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Previous episode Relativity and GPS: why satellite clocks are set to run slow

How GPS works: how your phone knows where you are

Assisted GPS: why your phone finds you faster in town

Turn your phone on in a city, and the dot on the map shows up within seconds. Do the same far from any phone mast, and it can take half a minute or more. The same GPS satellites are in the sky. What is missing?

  1. 1 At the hut, Miva says hello, and your phone's battery runs out. You charge it overnight and turn it on the next morning. The map opens, but the dot does not come. Your phone is searching.Mivayousearching

    At the hut, Miva says hello, and your phone's battery runs out. You charge it overnight and turn it on the next morning. The map opens, but the dot does not come. Your phone is searching.

  2. 2 Rono shrugs: in town, his phone finds him in a second. The same satellites are up there. So what is your phone waiting for?In town, mine findsme in a second.Rono

    Rono shrugs: in town, his phone finds him in a second. The same satellites are up there. So what is your phone waiting for?

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Next episode Why GPS gets worse in the city, and the dot jumps around

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