Researchers Demonstrate Centimetre-Level Positioning Using Smartwatches

Posted3 months agoActive2 months ago

geox

73 points

22 comments

otago.ac.nzResearchstory

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Gps TechnologySmartwatchesPositioning Systems

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Gps Technology

Smartwatches

Positioning Systems

Researchers claim to have achieved centimetre-level positioning using smartwatches, but the community is divided on the novelty and implications of this achievement.

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Oct 19, 2025 at 9:27 PM EDT
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Discussion (22 comments)

Showing 22 comments

cwmoore

2 months ago

1 reply

How can this support the panopticon of public safety?

blurbleblurble

2 months ago

Just one more piece of the behavior recognition and total sensor fusion puzzle. This can also be used to train passive RF based sensing techniques to be more accurate.

amelius

2 months ago

3 replies

> centimetre-level precision over four hours with a stationary setup

Ok, so does this really mean the smartwatch should not move for four hours?

bobthepanda

2 months ago

I mean it does demonstrate you can do it with something as small as a smartwatch

stavros

2 months ago

Yes.

Aaron2222

2 months ago

Reading the paper[0], they're getting position data at 1s intervals, and ran it for 4h to show repeatable centimetre-level precision over that time period.

[0]: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10291-025-019... (note that the results using only the internal GNSS antennas are further into the paper)

jayd16

2 months ago

1 reply

Even with the stationary requirement, this is pretty neat.

One could imagine cheap turn-key devices that self locate and provide an accurate beacon for real time triangulation.

sodaclean

2 months ago

1 reply

https://store.freeflysystems.com/products/rtk-gps-ground-sta...

Not cheap.

Theres also services like this: https://www.septentrio.com/en/learn-more/insights/gnss-corre... that offer correction information.

I expect starlink to eat that industry shortly. Not sure how they'll make the strategic steps though. Mandatory location data for cell phones to talk with star-link? Wait for whatever satellite septentrio uses to EOL and offer a deal to use star-link instead?

fsh

2 months ago

The hardware is very cheap (just a GNSS receiver), but this is a low-volume product. There are robot lawnmowers that come with RTK base stations.

petermcneeley

2 months ago

2 replies

Cheap positioning for construction projects.

Cthulhu_

2 months ago

Is there anything wrong with the existing techniques?

throwaway173738

2 months ago

Precision is not accuracy. I wouldn’t use this on a construction project without first setting a control point.

sodaclean

2 months ago

1 reply

while researching links to back up me calling this a nothing burger, I found this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=twqqak3XVuY which upgrades this to Puff Piece.

it gets worse- the overseeing professor mentioned here, and in the video, is the author of the paper linked in the description- from 2018. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00190-018-1192-5)

See: https://www.u-blox.com/en/technologies/high-precision-positi... for information thats not one guy stroking his... ego.

Also, PPP-RTK is another keyword.

zokier

2 months ago

What is your complaint here exactly?

lmc

2 months ago

1 reply

The title is very misleading. The technique (RTK) depends on using a second receiver, not just a smartwatch on its own.

zokier

2 months ago

2 replies

Title is fine. The key is the plural, smartwatches. From the actual article:

> No geodetic station is involved in this study, as one of the smartwatches serves as the base station.

tecleandor

2 months ago

Oh, that's interesting, I have to read it... Did they set up the smartwatch in a fixed place?

lmc

2 months ago

Ah yes, somehow I missed this :-S. Would edit my comment if I could.

Zufriedenheit

2 months ago

1 reply

Is this just RTK? Which uses an extra stationary antenna and has been around for years. Or is there something new here?

crote

2 months ago

The main novelty seems to be in doing it using cheap consumer hardware, rather than specialized $10.000 professional RTK receivers.

In-home centimetre-level smartwatch positioning using a Nest as RTK base station could allow for some neat applications!

dzink

2 months ago

Also possible use cases: Drones, Drone attacks on individuals with smartwatches, tracking of dissidents, these days you have to think about all possible angles.

nashashmi

2 months ago

I imagine a system where several devices broadcast their coordinates to each other, and this way each device knows how far it is from a device and approximates its location based on the distance and coordinate of the other device, then matches it with its own GPS to narrow its coordinate even further.

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ID: 45639476Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 8:47:02 PM

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