Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

GPS Satellites Could Break Down by 2010

by Warren Riddle on May 19, 2009 at 02:49 PM


Millions of U.S. consumers have come to depend on GPS technology for a variety of daily activities, like avoiding traffic jams, finding the shortest route to a vacation destination, or for just finding the nearest movie theatre. Hopefully, those GPS-addicts haven't cleaned the maps out their glove compartments just yet -- according to a U.S. government report obtained by U.K. newspaper The Guardian, the nation's satellites used for GPS may be failing and could even begin to malfunction by 2010.

The Air Force maintains the satellites -- which have been in operation for approximately 20 years -- but hasn't replaced any of them. The first replacement, scheduled to launch in 2007, has yet to be sent into orbit. It's surprising that the Air Force allowed the system to get so bad, considering that the military relies heavily on GPS for mapping, reconnaissance work, navigation, and targeting.
Do you use GPS to get around in your car?
Yes17204 (68.1%)
No7939 (31.4%)
I'm not sure.110 (0.4%)

According to The Guardian, the Air Force is spending $2 billion to bring the system up to date. Hopefully it'll be able to complete the upgrades relatively soon, as GPS is only increasing in provenance: we've seen it used to monitor violent criminals and locate lost outdoor enthusiasts. But, perhaps there is one upside to the deteriorating satellite system -- cartographers everywhere (all three of them) may have jobs again.

If the system does get updated by next year, let's hope it's a bit more accurate than it was for the poor folks in the gallery below, who were led astray their GPS devices. [From: The Guardian]

Faulty GPS Led These Poor Folks to Disaster



Related Links:



Tags: future, gps, gps navigation, gps satellite, GpsNavigation, GpsSatellite, predictions, top

Comments

63

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular