GPSJam: Daily maps of possible GPS interference

by scannyon 10/13/2023, 8:12 AMwith 89 comments

by jjwisemanon 10/13/2023, 4:36 PM

Hello, HN. I made this site. Link to previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32245346

I'm curious about HN's take on a couple things:

1. Why haven't FlightRadar24, FlightAware, or any of the other flight trackers done this? Not enough people actually interested? I know there are companies that use GPSJAM to help brief their pilots.

2. Monetization! I can't really justify spending more time to work on projects like this one when they don't make money, and do cost (a little) money. But I absolutely do not want to turn these projects into another another job--I don't want contracts, obligations, deadlines. Do I try to get (very niche, but I bet they exist) advertisers to cover site costs and some of my time? Do I crowdfund for general development? Let me know your thoughts. And this isn't just for GPSJAM; I have other projects. For example...

A couple other aviation related projects I've done recently:

1. The Global Aircraft Event Viewer: https://aircraft.social/events/ A near real-time map of higher level aircraft behaviors around planet Earth: Circling, "near misses" (RAs), takeoffs, landings, emergency squawks, and other stuff. A very early experiment, but I think it's kind of neat (especially the RAs!).

2. Closest Points of Approach: https://skycircl.es/cpa/ An analysis tool for checking to see just how close two (or more) aircraft got. For example, if you saw the New York Times Story "How a Series of Air Traffic Control Lapses Nearly Killed 131 People"[1], here's a link that visualizes and animates the scenario that happened in Austin, where a Fedex jet almost landed on a Southwest passenger jet: http://skycircl.es/cpa/?kmlurl=https://gist.githubuserconten... My tool estimates they got within about 150 feet (assuming idealized point aircraft without volume!)–The NTSB said they got "within 200 feet".

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/11/business/air-traffic-cont...

by izacuson 10/13/2023, 10:02 AM

Just a note from the sites FAQ: the data is actually showing places where airplanes report LOW NAVIGATION ACCURACY via their ADS-B transponders.

Since planes tend to default to INS navigation with use GPS, GLONASS, Galileo or other systems to supplement the drift, it may be subject to certain data skew (e.g. if there's an area on the world where most planes aren't equipped with GPS navigation system, have poor quality navigation tech or you might be seeing "jamming" where there might just be a common place on airline route where INS drifts).

by grishkaon 10/13/2023, 10:34 AM

It's very rough. There are GPS jammers in Moscow Kremlin, but they only affect the area maybe 1 km around red square. It has practical consequences of taxi apps freaking out when you pass this area. This map shows the entire Moscow, and a huge area around it, in red.

by easternon 10/13/2023, 10:12 AM

It shows no jamming over Ukraine.

However, since the map actually shows the percentage of flights reporting low-navigation accuracy, what it really means is that there are no normal air traffic over Ukraine.

by pipo234on 10/13/2023, 8:24 AM

Some serious interference around areas of military tension: East Mediterranean, Black Sea South-West, Baltic Sea. Scary.

by Bluecobraon 10/13/2023, 1:46 PM

If you’re a business in Moscow or St. Petersburg and want accurate time, how are you supposed to sync your GPS clocks?

by 1024coreon 10/13/2023, 7:16 PM

Interesting. India's Punjab state has a massive problem with drugs- and weapons-carrying drones coming over the border from Pakistan and GPS jamming is one of the techniques to fight those drones.

by ezconnecton 10/13/2023, 11:29 AM

What package is used to display the globe?

by BugsJustFindMeon 10/13/2023, 9:48 PM

What's happening in that one spot in Texas over Casamigos Ranch?

by rsyncon 10/13/2023, 5:17 PM

Is there a way that a non-– aircraft actor could measure this?

That is to say: could I establish a fixed ground station that measured these events and somehow augment this data from airplanes?

by awelxtron 10/13/2023, 9:37 AM

I wonder why there is a high p of gps jam in Murcia.

US bases are in Jaen and Sevilla

by chankstein38on 10/13/2023, 1:48 PM

I feel like this would be easier to read and interpret if the land were darker colored. The yellow and the land colors blend together when some solo hexagons are present.

by sidewndr46on 10/13/2023, 12:37 PM

Interesting that the entirety of Cyprus appears to show interference. That must be pretty annoying for anyone living on the island.

by ck2on 10/13/2023, 3:17 PM

I remember reading power plants in the USA, especially nuclear, have GPS scramblers.

Might be some interesting locations to cross check.

by speedpingon 10/13/2023, 4:49 PM

Looks great! Is it possible to increase the resolution? Each hexagon cover too much area

by belteron 10/14/2023, 8:15 PM

What is going on in Spain in the triangle: Mazarron - Cartagena - Murcia ?

by scottmcdoton 10/13/2023, 12:17 PM

There are civilian flights across Australia yet no data. Does anyone know why?

by PeterStueron 10/15/2023, 7:36 PM

What's up in West London?

by RobotToasteron 10/13/2023, 9:55 AM

What's going on near london?

by jollyllamaon 10/13/2023, 1:09 PM

US border is interesting.

by sandworm101on 10/13/2023, 6:30 PM

Ok, enough with the map nerd slight of hand. Put the Mercator projection on the top of the list of options, not the bottom. Mercator is the qwerty of map projections, the one users expect and are most likely looking for. It is also often the most useful as it is the projection designed for actual navigation.