US attempt at Space Monopoly?

If can find it, it was in a recent issue of popular science...within the last 6 months for sure. You may find it in a search of their site...www.popsci.com. Unfortunately Mysti recycles my magazines so I can't seem to keep many back issues on hand

From the article the newer system would be even better than the GPS system, building on things that were discovered after the GPS network was implemented. Which is why the US was eager to pony up some cash so as to not have all its investment in the current GPS system wasted...and yet still help get the "next generation" GPS (European Style) into the field.


The government inaccuracies induced into the US system has been disabled for quite a while now, this is what has enables us to make in car Mapping systems feasable, the systems can pinpoint you to within 3 feet if Im not mistaken.

Spirits: I believe you are mistaken. The EU Gallileo will and does interfere with current US GPS sattelites, the EU system is newer and takes advantage of newer technologies and discoveries but it also uses some of the same radio frequency spectrum....im going to the popular Science Website to look up that old article right now...be back in a bitif I can find links.


Edit: Well I didn't have a lot of luck at the web site The problem is, that I don't know what issue the article was in. Well you can believe that I read this article or believe I just made it up out of thin air...*sigh*


In my searching though I did find a short piece in Information Week that seems to indicate that the problems ahve been ironed out to our nations mutual advantage since I had read the other article. Heres an excerpt:


More On the Way
The next major change in GPS will happen when a new and different GPS system (Galileo ) is brought online by the European Union. The new system will offer higher precision than the current U.S.-operated GPS system, and will use signals that can penetrate deeper into buildings or in other obstructed locations where GPS is currently hard to use. The new EU system should coexist well with the current U.S. system, but it won't come online until 2008 at the very earliest.

Future GPSes, built to the joint specifications, will be able to use either the Galileo signals or the U.S. signals, or both. Older GPSes--including those in use today--will only be able to use the U.S.-operated GPS signals; but will continue to be able to use the U.S. signals even after Galileo starts broadcasting. That means that Galileo won't make today's GPS units obsolete; and that GPSes purchased now can still have a long and useful life.

Meanwhile, prices will continue to drop, and vendors will continue to add new features. That means it's a great time to consider getting a GPS; or to upgrade an aging GPS unit you may already have. For business travelers who need to visit locations away from major airports and the hearts of major cities, or who want a maximally flexible or complex itinerary, GPS is the only way to go!

What's your take? Have you used a GPS and mapping software for long trips?


The bolded section seems to indicate that things have been worked out.

[ 11-04-2004, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

hmm, even though you say in ur post that the Galelio will interfere with the us Gps System, you ur self put the exert that proves u wrong since the exert says

The new EU system should coexist well with the current U.S. system, but it won't come online until 2008 at the very earliest. Future GPSes, built to the joint specifications, will be able to use either the Galileo signals or the U.S. signals, or both.

so right there it says that the EU system (galelio) should be able to coesxist with the us system. so..even though it is able to coexist, still the threat on Eu SYstem?

[ 11-06-2004, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: Spirits forever ]

Spirit did you read the post just above your last one? Yes I did post that and I did NOTE that it showed that apparently the issues I read about half a year ago have been resolved....please read the whole post before going off Huh?

hmm maybe so, but you said i'm mistaken

Spirits: I believe you are mistaken. The EU Gallileo will and does interfere with current US GPS sattelites, the EU system is newer and takes advantage of newer technologies and discoveries but it also uses some of the same radio frequency spectrum....im going to the popular Science Website to look up that old article right now...be back in a bitif I can find links.

which is why i pursued it, and yes i did read the whole thing XD