What business model would you prefer Google adopted?
alioth wrote:
so as long as there enough Android phone users on the route
It harvests information from iPhones as well.
Timothy wrote:
…a wonderful example of society contributing to its own good by working together.
And of course used by all those muppets who fly around without transponder for fear of being tracked. Just sayin’…..
Indeed; they would be most upset if they logged into their Google Devices account and found their flights logged there, because their phone is running the whole time, probably all the way back to day zero, and this data is available to the police immediately and most likely without a court order.
…Wait till they come up with a TAS that is free to install but intersperses traffic advisories with advertising.
Exactly – if you are not paying for the product, YOU are the product!
Google is great. I own lots of their shares too; just as well since I give them 500 quid a month at work.
Now, getting back to the topic… imagine what would happen to this whole edifice if GPS disappeared? You would be looking at selling your google shares pretty damn fast. Certainly before getting into your car.
Ultranomad wrote:
…Wait till they come up with a TAS that is free to install but intersperses traffic advisories with advertising.
Don’t give them ideas, @Utranomad, just don’t…..
Peter wrote:
I also think there is (or can be) something odd about Glonass reception on some devices which claim to support it – my own Aera 660 test posted here before
aera 660 can have good glonass reception, according to this.
I consistently get 4-5 sattelites, sometimes more.
But I wouldn’t know how to check wether it actually works (and how reliable) – glonass can be switched off on aera660, but gps can not. And gps almost always shows 10-12 sattelites.
Whilst planning an impending flight, I came across this NOTAM:
A0318/17 – DUE TO GPS JAMMING WI RADIUS 10NM CENTRE CAIRO ARP
300641N0312450E,RNAV (GNSS) APCH SHOULD NOT BE PLANNED AT CAIRO INTL
AP. 14 SEP 08:20 2017 UNTIL 28 FEB 10:00 2018 ESTIMATED.
CREATED: 14 SEP 08:21 2017
International, capital city, airport. Hmmmm.
With that level of terrorism profile, and with an ILS for every runway and with VOR approaches which all the jets can fly with lateral and vertical FMS guidance (i.e. just like an ILS except only down to the VOR IAP minima)
the actual need for GPS approaches at HECA must be close to zero.
Even for GA, every half decent 1960s/1970s IFR spamcan with an autopilot can fly an ILS hands-off 
Coming across a few alarmist articles on GPS jamming and overreliance recently (e.g. one in the UK Telegraph yesterday), I am wondering what the Eurocontrol backup plan for a GPS outage would be as enroute navigation is based on BRNAV and only few airways that use terrestrial navaids are left (e.g. Germany or Free Route Airspace in Austria). Also, more and more VORs and NDBs have been decommissioned. Other parts of the world have been much slower with RNAV-only airways and navaid decommissioning (e.g. FAA).
ATC should be able to fall back and give vectors and clearances based on terrestrial navaids to individual aircraft if their GPS receiver fails but I assume it could be a mess in case of overall GPS system outage/jamming. Does anyone know what the Eurocontrol contingency plan is for that kind of situation?
Wolfgang
