Official Random YouTube Video Thread

[Eddie]

kingman, az. about 30k people and apparently it's about 90%, 10% hispanic and 100% trump voters. not exactly the most diverse little town ever. at least they tolerate all 10 black folks that live in the town.

I drove through Kingman once - when we went down to my son's wedding in AZ. But it wasn't exactly memorable. I'm trying to remember if it was the place that was essentially just a bunch of old campers and trailers that had been frankensteined by adding sheds and porches to them and that seemed to be scattered around the sagebrush, or if Kingman is the little town that came right after all of those trailers. Honestly - it's probably both.

[Clark Addison]

In another thread someone mentioned something about maps of China, and it made me think of this video that I watched a few days back. I had not been aware of this, but China uses an algorithm to mess up all the coordinates on publicly available maps, so everything is randomly 50-500 meters away from its actual location.

The video does a better job of explaining it than I do. Worth a watch if you are interested in maps or China or paranoia.

[BigPiney]

In another thread someone mentioned something about maps of China, and it made me think of this video that I watched a few days back. I had not been aware of this, but China uses an algorithm to mess up all the coordinates on publicly available maps, so everything is randomly 50-500 meters away from its actual location.

The video does a better job of explaining it than I do. Worth a watch if you are interested in maps or China or paranoia.

that is kind of like selective availability back in the day with GPS: https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/sa/

[Northwestcoug]

In another thread someone mentioned something about maps of China, and it made me think of this video that I watched a few days back. I had not been aware of this, but China uses an algorithm to mess up all the coordinates on publicly available maps, so everything is randomly 50-500 meters away from its actual location.

The video does a better job of explaining it than I do. Worth a watch if you are interested in maps or China or paranoia.

That is super interesting. And seems really weird....

that is kind of like selective availability back in the day with GPS: https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/sa/

Until I read this. Am I reading this correctly that the US was essentially intentionally doing the same thing for similar reasons?


Thanks guys. I learned something today.

[Clark Addison]

That is super interesting. And seems really weird....



Until I read this. Am I reading this correctly that the US was essentially intentionally doing the same thing for similar reasons?


Thanks guys. I learned something today.

I am not an expert, so Piney or someone else can feel free to correct me, but my understanding is that the differences are:

1. The US used to intentionally degrade GPS, so that the accuracy was limited to about 5 meters, while China is actively (through their algorithm) putting out incorrect coordinates of stuff in maps
2. The level of inaccuracy is much larger in what China is doing. I'm glad that the US government got rid of their obfuscation, but 5 meters isn't really going to make a difference in the vast majority of consumer uses. China is moving stuff 50-500 meters, which, if I understand the metric system, is quite a bit further.

[Northwestcoug]

I am not an expert, so Piney or someone else can feel free to correct me, but my understanding is that the differences are:

1. The US used to intentionally degrade GPS, so that the accuracy was limited to about 5 meters, while China is actively (through their algorithm) putting out incorrect coordinates of stuff in maps
2. The level of inaccuracy is much larger in what China is doing. I'm glad that the US government got rid of their obfuscation, but 5 meters isn't really going to make a difference in the vast majority of consumer uses. China is moving stuff 50-500 meters, which, if I understand the metric system, is quite a bit further.

Yeah it seems the extent of China's obfuscation was much more. I was just surprised that the US did it for ostensibly the same reasons.

[BigPiney]

Yeah it seems the extent of China's obfuscation was much more. I was just surprised that the US did it for ostensibly the same reasons.

when delveloped I think GPS was for miltary purposes. All the civilian uses came much later.

We used to have to some serious post collection correction to put stuff in the right place using base stations. We still do that, but the raw data is much more accurate now.

[Bo Diddley]

when delveloped I think GPS was for miltary purposes. All the civilian uses came much later.

We used to have to some serious post collection correction to put stuff in the right place using base stations. We still do that, but the raw data is much more accurate now.

And the interface was clunky and difficult to use.

[Northwestcoug]

This is pretty cool:

And the final video:

Listening to Paul's and Ringo's current voice, Paul sounds pretty old. But Ringo? Man I want what he's selling. He hasn't changed.

[Pelado]

Cool.

[falafel]

Love it. They did a really great job on the video.

[Donuthole]

That’s a really cool concept and an awesome video. But I don’t love the tune. #sjbh

[Northwestcoug]

That’s a really cool concept and an awesome video. But I don’t love the tune. #sjbh

Yeah I agree. It's not offensive and OK, but forgettable.