"Dave S" wrote in message
news
Yea.. I caught that in the news too... Either the attorney is stupid, or
he is intentionally lying to try and save poor Scotty's ass.. Maybe the
prosecution should subpoena an FAA representative to refute those
claims.

All the prosecution needs is a Professional Land Surveyor, as registered by
the State of California. At that point Scott's Attorney would be well on
his way to giving testimony illegally.


Of COURSE they mouthpiece is comparing apples to oranges. Cars
use GPS primarily for horizontal guidance. They are quite accurate in
that regard when they get a good signal. What is it.. within 10 feet now
with SA turned off for the past few years??

Airplanes get the same great horizonal guidance, and GPS has been used
for YEARS and approved in an enroute, terminal and approach environment.
The only thing keeping GPS from being used to "land airplanes" is the
vertical guidance component. 200 Feet astray from an airway centerline
is no biggie. 200 feet low on a precision approach to minimums is likely
worth a paragraph or two in the obituary section. I guess thats why all
the big fuss about WAAS, LAAS, RAIM and other cool terms like that.

I havent seen a single car crash proven to be caused by the GPS showing
the wrong altitude. grin Likewise, just cause GPS isnt able to give
precision approach quality vertical guidance to the whole of aviation
just yet doesnt mean its not accurate enough to show what 100 square
foot block of land poor Scotty's car happened to be in... or how many
times he parked near or drove by where they found his wife and kids
body.. Poor Scott didnt even know the cops had planted covert GPS
recievers on each of his 4 vehicles when he did all this. The next crop
of cell phones will be able to help you be tracked pretty closely too.
The ability was legislated so enhanced 911 systems could locate a
caller. The same ability can be used to locate a suspect. The moral? If
you are gonna do something bad, turn off your cell phone for a while

Good call on the judge allowing the evidence.

Wow.. big rant this time.
Dave


Gerald Sylvester wrote:



I never read anything about this Scott Petersen murder
trial before. I saw a headline about a "GPS." I started
to read it and I guess the guys car had a GPS in it
and the prosecution is trying to place him at the murder
scene. Well the defense attorney is saying the GPS
is inaccurate due to a malfunction and made the
moronic comment of:
-------------
Peterson's attorney, Mark Geragos, argued that the information gathered
through global positioning system technology was not accurate. GPS uses
signals from dozens of satellites to show a receiver's position to
within a few feet.

"If the FAA will not approve GPS for the landing of an aircraft, how can
a court of law approve its forensic use in a capital case?" he said.
--------------

I don't know if they are approved for auto-landing but
I'm fairly certain it can get me a few hundred feet AGL
on the exact glideslope of an airport 8000 miles away.
I'd generally consider that accurate enough. grin

My handheld GPS-V for my car has lead me to within a few
feet of the front *main* door of places in Amsterdam, Rome,
New York and San Francisco. I'd generally consider that accurate.




Gerald