“According to the official tech specs page for the iPhone 4S, Apple has added support for GLONASS in addition to GPS on its latest gadget, thus giving it the ‘more definitive GPS features’ that we mentioned before the phone was announced,” Aayush Arya reports for TNW.
“GPS has a little more accuracy than GLONASS in most parts of the globe but the latter provides better mapping of the northern areas of our planet,” Arya reports. “When the two are combined, the accuracy shoots up by a significant amount and location determination becomes much faster due to the 55 satellites involved (with GPS bringing in 31 and GLONASS 24).”
Read more in the full article here.
For now, GLONASS is the only other than GPS worldwide system, so it is good.
Both are “childnren” of Cold War (as well as Internet and nearly everything high-tech).
Excellent news for the fine Russian Army!
Doubt Russian army will be equipped with iPhones, though. Even in USA’s army iPhones or some other adapted smartphones are rarity comparing to dedicated GPS devices, which are much simpler, reliable and more accurate than any consumer device.
Also, accuracy of both GPS and GLONASS is artifically limited when signals are served for civil usage.
That artificial limitation is, frankly, irrelevant in the case of a smartphone. I have one app that uses UK Ordnance Survey mapping and displays satellite accuracy at the bottom of the screen. In the open it regularly gets an accuracy of 16ft; probably close enough to guide a smart missile. It’s really only architectural or archaeological processes that require accuracy to centimetre levels.
Medvedev loves his iPhone. Don’t be so sure to rule it out.
But good enough for a tactical nuclear weapon of course. And of course differential GPS is extremely accurate with either system. Road graders can work within an inch controlled with that. And I think a couple of meters from the iPhone is good enough for most civilian uses. Works fine for the several Golf GPS apps BTW.
In case anyone (like me) has no idea what GLONASS means…
from Wikipedia:
GLONASS acronym for Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema or Global Navigation Satellite System
Cool. Now I don’t need a guide to find Santa.
But Santa may need a guide to find you.
Then give him an iPhone for Christmas.
Santa finds YOU!
“…but the latter provides better mapping of the northern areas of our planet…”
GPS and GLONASS don’t “map” anything. I think he meant that there is better satellite coverage of the northern hemisphere, which may or may not be correct depending upon the configuration of their constellation.