3D simulation · Technology

How technology works: GPS, the internet, AI, in 3D

Name: How your phone knows where you are
Uploaded: 2026-11-05
Description: Satellites timing signals to find your phone, data crossing the internet, and the binary underneath it all.

Satellites timing signals to find your phone, data crossing the internet, and the binary underneath it all. Not a drawing and not an AI guess: a simulation that runs the real numbers, narrated, with every moment landing on its word.

Make this video →Free to try · 11 languages · about 3 minutes

What the simulation shows

A mesh of routers between you and a friend (labelled).
Your message is cut into six coloured packets that set off across the routers.
Each packet takes a different route across the mesh.
At the other end the packets are put back in order and the message (HELLO!) appears.
The Earth with four GPS satellites around it.
Each satellite's signal spreads as a sphere; the four spheres meet at one point: your phone.
A callout: satellite clocks run 38 microseconds a day fast (relativity); without correcting it GPS would drift 10 km a day.
A neural network: layers of neurons joined by connections; a signal flows through layer by layer.
Training: the connections adjust after each mistake and the error falls.
The network gives its answer: CAT lights up.
Eight lights counting in binary, then 01000001: the letter A.

The real numbers it runs on

The simulation is built on these facts, so the narration and the picture always agree:

On the internet, a message is cut into small packets; each finds its own way through routers and they're put back in order at the other end.
GPS satellites (about 31, 20,200 km up) constantly broadcast the exact time. Your phone measures how long each signal took (at the speed of light, about 0.07 seconds), which gives its distance from each; four satellites pin down one point.
Satellite clocks run about 38 microseconds a day fast because of relativity; uncorrected, GPS would drift about 10 km a day.
A neural network is layers of simple units joined by connections, each with a number (a weight). Training shows it many examples and nudges the weights after each mistake until its answers are right.
Computers store everything as bits, ones and zeros; 8 bits (a byte) can make 256 combinations. The letter A is 01000001 (65).

The script this video was made from

“How your phone knows where you are”: the narration of the video above. Each highlighted moment in the simulation happens on the word that names it.

Your phone knows where you are to within a few metres. Nobody told it. It worked it out.

Clocks in space

Above you are satellites, each carrying a clock and shouting the time.

The spheres

Your phone hears how late each signal arrives, so it knows how far away each one is. Four spheres, and they meet at just one point: you.

Einstein

Even relativity matters. Their clocks run fast by 38 millionths of a second a day, and GPS corrects for it.

Make your own

Type a question, like “How your phone knows where you are”, or your own angle on it.
ContentRoof picks this simulation, researches the facts and writes a short script, with every moment cued to a word.
A natural voice reads it in your language and the simulation plays in time with it. Change any line and it follows.
Download a vertical video for Shorts, TikTok and Reels, or use it in class.

Make this video →

Questions

Is this a real simulation or an AI-generated video?

A real simulation. How technology works: GPS, the internet, AI runs on the numbers listed above, so what you see is what actually happens, frame by frame. AI video generators guess what a scene should look like; they often get the science wrong.

Can I change what the narrator says?

Yes. Type your own question or idea and the AI writes a new script for this simulation, or edit any line yourself. Every moment of the simulation lands on the word that names it.

Which languages can it narrate in?

Eleven: English, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Russian and Polish, with captions written properly (Urdu in Nastaliq, Arabic right to left).

Can I use it in class or post it on YouTube?

Yes. The video is yours to use in lessons, on YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram Reels. The free plan makes 2 3D simulations a month; paid plans make more, in 1080p without the small mark.