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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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For the question here (whether the GPS count is accurate for Harris' rally) I'm asking only about the GPS tracking, not wifi tracking or cell tower tracking. That's assuming musk meant GPS and not generalized location.
GPS does not track anything. There is no possible way it can.
GPS satellites transmit time coded signals. That’s all they do. They don’t receive any signals from the devices that use them.
GPS receivers (which include everything from car navigation systems to smartphones to dedicated GPS receivers, etc) only listen for those time coded signals, decode them, and use that information to triangulate your location. That’s all that GPS itself can do.
Smartphones, tablets, etc. can determine their location by GPS if they have GPS receivers built into them. They can then take that location data and forward it on to companies like Google, Apple, etc. But that is done over either a cellular or WiFi connection.
Any claim of GPS based counting of crowd sizes should be taken with a huge grain of salt. The only way counts based on mobile phones could really be done is by asking companies like Google or Apple how many of their devices are being tracked in the area, or by asking mobile providers like Verizon or AT&T how many mobile phones are connecting to their cell towers in the area.
The total number of people/ devices identified by GPS in a given area is exactly 0. Because GPS by itself is simply incapable of doing anything like that on it’s own.
Sorry but holy fuck dude. We all know this. This what everyone is referring to when people say GPS tracking. You realllllly don't need to go on a rant about how our cell phones don't beam data back to the GPS. JFC. WE ALL KNOW THAT. The question still is and always was can they tell/gather/transmit the GPS location (VIA SOFTWARE THAT SENDS THE INFO OVER CELL DATA OR WIFI JFC) if the GPS is turned off and can Musk/the government get that data. But something tells me trying to get an answer from you is trying to get water from a stone. I'm out.