Rethinking GPS: Engineering Next-Gen Location at Uber
Neat! However...<p>The nice thing about standard GPS is that it's <i>passive</i>. You listen to the some signals, do some local calculation, and you know your position. Then, <i>optionally</i>, you can send that position data to a third party.<p>Uber's approach changes that. You might not know exactly where you are, but send Uber your info and they'll figure it out.<p>IMO this is not the way we want things to go: various services, all with their own location-determining tech, all done out of the user's sight or control. (Uber's reputation for privacy reinforces this.)<p>Let's work on improving the accuracy with which a device can determine its own location. Apparently there's progress there: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/9/25/16362296/gps-accuracy-improving-one-foot-broadcom" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/9/25/16362296/g...</a><p>Once it's determined on-device, users should be able to determine the granularity at which we share our location.