
GPS Is Going Places - Tomte
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/gps-is-going-places/
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peter303
GPS may be reliable for early warning of larger quakes. Both seismic waves and
seismometers saturate at magnitudes above M7.5. That is to say its hard to
tell a 7.5 from a 8 or 9 because appear similar size waves. It takes
sophisticated computer analysis of a global set of seismographs to computer
true quake size. This initial confusion happened in the disastrous 2011
Fukishima quake.

On the other hand working with GPS displacements gives an answer in less than
a minute for larger quakes and more warning time.

[https://eos.org/features/seismic-sensors-in-
orbit-2](https://eos.org/features/seismic-sensors-in-orbit-2)

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mrfusion
They mentioned probing snow.

How about if you could detect snow or ice on the road ahead of you by looking
at gps reflections?

Seems like you could have a good idea what the reflections from a normal road
surface look like and compare.

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yyhhsj0521
That sounds like a radar with extra steps.

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notatoad
Extra steps but no extra hardware sounds like a pretty good trade-off to me.

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yellow_lead
Common cellphone GPS being able to feel an earthquake would be incredible.
Imagine Google Maps telling you to pull over because there was an earthquake,
or redirecting you to safety.

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polishdude20
How do you differentiate an earthwuake from common behaviors while the phone
is in a pocket such as running, jumping, walking etc.

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nobodyshere
Doesn't really seem that difficult. The patterns of picking up a phone,
running with it and having it just lay on a vibrating surface are very
different. It would be particularly easy to spot panic during a usual running
routine.

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taeric
More, I'd imagine you could look for a signal common to many devices. Unless
you are picking up all phones in your household with the same signal, any
signal common to them all is likely more global. Could detect if folks are in
the same car?

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donpdonp
All these "things" GPS can do involve the satellite signals being received by
very specialized equipment, not cell phones which arguably the title implies.

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gruez
>not cell phones which arguably the title implies.

Let's examine the title:

>GPS is going places

Nothing about cellphones.

Maybe it's in the byline?

>Here are five things you didn’t know the navigation system could do.

Nothing there either.

