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Comment by alex1138 | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if there's any plans to pair it with some kind of GPS system, so emergency services can tell exactly where a person is

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GPS already works globally thanks to a very similar gift by the US government. Phones automatically send it to 911 when you call. So it's already paired. Starlink will additionally have some idea of a phone's location just due to how the phased arrays work, but not nearly as precise as GPS.

It's quite a stretch to call it a gift from the US government. The original GPS was opened up with horrible accuracy. Every superpower now operates their own positioning constellations free of charge. Thanks US, EU, Russia, India and China

>"The original GPS opened up with horrible accuracy"

When GPS launched more than thirty years ago, the accuracy for civilians was within 330 feet, made universally accessible at no additional cost to everyone in the world at a cost of 12 billion dollars. That's a pretty darn good gift if I've ever seen one. Also India does not have a global satellite navigation system, only a regional one.

Not only that, the US government stopped limiting accuracy in 2000. Long before any alternative was available publicly or globally. It's questionable whether other systems would have been made free if GPS hadn't set the example. It was absolutely a gift to the world and it's incredible the backflips people will turn to try to minimize it.

Funny I think of it as a gift FROM the people TO the US Government.

I usually don’t give someone a gift and then borrow it back every day.

This is already done. "When the cellular phone detects that the user is placing an emergency call, it begins to transmit its location to a secure server, from which the PSAP can retrieve it. Cellphone manufacturers may program the phone to enable GPS function automatically (in case it has been turned off) when the user places an emergency call." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_911

Why? You can tap +>"share location" on iOS to send coordinates in chat. It works when texting 911 too

Yeah I guess I just meant in conjunction with Starlink but of course many pieces of technology have it

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