Open Source vs. Closed Source

[Bruce Dawson]

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Fred wrote:

|
|And while we are on the subject -- some PDA "smart phones" come
equipped with
|their own GPS chip, but it seems this is never made use of by mapping
|software, forcing one to buy a separate GPS device anyway. Is there a
way to
|access the built-in GPS chip for application use? Or are the
manufactures
|deliberately closing off or restricting access to it?

Its more like your wireless provider is blocking access to it. The
information comes from the cell tower antennas, and is not really
available to the phone. Plus the phone needs a lot of processing
power, and most phones don't have a sufficiently accurate clock either.

For those phones/PDAs that have a true GPS chip (instead of a WAIS
differentiator(?)) then you can use it as a GPS, but I have found
those phone seriously lacking in other ways (starting with
programmability and ending with power consumption).

- --Bruce
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