Skip to main content

NUMB3RS, GPS and Cell-Phones

I've been watching the last few episodes of the TV show Numb3rs. It is pretty good. It is nice to see a positive view of techy stuff on TV. We need to promote the sciences. And they do a very good job of not getting way too techy. If anything, they are pretty good at explaining some advanced math concepts so that an average person can get a feel for the concepts. I think I get to thank my sister for recommending the show :)

Watching the last episode, from this past Friday, I was taken a bit back. Here is a show that is trying to tech about the science of math, and they made a really careless error. They were talking about tracking a cell-phone. The cell-phone in question was used right near the investigators - and they say the GPS showed it was on campus.

The GPS? Cell phones don't have GPS! GPS isn't how they track where cell phones are!

They both use a similar methodology - triangulation. But a GPS receiver listens to 3 or more satellites in orbit to calculate it's position, and does not transmit anything.

A cell phone is tracked by what cell it is in - and if 3 cells can pick up a cell phone, that information can be used to triangulate the position of the cell phone. The ability was added mostly due to wanting to be able to pinpoint emergency calls.

The fact is that a cell phone does not have to make a call to be tracked. A cell phone will register itself when on to local cell towers. That is how the cell companies can immediately route a call to a specific cell-phone.

And more, this triangulation is being used for more than emergency use. Some cities are subscribing to cell-phone data to help track traffic. It seems many cars on the roads have cell-phones on board. Not making calls, just turned on. And they can use the data from the cell phones to calculate the speed of a significant fraction of the cars from this data. And they can tell when traffic is slowing or stopped - just because so many people have cell phones.

This is not the kind of mistake I would expect from a techy show. Of course, they would probably blame it on the fact that the character that said it is not one of the geeks.

It is interesting that people are worried that a GPS will rat on where they are, and never realize that their cell phone already does it. Yet a normal GPS cannot report on where you have been, unless you link it and download the data afterwards.

But there is a GPS device that does report back where you are. And it uses a cell-phone to report on you. The on-star system in 'select' GM cars. The core part of the on-star system is a GPS that uses an old analog cell-phone built in to report on your position.

And some rental cars are starting to have GPS units that can report in, either live, or as a report when you check-in.

Technology is wild. Big brother *is* watching! But what is he watching, and what is he doing with that data.

I noticed online that there is a horror movie coming out soon. It is based on GPS and geocaching - and is supposed to be based on a true story. I get the feeling that this will put a dark blotch on geocaching and GPS. Shame.

Comments

Stef said…
Eeek! Big Brother really is watching! Oh, my! Well, let him come find me!

I like that show, BTW, even though I never remember it's on until it's half over and am totally lost as to what happened before i tuned in.

Job search is going well, but no offers as of now.

And I've always wondered why I'm not on your blogroll...

Hope all is going okay with you. Talk to you soon-- Stef
Trinity said…
you're so techy geek keith ;)
xxx

Popular posts from this blog

Hiking Blodgett Peak 12/25/2005

So Christmas day Sunday, but we don't do Christmas. And a day off Monday. No real plans until Sunday evening for Channukah. My toe finally feels well enough for a hike. Blodgett Peak has been calling to me for months - especially since I learned there was a geocache on top. So I get up a bit early - early for a day off from work - and head out for a hike. I don't know how far I'll get - but I want to at least get to the top of Blodgett Peak. I've got about 8 geocaches I can try for, depending on how I do. A couple are up in Pike National Forrest, past Blodgett Peak. It is slower going than I expected. I spend more time than I wanted looking for the first 4 geocaches - I only found 2 of them. The trail is Icy and muddy. It is not a great trail - it is not well prepared like the trail going up Pikes Peak. It is very easy to lose the trail - subtle paths seem to go off in many directions. In many places, the trail seems to go up very steep, loose gravel. Step

1000 Greatest Movies

Found on Misanthropic-Tendencies From the NY Times - The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made I've highlighted the ones I've seen from the list. As it is a big list, I've set it to be hidden. I've added some favorite quotes to ones I've seen. Show/Hide the list below A À Nous la Liberté (1932) About Schmidt (2002) Absence of Malice (1981) Adam’s Rib (1949) Adaptation (2002) The Adjuster (1991) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Affliction (1998) The African Queen (1952) L’Age d’Or (1930, reviewed 1964) Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, reviewed 1977) A.I. (2001) Airplane! (1980) "I picked the wrong week to give up sniffing glue" Aladdin (1992) "Poof! Whaddya want?" Alexander Nevsky (1939) Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1975) Alice’s Restaurant (1969) Aliens (1986) '...In space no one can hear you scream.' All About Eve (1950) All About My Mother (1999) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) All That

Nobody Blogrolling Me?

Accoriding to wholinkstome there are a bunch of links to me. I know only some people use blogrolling, and I've seen other people have me in their lists of linked blogs. I have 30+ people in my blogrolling list on the side ---> But wholinestome shows that nobody appears to be linking to here. Should I care? Should I remind others to blogroll me? (Feels like begging or nagging.) Should I delete the ones I blogroll who use blogroll and don't blogroll me? (Seems petty.) Should I assume something is wrong with wholinksme? (I've peaked at a couple sites, I'm not there, do I need to do a full inventory?) Should I assume something is wrong with blogroll for my site, and people just can't add me for some reason? (Could it be that simple?) Maybe it is because I haven't done '100 things' yet. :) What would you do? :)