
Loopt strikes a deal to make massive use of GPS data cost effective - gaika
http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/24/loopt-strikes-a-deal-to-make-massive-use-of-gps-data-cost-effective/
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mattmaroon
I'm confused here. I assume a "dip" is actually cell phone triangulation
rather than GPS? (The media never seems to know the difference between the
two, and calls anything that tries to figure out where you are "GPS".) There's
no reason why actual GPS should have a per-usage fee and need approval from
the cell carriers right?

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kogir
Eric Carr from Loopt discusses the various positioning technologies available
on mobile phones in depth on TechCrunch:

[http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/04/location-
technologies-p...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/04/location-technologies-
primer/)

Actual (unassisted) GPS is free when the device supports it, but is typically
slow to first fix, power intensive, and rarely works indoors.

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mattmaroon
Perhaps they meant assisted GPS.

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ComputerGuru
GPS data is as close to "free" as you can get. It's a one-way satellite-to-
earth transmission; bandwidth speeds are huge, and the size of the data
transferred is minimal.

Consider the number of free satellite TV broadcasts. Take into account the
sheer size of the hi-def audio/video feeds. Compare that to a
latitude/longitude packet sent from a GPS satellite.... see what I mean?

~~~
chris_l
The amount of "data" (whatever that means) might be small, but it's a highly
redundant signal, that's the way it works. You can't compare the two.

