[OSM-talk] US to spend $8bn upgrading GPS constellation

[John Smith]

On 26 May 2010 21:41, Maarten Deen <mdeen at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gps-20100523,0,3054578.story?page=1
>
> Can someone explain to me why an ATM would need a GPS in order to dispense
> cash? Or why Wall Street needs it to trade? These things are stationary.

Dunno about ATMs, but according to the article Wall Street uses it as
a highly accurate/highly available/highly consistent timing source.

> Oh, and so good to hear that we are wast^H^H^H^Hspending € 3,4b (and more)
> on Galileo while GPS gets an upgrade to do exactly the same thing. Just
> repeat after me: there is no crisis, there is no crisis, there is no
> crisis.

Since the various navigation sats are going to increase coverage by
having more of them visible in the sky at any time, hopefully on
multiple frequencies this can only be good in general for anyone
wanting accurate positioning. Also per the article, various other
systems are going online to reduce dependency on a single supplier
(the US Govt).