to reports that erroneously reported movements by ~1mi+ lead to police coming to double-check what's going on. Am I incorrect and do you therefore have examples of ~30ft errors actually leading to their incarceration , or are you struggling to see the disconnect between what you're claiming vs. what is…

[deleted]

Re: GPS glitched across the US by as much as 33 feet

#40

Post by Quibblingeek »

ashleyn wrote: post #14

Somehow, Selective Availability returned.

Maybe not intentionally (at least by the U.S. Government, but the consequences are far greater now.

Now that GPS has subsumed a large part of air navigation as more VOR and ILS approaches at non-towered airports are being left to fall into disrepair, it forces more and more aircraft operating in instrument conditions to fall back to a navigation system that may not operate to the tolerances that you need to shoot an approach to LPV minimums (which puts you close to 200 feet or so above the ground) or LNAV minimums (higher, but still pretty low to the ground). If you lose signal integrity, you abort the approach. You don't want to break out at minimums only to find that the runway is 33 feet to the left or right of the centerline when it's not a circling only approach where you're expecting it. If that field only has RNAV (GPS) approaches, you have to divert. Hopefully the alternate airport you filed has a ground based approach plate available that is authorized .

When SA was around, we had more VORs, more VOR and ILS approaches, and while NDBs (decades old radionavigation beacon that operated on the AM band) were on their way out, they were still around.

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