25 ms·

Foam Decentralised Location Service

14 points by tsujp 5y ago

ok_dad 5y ago
So is this just like LORAN but with some cryptocurrency stuff on top?
maeln 5y ago
I fail to see the point. It is basically GPS but ground-based with a cryptocurrency/web3 put on top of it. First off, what is the point of adding a crypto on top of it ? Almost all "web3" project have failed to prove that there is any benefit in adding this layer. Secondly, why not just use GPS/GLONASS/Galileo ? It doesn't explain why one would want to use this instead. EDIT: After going through the whitepaper, it mention how it can use smart contract for location encoding, but in the same chapter it mention the solution OpenStreetMap. Yet again, agreeing on what is "the ground truth" is a human problem, not a tech one, and OSM already solve this. I fail to see how their smart contract would make it easier. The other part is "we want a geospatial standard for the blockchain". Ok, but why ? Again, no explanation for why it would be useful for, what problem would it solve. What is the advantage of "geospatial in the blockchain" over GPS+OSM ? And as for the last claim about the safety of GPS, sure it is possible to jam and spoof GPS signal. An encrypted protocol might be more resistant to spoofing, but as long as you use radio wave, I don't see how you are going to solve the jamming. It might be even worse. At least it is forbidden to jam the GPS signal. I couldn't find anywhere what frequency this system use. If it is a "public" frequency band, then anyone can, even unintentionally, jam their spectrum with no consequence. Honestly, I really like the idea of having a decentralized, ground-based, location network. But I don't see how adding the "web3" on top of it has any benefit. There is already communities running decentralized network (for plane/boat tracking, air quality, satellite tracking, ...) based on trust, and it is working. Why had another layer of complexity that don't even solve the issue ?
- dannyw 5y ago
  The supposed solution is proof of presence: let's say you run a dating app, and want to ensure people aren't faking their location, even on platforms like Web or rooted Android. The value offered by this is probably minimal, but it also doesn't work. You could just pay someone actually in a location and proxy their signals.
  - manarth 5y ago
    You could just pay someone actually in a location and proxy their signals That's technically detectable through round-trip timings (e.g. your apple watch needs to be close enough to your computer to unlock it – too far away and the round-trip time exceeds the allowed threshold). I still agree on the very minimal value though!
- aslowbluecamel 5y ago
  > There is already communities running decentralized network (for plane/boat tracking, air quality, satellite tracking, ...) based on trust, and it is working. Curious, which are these?
nopenopenopeno 5y ago
If I were to ever find a novel use case for cryptocurrency or blockchain, I would not market it as cryptocurrency or blockchain, or even as “decentralized.” Why willingly associate a decent proposition with an industry of scams?

14 points by tsujp 5y ago

So is this just like LORAN but with some cryptocurrency stuff on top?

I fail to see the point. It is basically GPS but ground-based with a cryptocurrency/web3 put on top of it. First off, what is the point of adding a crypto on top of it ? Almost all "web3" project have failed to prove that there is any benefit in adding this layer. Secondly, why not just use GPS/GLONASS/Galileo ? It doesn't explain why one would want to use this instead. EDIT: After going through the whitepaper, it mention how it can use smart contract for location encoding, but in the same chapter it mention the solution OpenStreetMap. Yet again, agreeing on what is "the ground truth" is a human problem, not a tech one, and OSM already solve this. I fail to see how their smart contract would make it easier. The other part is "we want a geospatial standard for the blockchain". Ok, but why ? Again, no explanation for why it would be useful for, what problem would it solve. What is the advantage of "geospatial in the blockchain" over GPS+OSM ? And as for the last claim about the safety of GPS, sure it is possible to jam and spoof GPS signal. An encrypted protocol might be more resistant to spoofing, but as long as you use radio wave, I don't see how you are going to solve the jamming. It might be even worse. At least it is forbidden to jam the GPS signal. I couldn't find anywhere what frequency this system use. If it is a "public" frequency band, then anyone can, even unintentionally, jam their spectrum with no consequence. Honestly, I really like the idea of having a decentralized, ground-based, location network. But I don't see how adding the "web3" on top of it has any benefit. There is already communities running decentralized network (for plane/boat tracking, air quality, satellite tracking, ...) based on trust, and it is working. Why had another layer of complexity that don't even solve the issue ?

dannyw 5y ago
The supposed solution is proof of presence: let's say you run a dating app, and want to ensure people aren't faking their location, even on platforms like Web or rooted Android. The value offered by this is probably minimal, but it also doesn't work. You could just pay someone actually in a location and proxy their signals.
- manarth 5y ago
  You could just pay someone actually in a location and proxy their signals That's technically detectable through round-trip timings (e.g. your apple watch needs to be close enough to your computer to unlock it – too far away and the round-trip time exceeds the allowed threshold). I still agree on the very minimal value though!
aslowbluecamel 5y ago
> There is already communities running decentralized network (for plane/boat tracking, air quality, satellite tracking, ...) based on trust, and it is working. Curious, which are these?

nopenopenopeno 5y ago

If I were to ever find a novel use case for cryptocurrency or blockchain, I would not market it as cryptocurrency or blockchain, or even as “decentralized.” Why willingly associate a decent proposition with an industry of scams?