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Sad Nav: How a cheap GPS spoofer gizmo can tell drivers to get lost

onefang

I'm with the "I don't use GPS" crowd. I'm very good at reading maps and navigating my way around city and bush with just a quick glance at the relevant map.

I do however regularly turn on the GPS in my smartphone, for when I use Google Daydream, coz Google insists. Daydream wont let you actually use it until you turn on the phones GPS. For those of you not up on the ins and outs of VR headsets, Google Daydream is what is known as a 3DoF headset, with a 3DoF controller (3 Degrees of Freedom). That means it knows about you rotating your head / controller, but has no clue if you move them up / down / left / right / forward / backward. Yet for some add reason, Google Daydream needs to track every single change in position of your head via GPS as you sit on your chair and rotate. Google Daydream actually claims it's using GPS to track the controller, a small BlueTooth thing with a trackpad and a few buttons. Maybe there is a GPS satellite in each end of the controller, and that's what it is tracking? Though you would think that if this is true, it could actually track position as well as rotation of the controller. I smell BS.

Maybe Google think that when you are in VR, you need to be reminded that you are not actually on the planet Skaro battling hordes of Daleks, you are actually at home in inner city Brisbane, so it can pop up a notification that says "GPS says you are safely at home. Keep calm, and carry on blasting pretend Daleks.", at least until the Cybermen arrive.

I also sometimes turn on GPS for those tracking style dating apps that tell you "This hottie is 0.4 kms away, perhaps you should run out the door and say G'day to her right now."

I don't turn on GPS for any other reason. I dread the day the Cybermen use this GPS spoofing, Google Daydream, and a dating app to get me into an awful lot of trouble.

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