Information from hundreds of thousands of telephones has helped produce probably the most full map ever fabricated from the ionosphere, a part of Earth’s higher ambiance. This might assist us perceive disturbances brought on by geomagnetic storms and maybe even enhance GPS.
“Smartphone-based measurements cover twice as much of the ionosphere as traditional scientific monitoring stations,” says Brian Williams at Google Analysis. “It’s like there is a scientific monitoring station in every city where there are phones.”
Williams and…